Kids, Junk Food & ADHD

Kids and junk food go hand-in-hand, but could that be one reason behind the rise in ADHD.

It looks like food might affect more than just the weight of a child, especially if they have ADHD.

Over the last few years, there have been a lot of diets that claim to help control Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in kids. These have included diets that restricted certain types of food coloring or eliminated things they might be allergic to like wheat, eggs or nuts. But researchers found that these types of restrictive diets don't actually do much in the way of controlling ADHD symptoms. Instead these researchers found that the best way to help out, diet wise, was to put the child on what is essentially a healthy and balanced eating program. After looking at more than 70 prior studies and grouping the results all together, these researchers found that a simple diet high in whole grains along with fruits and veggies, while staying low in fats did the best at controlling kids ADHD symptoms.

But they also point out that oftentimes diet alone might not do the trick and should be used in combination with behavioral therapy and treatments with medication when needed. But all in all, getting your kids on a healthy diet, in addition to simply keeping them healthier, might also get some behaviors under control.