Can Diet Changes Really Transform ADHD? One Family’s Remarkable Discovery

A ‘few-foods’ diet may be a promising approach for those with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and could cut down on preschool medication use.

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In the most unexpected way, Jenny Dunlap stumbled upon a solution for her oldest son’s attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

When her youngest child was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, Dunlap’s whole family stopped eating sugar and grains. After eliminating these foods, her older son, John—whose behavioral and social struggles had not been resolved with various therapies or medication—was suddenly like a different person.

“He brought home A [grades],“ Dunlap said. ”All of his teachers were happy. He was organized. His constipation went away. All sleep issues went away. There were no peer problems anymore. It was literally like a light switch.”

John Dunlap (L) smiles alongside his younger brother Will Dunlap, whose Type 1 diabetes diagnosis led to John's attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder improvements. Courtesy of Jenny Dunlap

Removing certain foods from a child’s diet appears to be a promising therapeutic approach for those with ADHD. Diet is not likely to be recommended in a conventional setting because special diets are among lifestyle modifications that are often dismissed for having too little evidence or benefit to recommend. However, there is evidence elsewhere.

Power of Elimination

Some children with ADHD may benefit from avoiding certain foods, according to a review on the role of nutrition in managing ADHD. Published in Current Nutrition Reports, the review found scant evidence to support supplementing with micronutrients, probiotics, and omega-3 fatty acids.

However, a diet described as a “few-foods diet” may become a therapeutic option for children with ADHD. The strategy involves eliminating most foods from the diet for a period of time and then slowly reintroducing them one at a time to see whether they trigger ADHD symptoms.

Up to 60 percent of those using the diet responded positively, the authors wrote, revealing the role food intolerance may play in ADHD symptomatology.

“This promising personalized nutrition-based approach to the management of ADHD deserves further systematic investigation and should be considered in all children with ADHD,” the authors wrote.

The review cites several double-blind, placebo-controlled studies that have linked foods to ADHD triggers and linked the few-foods diet to improvement of symptoms. The few-foods diet eliminates all but easily digestible, plain foods such as lamb, turkey, rice, butter, corn, potatoes, honey, and some vegetables.

Other research has shown that hyperactivity in children is associated with artificial food colors and chemical preservatives.

Currently, treatment guidelines from the American Academy of Pediatrics highlight diet modification among non-medication treatments for ADHD that have either too little evidence to recommend or have little or no benefit. The academy did not respond to a question from The Epoch Times about whether recommendations have been updated to include diet.

Official Recommendations

Currently, conventional treatment for children with ADHD involves either medication or behavioral therapy.

Medication should not be a first-line treatment for preschoolers. Instead, younger children should first receive behavioral classroom interventions.

Parent training in behavior management is so effective for all children that the American Academy of Pediatrics guidelines suggest that it be recommended before pursuing an ADHD diagnosis.

Methylphenidate, a nervous system stimulant known by brand names such as Concerta and Ritalin, can be used for 4- and 5-year-olds if behavioral interventions do not result in significant improvement and if there is moderate to severe functional disturbance.

“The clinician needs to weigh the risks of starting medication before the age of 6 years against the harm of delaying treatment,” the guidelines state.

However, there is concern that medication might be given too soon in many cases. A recent study published in JAMA Network Open found that among preschool-age patients who visited their primary care doctor for ADHD at eight U.S. health systems, 68.2 percent were prescribed medication and 42.2 percent had medications prescribed within 30 days of their diagnosis.

The guidelines note that methylphenidate is the only ADHD medication that can be used for preschoolers, as it has the best safety and efficacy record. Nevertheless, the guidelines state that the drug does not have Food and Drug Administration approval for use in preschool-age children. Methylphenidate can cause low appetite, sleep disruption, headache, increased heart rate, and other side effects.

Proper Use of Medication

Dunlap was less concerned with the official guidelines and more focused on following her intuition when John was young. That meant avoiding medication as long as possible.

The wild one of her three children, John often got into trouble. He lost friends and was kicked off a team sport. His teachers frequently complained, and after various vitamins, cognitive behavioral therapy, coping skills, and meditation failed, Dunlap finally relented and got the medication she had been avoiding. By then, John was in fourth grade.

Until his diet changed, John Dunlap could not focus on schoolwork. Courtesy of Jenny Dunlap

Jenny Dunlap continues to be amazed by the unprovoked emails from teachers who tell her what a great kid her son John is. For years, the only notes she received were about his disruptive behavior. Courtesy of Jenny Dunlap

John tried several stimulant medications until he ended up on Concerta, which Dunlap described as “the best of the worst.” Still, the drug was not a panacea. John struggled emotionally and did not have optimal sleep or bowel movement habits.

Reflecting on John’s journey, Dunlap said she was frustrated that nutrition and diet were never addressed at any of the appointments John had over the years, particularly after failed cognitive behavioral therapy and continued struggles.

“It’s just so easy to label everybody, and it’s too easy to hand out these prescriptions,” Dunlap said. “Parents aren’t told, ‘Hey, let’s check some other avenues and see why your kid is behaving this way.’”

Food as a Root Cause?

It is conceivable that poor, sugar-laden eating patterns are driving symptoms that mimic or exacerbate ADHD, psychotherapist Karen A. Dwyer-Tesoriero told The Epoch Times.

One common scenario is children who eat sugary cereals for breakfast, starting their school day with a sugar crash that causes them to act out or become lethargic and inattentive, she said.

Psychologists and researchers Bonnie J. Kaplan and Julia J. Rucklidge recommended dietary changes before counseling and family therapy.

In their book, “The Better Brain,” they wrote that mental health clinics should educate all new referrals on nutrition and how to shop for whole foods. They estimated that one-third of mental health referrals, including those with ADHD, would need no further services if they adjusted their diets.

“Given that all our mental health resources are stretched very thin, isn’t this a good-news story?” they wrote, noting that during their years of practice, their clients reported that they could better implement therapeutic strategies once they began eating more whole foods.

The Ease and Affordability of Diet

A good start is eliminating artificial dyes, flavors, and additives, according to Julie Matthews, certified nutrition consultant and author of “The Personalized Autism Nutrition Plan,” a book that also covers ADHD.

From there, parents can consider a gluten-free diet, dairy-free diet, or the Feingold diet, a whole food diet with no artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives that is also low in naturally occurring salicylates, a toxin produced by some plants, Matthews told The Epoch Times.

In an observational study Matthews authored on various healthy diets in children with autism, the Feingold diet was found to reduce hyperactivity by 45 percent.

“It comes down to what is bothering the individual and removing that,” she said. “It’s a bit tragic that something so simple could make such a profound difference, and yet people are not hearing about it when it’s such an easy thing to change.”

In some cases, according to Matthews, there may be imbalances in the gut microbiome or other nutritional changes that are more difficult to pinpoint. However, in many cases, it boils down to eating a healthier diet with fewer additives.

A plant-based Mediterranean diet, for instance, has proven beneficial for brain health along with other lifestyle interventions such as sleep and exercise.

Careful Integration of Guidelines

Medication is helpful, and it has a place among other tools.

Integrative pediatrician Dr. Joel “Gator” Warsh told The Epoch Times that a careful application of ADHD recommendations should involve earnestly trying behavioral therapy and parent training before medication, particularly in younger children, as the guidelines suggest.

Cognitive behavioral therapy begins with a diagnosis that identifies a child’s unique struggles and then involves tools that target that child’s specific struggles, such as improving focus or reducing impulsivity.

Parent training is used to educate parents on the way their child’s brain works and how to best support deficiencies with tools learned in therapy.

“When symptoms remain severe—impacting safety, school performance, relationships, and daily functioning—medications can have an important role,” Warsh said. “In those cases, short-term use of stimulants, carefully monitored, can give children the ability to focus, follow routines, and begin building healthier work and life habits.”

The goal is to use the lowest effective dose for the shortest time necessary while continuing to work on behavioral, educational, and lifestyle changes, he said.

Other Options

Besides behavioral and parental training, experts said, there are plenty of other ways to deal with symptoms such as hyperactivity, behavioral outbursts, and lack of focus, which are common in young children.

Warsh suggested offering daily opportunities for vigorous play, creating more structured routines, reducing screen time, and optimizing sleep. Additionally, there could be underlying contributors such as anxiety, learning differences, and poor gut health.

Be cautious about trendy programs, he said, such as mindfulness apps and broad elimination diets, for which evidence is mixed. Consider asking about an individualized education program at school.

Dwyer-Tesoriero suggested some strategies that can work in the morning and evening when parents are most likely to be with their children:

• Identify an exercise or movement such as dancing or stretching that your child likes and encourage it daily.
• Encourage kids to hyperfocus on something they love.
• If children start misbehaving, calmly tell them that there will be consequences, rather than reacting to intense emotions.
• Pick one battle at a time, such as working on closing cabinet doors after use. Do not work on other behaviors until they have mastered one.
• Substitute immediate rewards for behavior charts, such as offering time for video games when you notice that children have behaved well or have completed a task without asking.
• Use visual checklists for routine expectations, such as for getting dressed and ready to leave the house or for brushing teeth.

It is helpful to remember that not all ADHD traits are negative, Dwyer-Tesoriero said, noting that some are actually quite useful.

“There are a lot of careers out there that really lend themselves to ADHD,” she said. ”Our society is filled with adults who have ADHD, and it is not, for lack of a better word, like the kiss of death.”