----- Original Message -----
Sent: Saturday, December 18, 1999 12:32
AM
Subject: Re: ADD symptoms like PD?
Dear Susan, Mary Ann, Kathy and others,
The possible connection between PD and
ADD/ADHD is an interesting one which I have thought about for quite awhile.
What intrigues me is the studies that have been done in relation to ADD/ADHD
and everyday foods showed a link.
Ben Feingold years ago discovered a connection between
ingestion of foodcolorings and hyperactivity. Further studies carried out at
the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney Australia showed MSG, amines and
salicylates (natural chemicals that occur in varying quantities in some
everyday foods) affected many of their testsubjects. Foods low in these
natural chemicals were almost never a problem.
It is only "susceptible" people that have problems.
This makes me wonder if this is a genetic susceptibility. A book published a few years ago called "One Man's Food ......Another
Man's Poison" written by McGrath (i think), described her ceaseless efforts to
get to the reason for her children's hyperactivity, which she found was also
caused by food intolerances. She spent much time at chemists and chemistry
laboratories looking for answers and I recall that she found that the final
item on the list of foods that caused her family hyperactivity problems was
MODIFIED CORNSTARCH, not straight cornstarch. Only the modified form appeared
to find it's way into the brain and wreak havoc.
I wrote to Anne Swain, one of the dieticians involved in the
Royal Prince Alfred- Allergy Clinic Studies and co-author of the book
"Friendly Food" and asked if any studies had been done in relation to food
intolerances as a possible cause for Parkinson's disease. She replied that
neither she nor Dr Loblay or Dr. Soutter know of any published work nor had
they seen any patients with Parkinson's disease at the clinic.
It is a pity that there is no money to be made by
eliminating foods from the diet, yet there is a lot of money to be made from
medication. Studies in the field of food intolerances obviously attract little
if any funding.
It is a subject that keeps "nagging at me" because we are
all prepared to add drugs to our daily intake, although often reluctantly, but
we do not know how the particles of everyday food that we ingest mostly
without second thought, affect our brain, and how eliminating them may alter
the chemistry.
I wonder if the Hallelujah Diet, mentioned on this list
before, is so beneficial because it cuts out the processed foods hence also
foodadditives, modified starches etc.
Did you manage to go back on the diet
Susan?
Sorry being so longwinded. Just had to get this off my
chest.
Has anyone on
the list with ADD/ADHD been involved in foodintolerance
studies?
Peace and love to you all
from Erika.