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Hi all,
I did get many reponses from people. Some even asked me to be sure I posted. Below are comments and following are many good links to check this out. Only one didn't believe that ADD and Celiac have any close relation. Sorry this is so long, but shortened it as much as I could, but I do know there are several out there that were waiting for my summary. : - )
Thanks everyone, for all the good responses!!
Sue in Mo.
Nothing scientific to offer, but my husband decided to go wheat-free last fall
(it's easier since I eat gluten free). He noticed tremendous improvement in
his spaciness and attention problems, mood swings disappeared, and he got lean
and muscular! While he never had any clear symptoms of celiac, wheat-free
eating (mostly gluten free) definitely benefits his self-diagnosed attention
problem. The eat right for your blood type books suggest that people with type
O (like my husband) and type A (like me) avoid all wheat. Works for us! We
are getting healthier and healthier.
I only know, first hand, that my youngest daughter was having trouble
focusing in school, she was testing very low in reading (level 3), her
hand writing was unreadable and scratchy looking, in math she was
reversing her numbers, in writing she was mixing up letters and
reversing words (on as no). She also looked tire all the time. Her
doctor, knowing that there is Celiac in the family and that we were an
almost 100% GF family (they only used bread in their school lunches -
all at home meals were GF), suggest we "take it all the way" and see
what happens. We did. And, the result was incredible. My daughter shot
up to a level 18 in reading, her handwriting became as good as the
examples she was copying, her math greatly improved, it is just the
"reversing" of words and numbers that we are still working on - but we
are getting there. She no longer has dark circles under her eyes.
I can verify that our grandson was extremely hyperactive until we put him on a gluten-free diet. He is now seven years old, and he realizes that wheat "makes his brain feel funny". He is able to concentrate longer, and was in the 99.5 percentile to qualify him for the gifted program at school. What a difference this diet has made!
I am amazed how many people refuse to eliminate gluten from their diet to give it a chance. My daughter-in-law's mother had internal bleeding before she was diagnosed as celiac; yet my daughter-in-law wouldn't go for the free testing last week-end during the Tracks for Celiac Walk. Denial seems to enter the picture.
I keep equating the rise of the tobacco industry and the wheat production as being tied into the economy. People agree that tobacco is bad for the body, but so many people don't acknowledge that wheat is also bad. Good luck with your friend.
A dairy, wheat and gluten free is the answer to ADD
I can't give you the info on a source for this information, but I can give
you some personal history. My son has ADD - not real bad, but enough to
send his parents to the edge of sanity at times. While on a GF diet he
improves significantly. He also has Asperger's/Autism symptoms, and those
disappear completely after about 2 weeks of no gluten. I was sceptical
about diet being involved, but it does work. He still has problems paying
attention, but the activity level falls to almost normal, and that helps him
to put more effort into concentrating. Diet probably won't help every kid
with ADD, but it is worth trying.
,
This is definitely what is happening with my son, who has been diagnosed with celiac disease and has been gf for 3 months now. He has been diagnosed with ADHD for several years now. As soon as he went off gluten, it was better than Ritalin! He was articulate, present, and his intelligence shone. Since then, we have realized that he also has food allergies. And each time he gets an allergen he has mental amd emotional symptoms---cannot concentrate, hyperactive, depressed. He also wanted to hurt himself while we were loading him with gluten so that the tests for CD would be accurate.
Here are some books that offer the perspective that allergies and nutritional deficiencies can cause ADD or ADHD. I wish I had know this sooner, because I suspect this is at the root of all my son's learning problems. We had allergy testing of delayed or hidden food allergies to give us a start on what foods were causing problems for him--Immunolabs or York are two companies who do this. Also, ELISA testing--all of these through alternative health professionals. Not very accurate, but a start. It was then when we cleared away the gluten and many of the allergies that we saw the improvement and it was clear when he did get an allergen that he was extremely affected mentally by them.
The ADD Nutrition Solution by Marcia Zimmerman
The LCP Solution: The Remarkable Nutritional Treatment for ADHD, Dyslexia and Dyspraxia by B. Jacqueline Stordy, Ph.D.
Help for the Hyperactive Child: A practical guide offering parents of ADHD children alternatives to Ritalin
by William G. Crook, M.D.
There is also website about gluten-free, casein-free diets for children with autism with resources, cookbooks for creating a diet for children without the major allergens.
My Master's thesis is on ADD and gluten. You can find it at
http://www.gluten-free.org/hoggan/
under the title:
Application of the Exorphin Hypothesis to ADHD
http://www.niddk.nih.gov/health/digest/pubs/celiac/index.htm
http://www.gfcfdiet.com
http://www.onlineorganizing.com/Client_Article_Overcoming_ADD_ADHD.htm
WWW.Celiac.com
http://www.celiac.com/cgi-bin/webc.cgi/st_main.html?p_catid=7
This one would also be a good one to check out...
http://www.panix.com/~donwiss/
http://www.panix.com/~donwiss/reichelt.html
http://www.links2go.net/more/www.wwwebguides.com/nutrition/diets/glutenfree/
menta.html
http://www.eegspectrum.com/books/vhmalabs.htm
http://www.alphanutrition.com/celiac/celiacbrain.htm
http://www.brookeline.com/gluten/
http://www.panix.com/~paleodiet/autism/
http://www.ozemail.com.au/~sdengate/contents.html
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*Please provide references to back up claims of a product being GF or not GF*
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