They Are What You Feed Them: How Food Can Improve Your Child’s Behaviour, Mood and Learning. Dr Richardson Alex
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Today children with these symptoms are often given labels like ADHD, ASD or dyspraxia/dyslexia, without anyone even thinking of assessing their nutritional status.
The early signs of vitamin B3 deficiency are digestive problems, sometimes eating difficulties, muscular weakness and skin problems.
Vitamin B3 is found in meat, poultry and fish, nuts and yeast extract. Your body can also make B3 from an amino acid called tryptophan (found in eggs and dairy products).
Dermatitis (dry, itchy or scaly skin) and diarrhoea, along with attention or memory problems, can indicate a lack of vitamin B3.15
Without B6 you can’t make serotonin (that feel-good neurotransmitter, a lack of which is usually the rationale for prescriptions of Prozac and other ‘SSRIs’),16 Recognized B6 deficiency signs can include dermatitis (skin inflammation), depression, confusion and convulsions (and, as one drug company website puts it in a rare but laudable display of honesty, ‘an outbreak of convulsions in infants did follow the inadvertent destruction of vitamin B6 in infant formulas’).17 Incidentally, if you drink a lot of alcohol, use contraceptive pills or take oestrogen supplements (such as HRT), any of these can increase your chances of B6 deficiency. As can a poor diet – although some people may need more B6 than others for genetic reasons, as with any nutrient.
Folate or folic folic acid (vitamin B9) is present in almost all natural foods, but processing destroys up to 90 per cent. It’s needed (with B12) for DNA synthesis—required whenever you make new body or brain cells. Lack of folic acid during pregnancy can cause spina bifida—a serious developmental defect. In the US, flour is now re-fortified with folic acid. In the UK in April 2006 the Food Standards Agency sanctioned a consultation exercise, alongside consumer research, to decide on a recommendation to Government ministers about adding folic acid to some flours used in bread production.
B6, B12 and folic acid all work together to keep down levels of homocysteine. High levels of this substance are thought to be an important risk factor for heart disease and stroke.
Deficiencies of B12 can lead to memory loss, disorientation, hallucinations and tingling in the arms and legs. Vegetarians, and particularly vegans, need to take B12 supplements because this nutrient is found only in animal products. Others—particularly the elderly—may have trouble absorbing B12 as they lack the ‘intrinsic factor’ needed to do this. Some people diagnosed with dementia or Alzheimer’s disease may be suffering from vitamin B12 deficiency—which is rather more easily reversed.18
Research is only just starting to explore the potential of B vitamins in managing depression (and other mood-related disorders), dementia (and other disorders of memory and thinking) and other mental health conditions. At present, the most rigorously controlled trials show only marginal evidence of benefits in depression and dementia19—but following pharmaceutical tradition, most studies use only a single B vitamin in isolation (usually B6, B12 or folate). Foods usually provide the whole spectrum – and other nutrients, too.
Because we can’t store B vitamins, anyone who’s under stress or leads a hectic lifestyle runs the risk of depleting their supplies unless these are topped up regularly. Some medications can also deplete B vitamins—as can eating processed foods. Children with ADHD are often deficient in B vitamins, and several studies—including controlled trials—show some benefits from giving vitamin B6 (with magnesium) to autistic children.20
So does your child get enough B vitamins? National surveys show that many children in the UK don’t.21 The diets of more than one in five girls between 11 and 18 years of age were seriously lacking in vitamin B2 (riboflavin). Fewer boys and younger children had such low intakes, but blood tests of the functional efficiency of B2 gave no cause for complacency. These showed B2 deficiency in 75 per cent of boys and 87 per cent of girls between the ages of 4 and 18, and the risk increased with age. In girls aged 15-18 years, almost all of them (95 per cent) were B2 deficient on this measure. Riboflavin is needed for normal cell function, growth and energy-production. Your teenage daughter may benefit rather more from knowing that a lack of B2:
will impair her coordination on the dance floor
can also prevent conversion of vitamin B6 to its active form (see above for what that could do); and
can cause both fatigue and some nasty skin lesions—including dry, cracked or sore skin around the mouth or elsewhere, including some embarrassing places.
It’s another sad fact, but appeals to your child’s vanity are likely to work far better than concerns about her health. You could try adding (to both her and her brother) that early signs of B1 (thiamine) deficiency include fatigue, irritation, poor memory, sleep disturbances, anorexia, abdominal discomfort and constipation. (Sound familiar? And that’s all well before the full syndrome of beri-beri kicks in. Do look that one up before they start drinking too much alcohol).22 Serious dietary deficiency of B1 affects one in eight of both boys and girls aged between 15 and 18 years—and 70 per cent of this age group consume less than the ‘reference nutrient intake’ (or RNI—the amount needed to keep most of the population healthy). And we wonder why our teenagers have problems with mood, behaviour and learning!
These figures—and many others from these UK national surveys—are worrying enough, but it’s worth pointing out again that none of our official recommendations for ‘adequate’ nutrient intakes has ever considered the possible effects on our brains or behaviour. As my colleague Bernard Gesch is fond of pointing out, the current ‘nutrient intake’ recommendations are estimates of the minimum you need just to ‘stop bits dropping off you’! We really don’t know, without more research, whether higher intakes might lead to better functioning, but there’s certainly evidence to suggest this for at least some nutrients. For example, more Vitamin B1 seemed to improve attention and reaction times in young women in controlled trials.23 Even though they weren’t initially deficient on standard tests, they performed better with extra thiamine, and reported feeling more clear-headed, composed and energetic. (See also Chapter 9 for evidence that more omega-3 fatty acids—for which ‘reference nutrient intakes’ haven’t even been established yet—could benefit mental performance.)
The B range of vitamins is found in eggs, meat, dairy products and a wide range of grains and vegetables. Some forms of yeast can be a very good source, but may not be suitable for everyone, as discussed in the next chapter.
Food for Thought
In a study of patients with biochemical evidence of thiamine (B1) deficiency related to junk food diets, the adolescents especially were found to be quick to anger, irritable, aggressive and impulsive.24
Just one reason why refined sugars (for example, in soft drinks) are so bad for your child is that they help deplete his body of B vitamins and essential minerals such as magnesium and zinc. Lack of these can lead to mental and physical disorders—which may then get treated with drugs…which may deplete B vitamins further!
Minerals
Your child needs the full range of vitamins for her body and brain to function properly—and these can’t be absorbed without minerals to help them. Minerals also help build your body cells (bones, teeth, muscle, blood, soft tissue, nerves and so on) and are vital in other ways. Important in digestion and in the use of other nutrients,