The role of food

Diet, Allergies and Biochemical Factors

Diet plays a crucial role in neurological health as well as physical health. As the saying goes, "We are what we eat." If a child does not eat well, there can be numerous repercussions. In addition, the foods of the past were possibly of higher quality than those that we eat today. More plants were organically grown and soils were rich in a wide range of important minerals. Today's commercial farmers use fertilisers, herbicides, fungicides, pesticides and bactericides. In the past, meat products were also raised in a more natural and less polluted environment. Animals are no longer free-roaming and their feed contains many pesticides, and even antibiotics.

In many countries, fish are found to be polluted with mercury. Food manufacturers can put hormones and other undesirable substances into food without our knowledge. Processed foods in particular lack essential nutrients and a diet containing too many of these may negatively affect a child's health and neurological development. It is important to remember that the further removed a food is from its natural form, the more likely it contains additives. So foods that are boxed or canned usually have more additives than those that are frozen. Fresh foods have the least amount of additives and sometimes none at all.

This website is too restricted in scope to thoroughly address the many factors related to diet that can cause underachievement in children. It needs our careful attention to aspects of your child's diet (or your own) that may help to identify nutritional sources of learning and behaviour difficulties.

There are three other important sources of problems related to diet. It would be well worth your while to read about them. They are:

• Allergies
• The role of Essential Fatty Acids
• Hypoglycemia

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