Tuesday, June 17, 2008

NY Times piece looks at nondrug ADHD options

A piece written by New York Time's reporter Tara Parker examines nondrug treatments for ADHD. While most of the piece was more of the same, the slant was more transparent than we expected with regard to the dangers of ADHD drugs.

What was most interesting to us was the quote she chose from a physician's group when discussing the link between diet and A.D.H.D. “The overall findings of the study (link between artificial colors and behavior) are clear and require that even we skeptics, who have long doubted parental claims of the effects of various foods on the behavior of their children, admit we might have been wrong,” reported a February issue of AAP Grand Rounds, a publication of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

We also found this comment interesting. "The challenge is finding a doctor who will help explore the range of options. For instance, the best way to tell whether dietary changes may help is to eliminate the foods and then reintroduce them, monitoring the child’s behavior all the while." She is not a doctor, but I know a licensed dietitian nutritionist who does this kind of work, and has been doing it for almost 25 years. Who could she be :)


No comments: