Love for Life

BRAIN FOOD

INTRO

Learning difficulties and challenging behaviours are directly linked to the food our children eat, more and more studies are confirming. For some children, the effects of having too much, or even a small amount, of the “wrong” food – sometimes seemingly healthy foods – can set off sleep difficulties, sudden mood swings, food intolerances and other chronic health problems. Patricia Hoyle investigates.

TEXT

If our child has poor sleep, challenging behaviour, or is not performing well at school, we usually think of psychological causes, or put it down to a temporary “phase”, and then hope like crazy the problem will go away. It’s often not until our child is not gaining weight, has chronic diarrhoea, or some other obvious physical symptom that we seek help. And sometimes this means navigating a maze of experts before finding the right treatment.

One such mother, Tess, started to think something was not right when her 18 month old son James wasn’t attempting to talk, had no socialisation skills, lacked eye contact and was often irritable. Pale with dark rings under his eyes, he was also having sleep difficulties – he would be so hyped up before going to bed that it would be almost impossible for him to wind down and he would thrash around in the bed pulling his hair. On outings, James found it difficult to cope with new situations and would scream and scream, or go to sleep as an escape. He was also having 6 or 7 throw down tantrums a day – Tess started to avoid going out, becoming more and more isolated and lonely at a time when she badly needed support, especially since she had just given birth to her second child.

It was hard for Tess to see other children of her son’s age taking off developmentally and while at first she wanted to believe her well meaning friends who kept saying they thought James was “fine”, her gut instinct told her this wasn’t just a “stage”. Tess and her husband, who was at first sceptical, sought help from their GP, paediatrician and speech therapists (for James’s delayed speech), and also considered contacting a sleep clinic. At one point it was suggested that James could have autistic spectrum disorder. Through Tess’s sheer perseverance, and after 8 months of searching and great financial cost, James finally got the help he needed and is now “a changed little boy”.

Frances’s mother Fiona described her third daughter as a “dream baby” who slept well until she was 5 ½ months old. At about this time Fiona gradually started to introduce solid foods while continuing to breastfeed Frances, a not uncommon practice in our culture and one often recommended by health professionals. Then Frances started waking frequently suffering from wind. Due to poor quality sleep, she was more irritable during the day and a vicious cycle set in – poor quality sleep tends to lead to further poor quality sleep. And of course Fiona was also not sleeping well, often feeling tired and irritable with the added responsibility of looking after two other children. Fortunately Fiona was already aware of the possibility of food intolerance, as well as being part of a supportive community, and was able to find the right help for Frances quickly.

Both James and Frances have increased intestinal permeability (also known as “leaky gut syndrome”), a syndrome where the, normally leak-proof, lining of the intestine is damaged. When the gut is inflamed it doesn’t absorb nutrients and foods properly, allowing undigested protein, carbohydrate and fat, as well as fragments from microorganisms (microscopic organisms), to pollute the blood. This can cause fatigue, bloating and discomfort, similar to what you might feel after overeating. Of course very young children have no way of verbalising this feeling and may cry more than usual. Other symptoms could include restless sleep, hyperactivity, diarrhoea, constipation, dark rings under the eyes, mood swings, and sugar cravings.

A common condition – although not often diagnosed by GPs – increased intestinal permeability is not a fad New Age illness. It’s important to take this syndrome seriously – if it’s allowed to become chronic, more serious incurable autoimmune illnesses, including coeliac disease, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, thyroiditis and multiple sclerosis can result. Research is also finding a strong link between gut problems and autism spectrum disorders, attention deficit disorder (ADD) and attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD), with 50% of children with autism found also to have increased intestinal permeability.

While it may seem harmless once in a while to give in to your children’s demands for junk food, the “easy way out” can become a hard road back to health. One major junk food binge, or single course of antibiotics (or anti-inflammatory drugs) may create a leaky gut condition within hours, according to Dr Michael Lyon MD, author of Is Your Child’s Brain Starving?. If the diet then lacks the proper nutritional support to repair the injured gut lining, or if the irritation continues, a leaky gut can become a persistent problem.

