E for Additives. Maurice Hanssen
was ensured that, when each revision was implemented, changes took place simultaneously in all the schools, but the revisions were carried out over three academic years: 1979–80, 1980–81 and 1982–83, with no changes being made in the 1981–82 academic year so that there was a basis for evaluating the effects of change.
All the selected schools gave their children the California Achievement Test (CAT), which is given to many schools across the United States and from which the percentage ranking of the school was calculated.
They had already checked back for the four years preceding the changes so that they knew the average figures involved: these did not fluctuate by more than a mere percentage point. The mean academic CAT score for each school was calculated and then it was converted to a national ranking by comparing this mean with that of the other schools who used the same test in the same year. Then the previous year’s ranking was subtracted from the current year’s to show the gain or loss in national terms. The figures for all 803 schools averaged together show a mean gain or decline in the years between 1977 and 1983.
This exceptionally complex trial on almost a million children who ate both breakfast and lunch at school was undertaken by three doctors, Stephen J. Schoenthaler, Walter E. Doraz and James A. Wakefield Jr. It was published in the International Journal of Biosocial Research, Volume 8, Number 2, 1986, pp.138–148.
The results were astounding. There was a 15.7 per cent increase in mean academic ranking over and above the rest of the nation’s schools who used the same standardized tests. (Before the changes the variations had been less than 1 per cent.) Prior to dietary changes, the school children who ate the most school meals had the worst results. After the changes, the children who ate the most school meals had the best results. Never before had there been a trial of such a size and with such scientific support on so many children to determine the effect of diet upon ability.
The schools formed committees including pupils to set up their own menus, along Dr Cagan’s guidelines, with their cooks and dieticians. There were supportive posters everywhere such as ‘Have you hugged your dietician today?’ (which in some areas was altered by changing the h to m!). When Dr Cagan went to a school in the roughest part of New York City and was introduced at meal time by the head teacher as being the lady who had changed the food, she received a standing ovation from the pupils. Only a few years before, visitors would have required a police escort.
So, do certain additives damage the brain? We do not know. What does look certain from this gigantic and extraordinary trial is that there has to be a reconsideration of those additives which deny children the nutrients normally present in real food.
What is the purpose of excessive quantities of sugar, colours, flavours and preservatives? They are there to disguise nutritionally unimportant food substances, including highly calorific fats, as real, wholesome, satisfying food. Just go round your supermarket and look at the foods still being sold that appeal to the senses of the young. Without checking the labels carefully you can easily buy non-nutritive rubbish. But it tastes and looks just like real food. So additives can dilute nutrition. The test of ‘need’ is applied without a true understanding of the consequences to our children, upon whom all our future hopes must be founded.
Remember, many additives help to provide us with good and safe food, but beware—additives that in themselves might be harmless deceive us and, worse still, our children, into consuming empty calories.
A centre for severely disturbed children—the state-run Aycliffe School in Co. Durham—is undertaking a trial to find whether the Schauss/Schoenthaler Diet, which they will be adapting, can help these children.
The diet being used observes the following guidelines:
(a) sweetened breakfast cereals to be replaced with non-sweetened varieties;
(b) canned fruits, if packed in syrup, to be rinsed with cold water before serving;
(c) soft drinks to be replaced with a wide selection of fruit and vegetable juices;
(d) table sugar to be replaced with honey;
(e) wholemeal bread to be substituted for white bread;
(f) brown rice to replace white rice;
(g) processed foods to be replaced with fresh, when available at similar prices;
(h) snack foods high in sugar, fat or refined carbohydrates to be replaced by fresh fruit and vegetables, plus a variety of nuts, cheeses and wholegrain biscuits;
(i) preservatives, especially BHA (E320) and BHT (E321), and artificially coloured or flavoured foods to be avoided where possible.
In this special group of children the results may not necessarily be generally applicable but they will be of great importance. Further studies need to be done.
A lot of cynicism has been generated about the whole idea of hyperactivity in children. ‘There are no hyperactive children, only hyperactive parents’ is a frequent retort. The evidence is mounting, although with some reservations, that a good deal of so called hyperactivity is, in fact, due to an unstable environment, but that a good deal is due to food. Dr Egger at Great Ormond Street Hospital showed in his series of cases that there were no children who had an adverse effect from additives only. They were always affected by a food as well.
Dr Ben Feingold MD began his work and observations in 1965 on the link between certain foods and additives and the effect on some individuals’ behaviour and their ability to learn. He proposed a diet which cut down on certain additives and eliminated certain foods. Scientific workers are still uncertain as to the validity of the whole of Dr Feingold’s ideas, but there is no doubt that a vast number of hyperactive children, and also asthmatics and those suffering from eczema, have benefitted immeasurably from a sensible and careful adaptation of this diet.
Hyperactive children bring much strain and exhaustion to parents who have to manage offspring who only sleep a few hours; are excitable and impulsive; are very fidgety; have a short attention span; are compulsively aggressive; can hurt themselves and are sometimes very anti-social. All these traits are beyond the control of the children, who may well also suffer from a lack of co-ordination of the muscles. They collide with objects when trying such simple sports as cycling and swimming. Their finer senses, such as their eyes and hands, do not seem to operate together. They have difficulty with buttoning and tieing, writing, drawing and speaking—sometimes they are dyslexic.
As they grow older they become even more active and can easily hurt. Difficulties are experienced with speech, balance and learning, even if the IQ is high. They suffer from excessive thirst and are often prone to respiratory difficulties.
It was to help such parents and children that the Hyperactive Children’s Support Group was formed in 1977. It is now a registered charity. The Secretary is Mrs Sally Bunday, 71 Whyke Lane, Chichester, West Sussex P019 2LD (please enclose an SAE if you would like details of membership). The Group recommends that parents try a diet based on the work of Ben Feingold. First, this means cutting out all food and drink containing synthetic colours or flavours, avoiding glutamates, nitrites, nitrates, BHA, BHT and benzoic acid. Second, for the first four to six weeks, foods containing natural salicylates (like aspirin chemically) should be avoided and then re-introduced one at a time to see if they cause problems. Such foods include almonds, apples, apricots, peaches, plums, prunes, oranges, tomatoes, tangerines, cucumbers, most soft fruits, cherries, grapes and raisins.
The additives that the HACSG recommends should be avoided are:
| E102 | Tartrazine |
| E104 | Quinoline Yellow |
| 107 | Yellow 2G |
| E110 | Sunset Yellow FCF |
| E120 |
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