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Natural Nutrition for ADHD Children |
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ADHD book review |
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Review
copyright C 2000 Andrew W. Saul and revised
July, 2009. This book
has more recently been re-issued as Healing Children's Attention &
Behavior Disorders: Complementary Nutritional & Psychological Treatments.
Dr. Hoffer's ABC of Natural Nutrition
for Children A riddle: how many years
does it take for a new way of treating behavior disorders in children to be
generally accepted? The answer is forty, according to Abram Hoffer, M.D,
Ph.D. There are few physicians who have sufficient experience to personally
validate such a claim, but Dr. Hoffer can. He pioneered megavitamin research
and treatment back in the early 1950's, and, half a century later, has still
been largely ignored by the medical profession. Why? Because Dr. Hoffer
treated ADHD kids with vitamins. And, he got results. Dr. Hoffer's ABC of
Natural Nutrition for Children is a concise and powerful book. Pages 18-30 alone contain
enough information to set the medical profession on its ear. This section
forms the most elegant explanation of orthomolecular (megavitamin) medicine
since Linus Pauling's historic 1968 paper in Science. In fact, Hoffer
had a 17- year jump on Pauling; vitamin B-3 (niacin, or niacinamide) to treat
behavioral disorders was first used by Hoffer and colleague Dr. Humphrey
Osmond in 1951. Niacin worked then, and it works now. I know a 10 year old boy
who was having considerable school and behavior problems. Interestingly
enough, the child was already on physician-prescribed little bits of niacin,
with a total daily dose of less than 150 mg. Not a bad beginning, since
the RDA for kids is under 20 mg/day. But it wasn't enough to be effective,
and the boy was slated for the Ritalin-for-lunch bunch. Dr. Hoffer suggested
trying him on 500 mg niacinamide three times daily (1,500 mg total).
That's a lot, but niacinamide is a comfortable, flush-free form of vitamin
B-3. So Mom tried it. What a difference! People often ask,
"If this treatment is so good, how come my doctor doesn't know about
it? How come it is not on the news?" The answer may have
more to do with medical politics than with medical science. Consider Hoffer's
views on Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: "The DSM system (the
standard of the American Psychiatric Association) has little or no relevance
to diagnosis. It has no relevance to treatment, either, because no matter
which terms are used to classify these children, they are all recommended for
treatment with drug therapy" combined, sometimes, with other
non-megavitamin approaches. "If the entire diagnostic scheme were
scrapped today, it would make almost no difference to the way these children
were treated, or to the outcome of treatment. Nor would their patients
feel any better or worse." Statements like these do not exactly endear
one to the medical community. And, as if such
statements are not enough, Hoffer then devotes the balance of the book to
setting out genuine nutritional alternatives to drug therapy for ADHD
children. He provides vitamin dosage details, food tables, and over 150
references. In addition, 120 case histories are included, along with a
"Bad Foods" list, numerous research summaries, precise
recommendations for optimum diet, comparisons of drugs and vitamins, a
discussion of allergies and food additives, behavioral self-tests, and, most
importantly, a wealth of professional experience. The best part of Dr.
Hoffer's ABC of Natural Nutrition for Children is that it is a book of
practical, positive advice. Criticisms and even lawsuits over the hazards of
tranquilizers, Ritalin, and related pharmaceuticals are on the rise, but
neither court nor controversy can cure your child. "Battered
parents" (Hoffer's term) need to know what to do, and now. Saying
no to drugs" also requires saying "yes" to something else.
That something else is nutrition, properly employed. For those who say there is
insufficient scientific evidence to support megavitamin therapy for
children's behavior disorders, I say they haven't been looking hard enough.
Hoffer and his colleagues conducted the first double-blind controlled vitamin
trials in psychiatric history in 1952. He was among the first to employ
vitamin C as an antioxidant, use the B-vitamins against heart disease, and,
with Dr. Osmond, was the first to employ niacin to treat behavioral
disorders. Dr. Hoffer has over 500 publications to date. This single
book (and he has written nearly 30 others) will present the reader with the
most comprehensive and comprehensible review of vitamin therapy for ADHD that
I have yet seen. The simple way to
determine whether vitamins will help your child is to try them. Read Dr.
Hoffer's ABC of Natural Nutrition for Children for invaluable guidance
from the foremost authority on the subject. Andrew Saul is the author of the books FIRE
YOUR DOCTOR! How to be Independently Healthy (reader reviews at
http://www.doctoryourself.com/review.html
) and DOCTOR YOURSELF: Natural Healing that Works. (reviewed at http://www.doctoryourself.com/saulbooks.html
) Along with Dr. Hoffer,
he is also the author of ORTHOMOLECULAR
MEDICINE FOR EVERYONE (2008) and THE
VITAMIN CURE FOR ALCOHOLISM (2009) More about these books is posted at http://www.doctoryourself.com/2008books.html
For ordering
information, Click
Here .
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