Patricia Goeldner Honorary Secretary
The Queensland Allergy & Hyperactivity Association,
PO Box 107 Yeronga 4104 Brisbane Queensland Australia. Phone /
Fax (07) 3848 2321.
I have been involved as Honorary Secretary to the Queensland
Allergy and Hyperactivity Association for twenty two years. I
have spoken to many thousands of mothers when they phone and seek
help or advice, usually for a child who is not doing well at
school, fights with family members and other children, and seem
unable to respond to discipline or any advice offered. The child
is unhappy, has few friends, can't learn at school or play, and
causes great unhappiness and stress in the family, particularly
between Mum and Dad. The mothers I speak to desperately want to
help their child because they love him. They ask "Could my
child be food sensitive?" "Will diet help to control
his behaviour and constant ill-health, like his sore throats and
runny nose?" "Is he allergic? If so, to what. . . and
what foods could he be allergic to?" My advice to any Mother
is to try an elimination diet first to see if there is a change
in the child. There is nothing to be lost and everything to be
gained. Mothers have wept with relief and gratitude when
describing the change in the child after investigating food
sensitivity and identifying what the problem foods are. Results
can be so positive. Many, many thousands of families have had
this wonderful experience, and had a turn-around for the better
in the development and maturity of their child. Many families who
have passed through the Association over the last twenty two
years, have learned how to stay healthy by using a preventative
health nutrition program, after identifying just what foods they
are sensitive to. Joan Breakey's book - ARE YOU FOOD SENSITIVE -
is a wonderful compilation on the "how to look" for
food sensitivity . Joan has worked in an advisory capacity with
many of our families in the Association since 1976 and is a most
competent, professional and highly skilled dietitian, with
expertise specialising in the field of diet therapy for allergy,
behaviour, mood, learning and activity problems. I recommend ARE
YOU FOOD SENSITIVE to learn how to help your child and to have
good health, also for adults.
Catherine Saxelby, Dietitian and Consultant Nutritionist.
"Are you food sensitive?" contains a wealth of
information for both dietitians and people who wonder if they are
food sensitive. It has detailed diet information as well as all
the explanations that only an experienced dietitian can provide.
It provides an update on what to minimise or exclude, and how to
incorporate the family sensitivity history. Here under one cover
is a wealth of information from a dietitian whose long experience
in this complex area of diet therapy shows.
Karen McVilly. The Hyperactive
Children's Association of Victoria [ACTIVE Inc].
Ross House 247 Flinders Lane Melbourne Victoria 3000. Ph 03 9650
2570.
Website - http://avoca.vicnet.au/~active
Dietitian Joan Breakey spent most of her professional life
studying behaviour and food sensitivity at a clinical level, and
this book is the culmination of twenty years of researching,
publishing, and presenting in this area. Using studies of her
patients and world-wide research findings in this area, Joan
gained a Master of Applied Science for her research in this
field.
Joan's research into the relationship between diet and
hyperactivity showed that diet could have a role in ADHD, ADD,
mood changes, difficult behaviour and sleep problems. Joan's work
with hundreds of families as a dietitian led her to investigate
the link between diet and behaviour as well as physical symptoms
such as eczema, migraine, irritable bowel, stomach pains, hay
fever and other "allergic type" symptoms.
All too often, books in ADD and ADHD note that research has
indicated only a small percentage of ADD or ADHD children may be
affected by diet. Early research investigating the diet for
hyperactivity, popularised by Dr Ben Feingold generally disproved
a diet-behaviour connection, but Joan points out that there were
problems with the research methods used. Research since 1985 has
shown a significant diet-behaviour connection. There is a most
useful and readable summary of the most important research
articles in the first chapter of the book, with detailed
references in the Appendix.
Food sensitivity can be a mixture of food allergy and food
chemical intolerance. Joan discovered that very few food
sensitive people are sensitive to only one food or food chemical,
and so she has developed the "diet detective" process
to track down offending foods. The process explores the usual
suspects; additives and naturally occurring food chemicals. Foods
that cause reactions in family members are clues to the problem,
and the first stage of the trial diet is to eliminate these.
