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Food Allergies and the Relationship with ADD
ADHD And Food
While food allergies in people who don't suffer from ADHD are created solely by the alimentation, in people suffering from ADHD, it is a different mechanism.
Doctor Doris Rapp was one of the doctors who pointed out a connection between food allergies and the influences of the children suffering from ADHD. She observed that when ADHD children ingested certain types of food, they experiences behavioral or physical changes and also swings in the mood and posture. They could be calm and silent for a minute and the other, they would burst into energy and action.
Food Menu For ADHD Child
What was even more interesting to note was that children with ADHD who also had food allergies, seemed to favor only those aliments that caused them changes. If a child was allergic to peanuts, for instance, it would happen that he or she would constantly crave for jelly or peanut butter. If they indeed got to eat what they wanted, then he or she would rarely be calmed in a short amount of time.
Therefore, the classic allergy to food happens through a different mechanism. For instance, a reaction is produced between an antibody, known as IgE and a substance in the food that triggers the allergy called allergen. This interaction results into an allergic response. The person thus experiences several external reactions to the combination and is caused a lot of discomfort by the fact that the allergen triggers different reactions in the body, such as headaches, nausea or abdominal pain.
The antibody involved in the reaction is named IgE. In ADD children, the antibody that contributes to the reaction is called instead IgG. The difference between the two should be stressed in that while IgE can be identified in allergy tests, the IgG cannot.
Therefore, the allergy test is not going to retrieve the expected results and the test will fail if the ADHD child is tested this way. Therefore, while your child may experience an allergy to a certain food, the doctor won't be able to tell if the child has any allergies at all because the test won't indicate any possible problem and therefore, the doctor will conclude that there is nothing in the system of the child.
The Controversy
Because food allergies are difficult to diagnose, this may create problems when wanting to find out the proper treatment for it. Whit symptoms waxing and waning, doctors and patients are finding it increasingly difficult to distinguish between normal reactions to food and allergic ones. Therefore, if a child is allergic to the sting of bees and the venom contained in it, then every time a bee will string him, he will develop a reaction to it. Food allergies do not trigger an immediate reaction and the symptoms may vary in different days.
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