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Food intolerances and children
Increasing fatty acids
Psychologist David Taylor, a director of Optimum Nutrition North East agrees and believes that nutrition is an increasingly important external factor when it comes to recognising and coping with learning difficulties. 'Everything we eat and drink is made up of chemicals and as chemicals have a direct impact on both body and mind it would seem reasonable that nutrition would impact upon our behaviour and perception,' he says. He believes that increasing levels of essential fatty acids into a child's diet can have dramatic results in terms of improving the effects of such conditions as autism, dyslexia etc. as well as establishing which foods your child may be intolerant to by gradually reducing suspect foods from the diet on a one by one basis.
The remarkable change in Joe
One mother who has noticed a direct link between food intolerance and learning difficulty is Sinead Keane from London. Her son Joe, 8, had been disruptive at school and found it difficult to concentrate. His difficulty in learning to read was put down to dyslexia. However, after researching the links between diet and learning difficulties herself, Sinead began making changes to Joe's diet to see if it could help. 'Firstly and with advice from a nutritionist friend, I cut out foods high in additives and excess sugars (coloured drinks, crisps, biscuits etc) and upped his intake of foods rich in essential fats and seeds which I'd read were important for brain function.
Then I began reducing one by one his intake of wheat and dairy products. Joe's GP was sceptical but it soon became apparent that he was intolerant to dairy especially, so we switched to soya products instead. That in combination with the removal of junk foods from his diet has shown a remarkable change in Joe. He's like a different child. His concentration has improved beyond comparison and he's much calmer and quieter. With my help his reading is slowly improving. His teacher and classmates can't believe the change in him and neither can his Dad and I.' Sinead wouldn't go as far as to say that a change in diet has 'cured' her son's learning difficulties but 'the improvement goes beyond 100%.'
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