I was doing some research for a fiend whose child had just been “diagnosed” Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) by a school nurse who suggested drug therapy. My first thought was a Kindergarten version of ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’…dazed and compliant preschoolers.

In the past decade, ADHD, ”Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, a neurobehavioral developmental disorder has become one of the most commonly diagnosed conditions of childhood, and is being increasingly diagnosed in adults. ADHD is characterized by a persistent pattern of inattention and/or hyperactivity, as well as forgetfulness, poor impulse control or impulsivity, and distractibility. The pharmaceutical medical industrial complex currently considers ADHD a “persistent and chronic condition for which no medical cure is available. Methods of treatment usually involve some combination of medications, behavior modifications, life style changes, and counseling. (BTW side effects aside, MEDICAL TREATMENT is spelled with two-cha-chings!)

So how do most ‘school nurses’, Physicians’ assistants and doctors come up with the very common ADHD diagnosis? Most medical professions use the “Desk Reference to the Diagnostic Criteria From DSM-IV-TR®”, compiled by American Psychiatric Association. Available in a spiral-bound book, and online accessible by computer, or PDA, the diagnostic criteria from DSM-IV-TR® is one of the most commonly used tools used by Physicians and other “prescribing” health care professions. Another ‘tool’, Desk Reference (PDR), which includes every prescription drug package insert. The guides serve as ‘medical cliff notes’, listing symptoms, probably diagnosis, suggested drug protocols, prescription drug side effect information and possible drug interactions.

Guidelines issued by the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend medications like CONCERTA® among first-line therapies for children with ADHD as part of a comprehensive treatment program. Go to the CONCERTA® website(1), READ the SIDE EFFECTS.

What rational person would suggest a little kid’s developing brain be put at risk, to assure social compliance? I knew there had to be a better way to deal with “the fidgets” so I did what Inconvenient Women do best, I looked stuff up, and sent the results out to a few thousand of my closets friends.

In September of 2007, William Atkins did a brillant, if little noted, piece on hyperactivity in children. I found it on IWIRE one of my favorite obscure resource sources. For the full article go to: http://www.itwire.com/content/view/14399/1066/

Study links hyper kids with artificial preservatives and colorings

Sodium benzoate and other food preservatives and colorings have been linked with hyperactivity in children. Although such ingredients have been thought in the past to produce adverse behavior in children, this study is considered the first scientific evidence of its kind.

The British study from researchers at the University of Southampton, England, has found that the food preservative sodium benzoate (also called benzoate of soda, with chemical formula C₆H₅COONa), when found with food dyes and colorings, can increase hyperactive behavior in children. Jim Stevenson, psychologist at the University of Southampton, and lead researcher of the study states, “We now have clear evidence that mixtures of certain food colors and benzoate preservative can adversely influence the behavior of children. We have now shown that for a large group of children in the general population, consumption of certain mixtures of artificial food colors and benzoate preservative can influence their hyperactive behavior.”

Food colorings and preservatives–which are often found in sweets such as ice cream, candy, and soda, what children love to eat–were studied. For six weeks over one hundred fifty randomly three-year-olds and over one hundred forty randomly eight-year-olds, in Southampton, England, were studied as to their diet.

The children displayed behaviors previous to the study ranging from normal to hyperactive.

They were provided food that was free of additives. Each day they were given one drink, either fruit juice or one of two mixtures of sodium benzoate preservative and food colorings. One mixture contained sodium benzoate and sunset yellow, tartrazine, carmoisine, and ponceau. The other mixture contained sunset yellow quinoline yellow, carmoisine, and allura red. They were not told which they were given, the fruit juice or one of the two mixtures.

The children who were given the benzoate preservative and food coloring mixtures showed, in some cases, more hyperactive behavior than the children given fruit juice. However, the increases in hyperactive behavior were not consistent between the two mixtures. The researchers contend that the hyperactive behavior may be linked to sodium benzoate and one or more of the specific artificial colorings, rather than to all of the colorings.

The U.S.$1.5 million study was funded by the British Food Standards Agency (FSA) and written up on September 6, 2007, in the journal The Lancet.

From the website of the Food Standards Agency comes this advise, “Parents of children showing signs of hyperactivity are being advised that cutting certain artificial colours from their diets might have some beneficial effects. The colours – Sunset yellow (E110), Quinoline yellow (E104), Carmoisine (E122), Allura red (E129), Tartrazine (E102) Ponceau 4R (E124), and Sodium benzonate (E211) – were studied as part of new FSA-commissioned research.”

Within the Friday, September 7, 2007, FSA article “Agency revises advice on certain artificial colours”, Andrew Wadge, the FSA’s Chief Scientist, said: “This study is a helpful additional contribution to our knowledge of the possible effects of artificial food colours on children’s behaviour.”

“After considering the COT’s [Committee on Toxicity (COT)] opinion on the research findings we have revised our advice to consumers: if a child shows signs of hyperactivity or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) then eliminating the colours used in the Southampton study from their diet might have some beneficial effects.”

“However, we need to remember that there are many factors associated with hyperactive behaviour in children. These are thought to include genetic factors, being born prematurely, or environment and upbringing.”

“The Agency has shared these research findings with the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), which is currently conducting a review of the safety of all food colours that are approved for use in the European Union, at the request of the European Commission. This review is being undertaken because of the amount of time that has elapsed since these colours were first evaluated.”

“If parents are concerned about any additives they should remember that, by law, food additives must be listed on the label so they can make the choice to avoid the product if they want to.”

[William Atkins' note: When buying foods, always LOOK at the labels. What you don’t read may hurt you and your loved ones when you consume such foods.]

Inconvenient Women take action. If you know a mom who is drugging their child at the suggestion of a school nurse or family doctor, ask her to take this or other nutritional research to them and at least try to change their child’s diet before resorting to the BIG PHARM option.

If the child is a little girl, get her to a female pediatrician, specializing in precocious puberty. Girls as young as four and five years old are experiencing what their moms dealt with at twelve and thirteen. (See precocious puberty in IconicWoman article archive and go to: http://www.HolyHormones.com)

Explore every option before “medicating” compliant behavior.

(1) CONCERTA® and OROS® are registered trademarks of ALZA Corporation

This site and its contents are intended for USA audiences only.

©2012 An Inconvenient Woman. All Rights Reserved.

It’s a question many families are asking after reports last week that a chemical used to make baby bottles, water bottles and food containers is facing increasing scrutiny by health officials in Canada and the United States.

The substance is bisphenol-a, or BPA, widely used in the making of the hard, clear and nearly unbreakable plastic called polycarbonate. Studies and tests show that trace amounts of BPA are leaching from polycarbonate containers into foods and liquids.

While most of the focus is on products for children, including clear plastic bottles and canned infant formula, the chemical is also used in food-storage containers, some clear plastic pitchers used for filtered water, refillable water bottles and the lining of soft-drink and food cans.

While there is debate about how much of a health worry BPA really is, retailers including Wal-Mart have said they are withdrawing baby products made with it. Nalgene, the maker of a popular sports bottle, and the baby-products maker Playtex have announced they will stop using it.

Here are answers to some common questions about BPA.

What is the evidence that BPA is harmful?

It all comes from animal studies. Rat pups exposed to BPA, through injection or food, showed changes in mammary and prostate tissue, suggesting a potential cancer risk. In some tests of female mice, exposure appeared to accelerate puberty.

A draft report from the National Toxicology Program, part of the Department of Health and Human Services, notes that there is no direct evidence that human exposure to BPA harms reproduction or infant development. “I don’t think there’s anything in this brief that should lead to alarm,” said Dr. Michael D. Shelby, director of the Center for the Evaluation of Risks to Human Reproduction, who oversaw the report. “It means we’ve got a limited amount of evidence from some studies that were done in laboratory animals.”

The main concern is the possible risk to infants and pregnant women, although Canada has begun a study to monitor BPA exposure among about 5,000 people to assess any danger to adults.

How much BPA are we exposed to?

BPA migrates into food from polycarbonate plastic bottles or the epoxy resin coatings that line canned food. The typical adult ingests an estimated 1 microgram of BPA for every kilogram (2.2 pounds) of body weight. Babies who use polycarbonate bottles and formula from cans get more, an estimated 10 micrograms per kilogram of body weight. A microgram represents a trace amount. Consider this: a single M&M is about a gram. If you cut it into 100,000 slices, one slice would equal about 10 micrograms.

The 2003-4 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found detectable levels of BPA in 93 percent of urine samples collected from more than 2,500 adults and children over six.

How do I know if the plastic containers in my home contain BPA?

Any product made of hard, clear plastic is probably made from polycarbonate unless the manufacturer specifically states that it’s BPA-free. One way to check is to look for the triangle stamp on or near the bottom: polycarbonate plastics should have the numeral 7 in the triangle, sometimes with the letters PC.

Unfortunately, 7 is a catchall “other” category for a variety of plastics. In my own kitchen, I found just one product with a 7 — plastic fruit cups my daughter takes to school. But the plastic is soft and pliable, so it is probably not made with BPA.

I also found refillable water bottles without a stamp. Because they are hard, shatterproof and clear, it’s reasonable to assume they are made from polycarbonate.

What about canned food and drinks?

While much of the focus is on plastic bottles, most human exposure occurs through the lining of canned foods. Canned beverages appear to contain less of the chemical than canned foods like soup, pasta, fruits and vegetables, which are often processed at high temperatures. Virtually every canned product, even those labeled organic, has a liner with BPA. One brand, Eden Organic Baked Beans, says it uses a BPA-free can.

How do I lower my exposure?

Switch to frozen or fresh vegetables. Use glass, porcelain and stainless-steel containers, particularly for hot foods and liquids. If you don’t want to use a glass baby bottle, several companies, including the popular brand Born Free, now sell BPA-free baby bottles and sippy cups. For formula-fed babies, you can switch to powdered formula rather than liquid.

Although many plastic products claim to be microwave safe, some scientists warn against putting any plastic in the microwave. “There is such a wide variety now, from disposable containers to actual Tupperware,” says Dr. Anila Jacob, a senior scientist for the Environmental Working Group, a Washington-based advocacy group. “I don’t know of anyone who has done definitive testing of all these different types of plastic containers to see what is leaching into food.

Source:  Tara Parker-Pope, New York Times

©2012 An Inconvenient Woman. All Rights Reserved.

Early Puberty In Girls Due to Being Overweight As A Toddler

US scientists have shown that being overweight as a toddler increases the chance that a girl will reach puberty early.

The study from the University of Michigan’s Mott Children’s Hospital is published in the journal Pediatrics.

Dr Joyce Lee, the lead author, and colleagues used the data on 354 girls from age 3 who were enrolled in the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (SECCYD).

SECCYD is a national program run by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) where qualified researchers are permitted access to datasets if they fulfill the NICHD criteria.

The SECCYD data set offered the researchers the opportunity to look at longitudinal data on the girls at age 3 and 4.5, and then at school grades 1, 4, 5 and 6.

They looked at height and weight at each measurement stage, and from grades 4 to 6 they also looked at pubertal stage measurements (these were based on physical examination reports and reports completed by the girls’ mothers). They also took into account other factors such as race, the mother’s education and the mother’s age when she started menstruating.

The girls’ pubertal stage was assessed according to stage of breast development and start of the menstrual cycle.

Breast development was measured using Tanner Stages, a way of assessing physical development in children. For girls’ breasts Tanner Stage 1 is prepubertal and has no glandular tissue and Stage 2 is where the breast buds are forming. There are five Tanner stages altogether, with fully formed adult breasts at Stage 5.

Dr Lee and her team used statistical logistic regression to predict early versus late puberty from Body Mass Index (BMI) which combines weight and height.

Of the 354 girls, 168 of them (48 per cent) were classed as being “in puberty” by the age of 9, with 6.5 per cent having started their menstrual cycle by age 11.

The results showed that an earlier onset of puberty was positively and consistently linked to rate of change of BMI between age 3 and grade 1, an earlier age of the mother’s own start of menstruation, and being non-white.

The researchers said that before this study, all we knew was that higher BMI was linked to earlier onset of puberty but not which caused the other. Now this study shows it is highly likely that high BMI causes early puberty.

Other studies have shown that children are more obese than they were 30 years ago, and also that puberty in girls starts earlier than 30 years ago. Dr Lee and colleagues said their study offers strong evidence that being overweight in pre-puberty is what causes the early onset of puberty in girls.

Early onset of puberty in girls is a serious health issue because it is linked to increased mental problems, early abuse of alcohol, early sexual encounters and teenage pregnancy. It is also linked to increased obesity as a grown up and reproductive cancers, said the researchers.

“Weight Status in Young Girls and the Onset of Puberty.”

Joyce M. Lee, Danielle Appugliese, Niko Kaciroti, Robert F. Corwyn, Robert H. Bradley, and Julie C. Lumeng

Pediatrics Vol. 119 No. 3 March 2007, pp. E624-E630

doi:10.1542/peds.2006-2188

Click here for the US NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (SECCYD).

Written by: Catharine Paddock, Medical News Today

Copyright: Medical News Today

Posted with permission of Medical News Today

©2012 An Inconvenient Woman. All Rights Reserved.

Tied to Precocious Puberty

For the daughters of women accidentally exposed to a fire retardant chemical nearly three decades ago, the biological clock seems to be speeding up .

Precocious puberty is much more common among these young women, and a new study suggests that the change may be linked to their mothers’ contact with the chemical polybrominated biphenyl, or PBB.

That in turn raises the larger question, experts say, of environmental factors that slowly are lowering the age of puberty in North America.

In 1973, several thousand pounds of PBB accidentally were mixed with livestock feed that later was distributed to farms in Michigan. Over a million chickens, cows, pigs and sheep were contaminated, and the problem was identified when calves were stillborn or born with hoof deformities.

But by then, at least 4,000 people had been exposed to the chemical through meat and dairy products. PBB accumulates in fatty tissues around the body and can maintain its presence in people for roughly 13 to 29 years, depending on the level of exposure.

Researchers suspected that the chemical might interfere with hormone function, based on studies on animals, so they decided to check out the generation that followed those exposed in 1973.

They contacted all of the female children, now age 5 to 24, born to women exposed to the chemical in the Michigan incident. Those between 5 and 17 years of age filled out a questionnaire with their mothers, and those 18 and older were interviewed by phone. Information gathered included their age when menstruation started, current height and weight and a self-assessment of breast and pubic hair development in comparison with standardized drawings.

At the same time, led by associate professor of epidemiology Michele Marcus, the researchers estimated the daughters’ exposure in utero from blood serum measurements taken from their mothers after their exposure. The mothers’ levels  during pregnancy were calculated based on how quickly PBB breaks down and leaves the body.

This was coupled with exposure via breast milk after birth.

Mothers with the highest levels of PBB in their blood, who also breastfed their daughters, produced girls with the earliest menstruation, the study says.

“PBBs … do get concentrated in breast milk,” Marcus says, because the chemical binds to fat cells and breast milk has a very high fat content.

Girls who received both in utero and breast milk exposure to the chemical started their periods at the average age of 11.6, compared to 12.7 years in girls who were not breastfed.

Little is known about exactly how PBBs might effect the onset of puberty, although experts say it is known that the chemical binds to estrogen receptors and that PBBs and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) affect the thyroid gland.

Whether the chemical will clear the young women’s bodies before they reach their reproductive years also is not yet known, Marcus says. She plans further follow-up blood tests of the young women.

“The reason that this is important from a public health point of view is that it demonstrates that this type of chemical may be causing early puberty, and there are a lot of other chemicals in the environment that are more widely disseminated that may be acting similarly,” Marcus says. The young women in the study don’t meet the normal standards for precocious puberty, she says.

Marcia Herman-Giddens, an adjunct associate professor of maternal and child health at the University of North Carolina, calls this “a very serious public health issue.”

“It adds to the concern about what sort of effect these endocrine disrupters are having on people, especially children,” Herman-Giddens says.

Aside from isolated incidents like the one in Michigan, she says, the age of onset of puberty — the appearance of breast development and pubic hair — is falling in all North American girls. Menstruation now starts at an average age of 12, but a growing number of girls as young as 9 are beginning to have menstrual periods.

Source: Findings appear in a recent issue of Epidemiology.

©2012 An Inconvenient Woman. All Rights Reserved.