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by tygorius 5577 days ago
Yeah, I raised an eyebrow on that point as well. Funny how the doctor can state authoritatively that 64% of kids' ADHD symptoms can be traced to diet, but there are no specific details on what the relevant diet elements are. It's as if she wants to protect children by keeping parents ignorant.
1 comments
mshron 5577 days ago
Thankfully, the original study (linked to below) gives a summary.

The diet was composed for each kid individually, but the basic "few-foods" diet was rice, meat, vegetables, pears, and water. Potatoes, fruits and wheat were added for some kids, at prescribed intervals.

They were following this protocol: http://www.springerlink.com/content/k7444741381w544k/fulltex...

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zach 5577 days ago
The researchers did a food allergy panel to determine what foods were individually eliminated according to the subjects' Immunoglobulin G (IgG) response.

Interestingly, IgG is the longer-term response compared to the more immediate Immunoglobulin E response which causes the most dramatic allergy reactions such as rapid airway constriction.

The implication is that IgG type sensitivities are under-diagnosed because the symptoms are elusive and subtle, and ADHD often happens to be one of them.

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gregburek 5577 days ago
The hypothesis was that IgG tests may pinpoint foods that in some way trigger ADHD symptoms. This was found to be incorrect.

"We recorded no difference in behavioural effects after challenge with high-IgG or low-IgG foods. These results suggest that use of IgG blood tests to identify which foods are triggering ADHD is not advisable. However, IgG blood tests might be useful in other diseases." [1]

To me, this says that any deviation from restricted diet caused a relapse in ADHD symtoms. A less technical explaination about IgG testing here: http://www.tldp.com/issue/174/IgG%20Food%20Allergy.html

[1] http://marrym.web-log.nl/files/adhd-and-elimination-diet-rct...

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zach 5577 days ago
Thank you so much for the correction.

I had somehow read only the part about the sequence of food reintroduction having no association but missed the conclusion from that, which now of course seems obvious.

That really is something different. I'm surprised that this lede was buried in the articles on this result I've read. So the mystery continues. Very curious.

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gregburek 5577 days ago
That conclusion was really buried in there. Some form of confirmation bias on the part of a reader, perhaps?
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