In her foreword to the book, psychiatrist Helen M. Connell
endorses the view of the National Health and Medical Research
Council [1997] that diet should only be used under the
supervision of a qualified dietitian.
The book includes valuable information on the use of commercial
foods, and on eating out. There are commercial food guidelines
for the "easy detective diet," and the '`finer points
detective diet" for those who are very food sensitive. Food
sensitivity in babies is covered as well as suggestions for
handling fussy eaters.
This is a very well researched book containing important
scientific and practical information. Readers will find Joan's
story of her research and clinical experience interesting. If
they have explored diet previously they will find that some of
their own discoveries will be confirmed by her findings. Those
exploring diet for the first time will have a comprehensive and
practical resource to guide them.
Kathryn Fergusson, recently qualified
dietitian
As a student dietitian I would firmly recommend reading
"Are you food sensitive?" It would be an invaluable
addition to all new graduate dietitians' resource library. I
found this book to be very comprehensive in its ability to guide
the reader with ease, through the complexity of the dietetic
management of food sensitivity. Food Sensitivity is an important
area in dietetics and it pays to be well prepared. This book will
help you achieve that.
Foreward to "Are you food sensitive?"
Whether an association exists between diet and
human behaviour is still a matter of controversy. Research in
this subject has focussed chiefly on 'hyperactive' [attention
deficit hyperactivity disorder - ADHD] children since Feingold
[1975] claimed that certain food additives aggravated hyperactive
behaviour and such behaviour could be controlled by their
elimination from the diet. He offered no scientific evidence for
this and the numerous studies which followed encountered
difficulties by way of matching groups of children and ensuring
that a given diet was strictly adhered to. Clinical evidence
provided by recent carefully planned and placebo-controlled
studies finds limited support for the influence of diet on
behaviour. It may be that food additives influence a limited and
as yet undefined subpopulation of ADHD children (Lewis 1996).
Recent follow-up studies have shown that ADHD may be carried over from childhood into adult life. If this is the case then presumably diet sensitivities may also persist. This is an area which has been minimally explored.
The National Health &Medical Research Council [1996] in an overview of the subject recommends that, should dietary manipulation be instituted in children with behaviour disorders, then it is imperative that it is carried out under the careful supervision of a qualified dietitian, preferably with experience in this area.
Mrs Breakey certainly meets both these criteria. She is an experienced dietitian who has spent most of her professional life studying behaviour and food sensitivity at the clinical level and has recently proceeded to Master of Applied Science with a thesis based on wide research coverage and studies of her patients. Her approach is clinically oriented and essentially pragmatic. Having worked for years with groups of mothers of hyperactive children she is the first to admit that factors other than diet may be also be operative when improvement occurs but describes her growing realisation that psychological factors [children living up to mother's expectations when given a diet and the special attention that goes with it] are not the only operative ones.
Her book is well organised, the style of writing clear and, most importantly, easy to understand. She writes in a 'detective' mode - starting which children may have problems with diet -what symptoms can they show and what substances are, or can be suspect? Then follows a very comprehensive coverage of how to detect offending substances, how to confirm that they are still operative as a child grows older and how dietary modification can be combined with medication and cognitive-behaviour therapy - both currently used in the management of ADHD. This is a practical book telling sufferers and parents of sufferers what to do if food sensitivity is suspected. Most importantly Mrs Breakey stresses the importance of ensuring adequate nutrition when a diet is under trial by substituting one substance for an offending one if necessary for health [hence the need for skilled professional advice] and how to cope with eventualities such as 'eating out' or fussy eating habits.
This book offers sound practical advice to anyone concerned with food sensitivity and grappling with the complex problem of diet and behaviour.
Dr Helen M. Connell AM. M.B., B.S., FRANZCP., FRCPsych., D.C.H. Child Psychiatrist.
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This site was last updated on: 25 April 2001