Is ADD Caused by Your Child's Environment?

Attention Deficit Disorder is a problem with many children. New research indicates that common household products may be related to your child's ability to focus in school.  Most parents don't realize that their kids are being exposed to various chemicals daily in their home and school. If your child has been diagnosed with ADD or ADHD, there are a few things to consider before you ask the pediatrician to prescribe Ritalin or the like. Phthlates, a additive to plastics to allow plastics to become softer and more flexible have been implicated in ADD in children. The phthlates are disrupting normal hormone synthesis and transmission leading to neurological toxicity or ADD. Phthlates are a fat soluable toxin which has also been implicated in the development of diabetes. 

So let's think about this....if phthlates are in molded plastics and soft plastic things like vinyl or flexible plastic toys you can imagine that your child has been exposed to a lot of phthlates in the short amount of time that they have been around. Also, since phthlates are fat soluble molecules the exposure to them can easily be stored in our fat cells and one of the biggest repositories of fat in your body is your brain. Apparently, mothers who test high in phthlates while pregnant will have children who score worse in aggression, attention and conduct than those children whose mother's had low levels of phthlates. 

If you are like me and was born in the 60's when the use of plastics was just starting to get integrated into everything we eat, drink and put on our skin. When I was a kid, Coke came in glass bottles or aluminim cans. Now even our water bottles are plastic. So not only is ADD and ADHD being diagnosed at record levels, so too is autism (something almost unheard of 25 years ago) and childhood obesity. 

No we can't blame it all on phthlates but it's a start to keep your kids healthy in the future. Remember that food colorings have also been implicated in ADD/ADHD so if your child is predisposed to have attention or focus problems, cutting out the Skittles and M&M's would be another step in the right direction. Lastly, I've found that many children in my practice who have temperment issues and frequent meltdowns or who deal with anger issues are vitamin B12 deficient. Particularly the methyl form of B12 injections can benefit them. Usually in these cases oral B12 supplements don't seem to work well. The most common form of B12 injections is in a cyano form meaning that the binder is bound to cyanide rather than methyl groups. The methy B12 is MUST more effective in children with temperment problems. A trial injection will give you a hint on whether or not this may be helpful for your child. Methyl B12 needs to be compounded by a pharmacy and are usually given in very small syringes with a very thin needle and is virtually painless. 

Parents can check their beauty products, skin products for chemical contamination on the Environmental Working Group's website.  The Cosmetic Safety Database is an invaluable resource for choosing healthier products for our kids.  Try and choose products that are 5 or less on the toxicity scale, preferably 3 or less.

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Great article. Some of these conditions are getting worse or spreading faster as time goes by because of everything that is coming out in our environment. I do hope that we can do something to prevent these things from happening.

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