Food additives linked to hyperactive behaviour in children.

A study sponsored by the UK government Food Standards Agency has demonstrated a link between certain food additives and hyperactivity in a group of children tested. A summary of the research is at the FSA link below.

Of course that food additives cause hyperactivity is something which is widely held to be true by parents.

Currently there are around 359,000 Ritalin prescriptions in the UK for the psychiatric condition 'ADHD'. This diagnosis is made by a psychiatrist based on a child's behaviour. Behaviours likely to get a child an ADHD diagnosis include:

1. often failing to give close attention to details or makes careless mistakes in schoolwork, work or other activities
2. often has difficulty sustaining attention in tasks or play activities
3. often does not seem to listen when spoken to directly
4. often does not follow through on instructions and fails to finish schoolwork, chores or duties in the workplace not due to oppositional behaviour (that's another diagnosis) or failure to understand instructions (that's 'learning difficulties')
5. often has difficulty organising tasks and activities
6. often loses things necessary for activities (such as schoolwork or homework)
7. is often easily distracted by extraneous stimuli (looking out of the window in class)
8. is often forgetful in daily activities

The above are taken from the Inattention section of the ADHD diagnosis guide issued to American psychiatrists. The comments in brackets are mine. There is no physical or biological test for 'ADHD'. It is a construction of psychiatry.

Comments on the above:
1. and 2., 4. and 6. and 7. seem to describe children who don't like school.
3. is something most children exhibit at one time or another
5. suggests to us that the child needs help to learn in this area not a dangerous drug
8. to be a bit forgetful is a problem?

Drugging children is profitable for the pharmaceutical companies. It gives power to psychiatrists who are licensed to dispense powerful drugs. The medical diagnosis absolves adults from any responsibility in children's welfare. A biological deficit which has to be remedied by a 10 year prescription for a stimulant drug which if a child took out of school would lead them to get a police record and warnings about the grave dangers of drug addiction is easier for everyone than to look at the child's actual needs.

In our view the ADHD diagnosis is about power and money and social control. In particular it is about drugging children who are too lively to accept the boring factory education system. 30 years ago there was no massive problem with 'ADHD'. To date no studies have demonstrated a biological causation for 'ADHD' e.g a virus or genetic defect. Correlations between dopamine levels and inattention scores in tests are just that: correlations, not an explanation of cause. These studies do not justify a stimulant drug prescription.

Certainly food additives play a part in children's hyperactivity as do sugary drinks. It is probably not entirely a co-incidence that the ADHD diagnosis is made in the West and in recent times; since these additives became so prevalent. However; more likely to be the main factor in the massive growth in ADHD diagnoses in the last few years is a convergence of the following: the profit seeking behaviour of pharmaceutical companies who market stimulant drugs through the higly developed marketing system of psychiatrists and increasingly schools, an acquiescent politcal reaction, a system of mass education, and the development of a society which requires children who are good at school-work for its economic successes and lazy parents who prefer to get a pill for their child rather than help them learn.

This report by the FSA is important. It is especially notable that the authors of the study referred to 'environment and uprbringing' as being factors in hyperactivity. Food additives probably are one factor in many which contribute to hyperactivity.

In a deeper sense though our view is that there is no problem with 'hyperactivity' but a problem of some children not fully adjusting to a system of mass education for a despiritualised workplace; which the profit-making pharmaceutical companies are capitalising on without regard to the well-being of children.