Dr Antony Underwood, a Sydney based paediatrician says a common scenario is a child who has had frequent ear infections treated by antibiotics which deplete the intestines of their natural flora. If the gut is not in optimal shape, and certain foods (such as wheat) are introduced before the healthy intestinal flora is restored, the body is overloaded and a food intolerance develops. Ongoing nutritional deficiencies, exposure to heavy metals common in our environment, severe emotional or low grade chronic stress, or trauma, gastro-intestinal parasites, intestinal bacterial infections or overgrowth (such as candida albicans) eating too many starchy or sugary foods, and unmanaged food allergies or intolerances, are also risk factors for developing increased intestinal permeability.

The health of the mother both before and during pregnancy has a strong bearing on whether her child develops increased intestinal permeability. If a mother has taken antibiotics before pregnancy and the good bacteria in her intestines have not been restored properly, or if she has a significant history of candida, her child is more at risk of developing increased intestinal permeability. Breastfeeding mothers also need to be aware of any foods they are eating that might contribute to a leaky gut in their babies.

Treatment for increased intestinal permeability is relatively simple and effective and usually involves diet changes, vitamin and mineral supplementation, probiotics (health conferring microorganisms) and detoxification. Once a child receives the right treatment, the prognosis is good, says Dr Underwood, and children can gradually return to a normal diet rotating the foods that they were previously intolerant to. Treatment can take up to two years but often the problem is resolved in 6 to 12 months.

Both Tess and Fiona noticed a marked difference in their children once they started the right treatment. In just 3 ½ months James went from saying only a few words to uttering sentences of 5 words – a developmental leap greater than the normal expected progression at his age. He also started to make eye contact, stopped having throw down tantrums and became calmer with no sleep difficulties. As a result, his confidence has increased and he now has a healthy appetite for the right foods, rather than craving the foods that were harming him. Frances started sleeping better, was no longer troubled by wind so cried less.

Minimising the amount of dairy and gluten (a protein component of wheat, barley, triticale, rye and possibly oats) in all children’s diets, and not introducing solids containing gluten or dairy until at least one year old, and preferably two, is generally a good health strategy and one way to reduce the risk of increased intestinal permeability, says Polly Wilkie, Director of Care Clinic, a multidisciplinary health centre that diagnoses and treats children and adults for increased intestinal permeability and other conditions. Dr Underwood also advises not introducing solid foods to any baby until they are 6 months old.

Parents often have a panic reaction when it is suggested they minimise or eliminate (if total elimination is indicated by symptoms) dairy, in particular, from their children’s diet as they worry about lack of calcium. In our Western culture we may also feel we’re depriving our children if we don’t give them sweet treats, fast food, or junk food in tempting shiny packets now and then. But a treat doesn’t have to be bad for you as Tess’s son James found when she made him buckwheat pancakes topped with carob. And a rice milk smoothie with ground almonds sweetened with stevia (a natural sweet herb used by diabetics) or honey, makes a delicious healthy treat full of calcium.

At times it can feel overwhelming to have to maintain a different diet – albeit a healthy one – from other children, especially at birthday parties and other social occasions. And as Fiona found it can be frustrating and time consuming preparing special food for her daughter Frances, a slightly different and very limited diet for herself, and then other food for her husband and two older daughters.

But if the gut isn’t healthy, neither is the rest of the body and once you experience parenting a happy, thriving, healthy child, instead of a cranky, tired and sickly one, it becomes well worth the effort. Children themselves, once they realise how much better they feel on a new healthier diet, will usually happily eat the foods that make them feel good and avoid the ones that make them feel lousy.

A special thank you to Polly Wilkie for her invaluable help in writing this article. Also to the mothers for sharing their experiences and to Dr Antony Underwood for his insights.

Some names have been changed by request.

Resources

Recipes to the Rescue, Jann Bonner, Lindy Kingsmill, Suzanne Morrow
www.coeliac.org.au

Check the telephone directory for the Coeliac Society in your State

Disclaimer
This article is not intended as medical advice and any major dietary modifications need to be under the supervision of a health professional. There are also many reasons for behavioural and learning difficulties, and gastrointestinal problems in children –investigation, such as urine analysis, needs to be carried out by a health practitioner with an interest and experience in increased intestinal permeability. Symptoms may vary from child to child and will not necessarily be identical to the examples in this article.