Joe Wicks says junk food causes ADHD

Ooooooh this sort of thing gives me the rage!

We hardly eat any particularly processed food at all. DS has ADHD.

Yes you have to be careful with what children who have ADHD eat, as protein helps them to regulate, Omega 3 taken regularly has been proven to help their concentration, and too much sugar is problematic for them. But it doesn’t cause the actual condition.

Christ Almighty @Nelfif I really hope you're lying about working in mental health🤣🤣

I think ultra processed food and sweeteners can make symptoms worse in some people ... And these are found in healthy and unhealthy foods. It's not about good or bad diets it's about what companies put in the food. Many healthy kids things have harmful sweeteners in them... "Sugar free" squash, juice, yogurts etc. The sugar tax backfired. Now there's sweeteners in everything and some people think they can have more because it's "healthy". These ultra processed ingredients can contribute to the symptoms of many physical and mental conditions so it's not blaming anyone to say in some they can affect (not cause!) adhd

There are factors in our systems that can help ADHD symptoms. Diagnosis and medication is part of what helps, but there are other parts too - diet, sleep, behaviour, environment, all help or hinder symptoms.

😂😂😂😂

Oh look he says this and just happens to have a cookbook coming out. Complete snake oil salesman seedy.

As others have said, he’s an influencer with no medical qualifications or experience at all. Hopefully he realises how ridiculous he’s been with his opinion.

I dont think anyone can take issue with him generally promoting a good diet and exercise for everyone (stick to what you actually know Joe).

Sugar makes my ADHD worse as does screen time. Big time.

I’m definitely open to ND being caused or inflated by environmental factors.

Despite the fact that the vast majority of neurodivergent children have one or both parents who are similarly affected? Why be 'open to' something that is simply nonsense? You may as well be open to magic spells instead of medicine.

Oh and the sugar causes hyperactivity myth has been completely debunked.

Crack another book.

Your reckons don't count for much. You just hand wave away the very clear genetic factors, or are you ignorant of them? Formal heritability is around 70-80% which is very high.

If I ate shit, did no exercise, sought my dopamine with games not work and didn't try at all, my symptoms might be worse. So might DD's. But shit food didn't cause my ADHD (hippy mum, no junk allowed, homemade 'ketchup' FFS) or DD's (BF, all natural weaning, my dad called me a sugar Nazi).

Crack a book.

I’m definitely open to ND being caused or inflated by environmental factors.

Screen time makes ADHD symptoms worse, it makes SPD symptoms a LOT worse. It’s not a secret that high sugar foods cause hyperactivity and that food affects mood and mental health via gut bacteria.

It's not going to have caused a developmental difference to my brain when I was born in the late 70s though really, is it? Not a vast amount of junk food on the go compared to now. 🙄

He's spouted some total crap, quite a lot of influencers/z list nobodies and also news outlets seem to like using ADHD headlines as click bait, never mind the actual people affected.

Wanks.

It's possible, but we really don't know enough to be sure. Neurodevelopmental disorders are normally a complex combination of genetics and environmental factors.

That's the point I'm making we are born with our neuro diversities. You can't just 'catch' one, bad diet or not. And I'm assuming the professionals who diagnose us know the difference between 'an acquired ADHD type condition' and actual ADHD.

What Joe is talking about is how food can affect behaviour. And most people would be on board with that. But he is saying you can 'catch' a developmental disorder through food which is incorrect and frankly insulting.

Next he'll be saying my DC are autistic because they had the MMR vaccination.

Most the kids in Britain must have ADHD then.

Ignorant git

Just ignore it @LoveSandbanks

Like you I took loads of parenting classes, read everything, worked hard because DD with ADHD needed that. She was diagnosed very early because she has boy classic ADHD thankfully. Most girls struggle because they present so differently.

SEN parents can't win. DD now has so many coping strategies and masks so well at school that people don't believe she has ADHD. I am one of the 'parents who say their child has it because it's trendy'. If we hadn't worked so hard, and allowed her to be herself out of school, we'd be the 'lazy parents whose child is just disruptive and ADHD is an excuse'.

And on the laziness accusation that people love so much. My lovely friend said, when her fuckwad DH tried to give me parenting tips, "Terry works twice as hard as us for half the results". Her kid was a biddable thing. You'd put her down, she'd stay there. If she ran off, she's come back. DD was a wall-of-death, Tasmanian Devil. Never ever still. At that point the choices are:

1. Constant criticism and 'no'
2. Work harder than any parent works to distract, mould, humour, counsel, entertain, encourage, exercise and try to control with no criticism, because their rejection sensitivity coupled with their behaviour means you fail one of their needs all the time.
3. Parent normally and their behaviour is unacceptable and you just live with the judgement.

It's not 'lazy'. 3's the level all the non-SEN parents meet. It's just for our children, that's woefully inadequate. And when we don't meet the requirements of number 2, we're arseholes. Mean teachers and other parents want to see 1. But that's where a lot of kids with ADHD end up with anxiety and depression. Constantly being told they are bad and wrong.

All the parents with kids with ADHD on this thread, thanks. Good job. Have a cup of tea. You earned it.

He can get in the bin and then fuck off some more.

Who the fuck does he think he is?