Environmental Neurological Toxins: Rewiring the Brain by Dee Pigneguy ~ reprinted excerpts from Organic NZ Jan/Feb 2002 Vol 61, No 1.

Diseases of Children

Dr Ben Feingold, a professor of Allergy at the Kaiser Medical Centre in San Francisco in 1973 presented a paper on food additives and hyperactive  children to the American Medical Association. He argued that modern food habits had changed in such a way that most people had come to rely on foods containing artificial ingredients. He cited a  US Department of Agriculture report that only 3.3 per cent of foods were prepared by the consumer from basic ingredients. The rest came from convenience foods processed by the food industry. The sheer magnitude of numbers, over 2700 intentional food additives caught his attention, as did the amounts of chemicals consumed on one hand and the numbers of children who suffered from hyperkinesis and learning disabilities on the other hand. He recommended that parents  shun processed food in  favour of the fresh and natural.
Since the publication of the Feingold diet in 1974 the effects of food additives and other dietary factor s on hyperactive children has been disputed. Recognition of the role of the environment in shaping children's health has been a slow process. Industrial representatives  work hard blurring the relationship between their product and poor health. Every man made chemical has an industry behind it and reducing additives entails financial loss.

Is food less nutritious  than it used to be?

One of the few studies available was conducted by Anne-Marie Mayer, a doctoral student at Cornell University in Ithaca. Her 1997 paper presented to an international conference  at Tufts University, USA compared 1936 British data on the mineral content in fruits and vegetables  with present day content. She found significant  reductions in calcium, magnesium, copper and sodium in vegetables. The greatest change  was in copper levels, which were one-fifth of what they once were.
It is  not clear what caused these changes in the food supply system over the last 60 years with fruits and vegetables now selected fro handling qualities and cosmetic appeal. She noted that breeding nutritional quality is rare, as farmers become more dependent on fertilizers, pesticides and other chemicals.

Exposure to harm?

Children today face hazards unknown  just three decades ago. Environmental medical research is producing mounting evidence  that environmental and chemical exposure factors can cause damage to the delicate brain growth factors in the unborn child during pregnancy. This neurological harm has the potential to cause learning disabilities, hyperactivity and other child behavior disorders.
Public exposure to identified chemical sources continue to grow and children are subjected to hundreds of chemicals neurotoxins simultaneously. These include chemical flavors and preservatives in food,  pesticides in fruit and vegetables, chemicals in cleaning compounds, fabric softeners, cosmetics and plastic, as well as vapors in vehicle exhaust, carpeting, paints and upholstery.

ADHD  involves two sets of symptoms, inattention and a combination of hyperactivity and impulsive behaviors. All children are more easily distracted and impulsive than adults. They are inconsistent, affected by momentary events  and distracted by the immediate environment. Normal children, like the 'terrible twos' often don't fit into the obedient, self-entertaining creatures, parents expect.   Luckily Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer was able to experience a non-toxic childhood before the rise of psycho pharmacology, the increased influence of drug companies and the rise of world biolysis.

The testing of chemicals which takes place in children's bodies as they are subjected to hundreds of chemicals simultaneously result in a range of allergies and sensitivities.  Drugs simply suppress symptoms allowing parent as and teachers to continue with lifestyle practices that are clearly toxic the child's development. We should be asking ourselves if ADHD is simply another disease arising from the choices we make about   the way we live, the way we consume and the way we dispose of waste.

Each month the top 10 books on nutrition, chemical and food concerns  are listed here. They are the books that others are reading and finding helpful, and we therefore  recommend them to you.This month's top 10 are below and they can be reviewed, ordered and purchased safely  and securely in association with our trusted partners amazon.com, just by clicking on the book title.If you wish to see the  whole collection click here
 

Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal	Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health	Fat Land : How Americans Became the Fattest People in the World	Fatal Harvest: The Tragedy of Industrial Agriculture
Food Additives : A Shopper's Guide To What's Safe & What's Not.	The Crazy Makers: How the Food Industry Is Destroying Our Brains and Harming Our Children	In Bad Taste: The Ms Syndrome: How Living Without Msg Can Reduce Headache, Depression and Asthma, and Help You Get Control of Your Life	Excitotoxins: The Taste That Kills~ excitotoxins are substances added to food and beverages and including glutamate (MSG) and aspartate (NutraSweet), damage nerve cells in the brain.