MY 8 year old has been to a Naturopath and food tested.

[maltesers]

My son went with his dad this weekend to see an allergy testing specialist... i think she is a Naturopath and they found out after testing different foods on him that he cannot have Chocolate, Pasta, Fizzy drinks, Hard cheese and a few others. I plan to take him back soon to dicover more and see what else he reacts badly too. We think he may have mild ADHD but can this be food related? Can it be the food causing him to be difficult, badly behaved and not listeningand paying attention to his teacher, me, Dad etc ????
I would be really grateful mnetters for your input on this matter. Thanks.

we have excluded food colourings and additives from dd's diet, as dd1 reacts to food colourings in a weird way. its not an addlergy a such, my the colourings (particulally tarttrazine e102 iirc) sends her bodies responses haywire, and makes her react to foods and enviromental factors she isnt actually allergic to. if that makes any sense.

My son is now 13 months old.

He was diagnosed with having Craniosynosis (at local NHS hospital)at about 5 months old. Craniosynosis is (very basically) when one or more sutures of the skull fuse prematurely. For a while we faced the prospect for extremely invasive surgery to 'unfuse' (read crack open) his skull. Scary stuff. Luckily things have progressed and to cut a long story short things are looking good for our boy. At the mo his neurosurgeon thinks then an operation is unnecessary as he is developing normally.

My sister is friends with very competent kinesiologiest and sugested we go for some treatment to complement any NHS treatment that may be necessary. I found it to be really great, I felt like I was doing something proactive to help.

maltesers, the list of foods you gave makes me suspicious. A genuine list would say "wheat, cows milk, azo dyes..." not just picking one wheat product like pasta, or one product containing dyes like fizzy drinks.

Yes, food can affect behaviour - my bro, sis and I were all affected by food additives, plus we later had some allergies, plus no lactase (sensitivity to cows milk). We showed ADHD like symptoms, which were controlled by changing diet.
In your situation, I would read as much as possible, and then try an elimination diet of additives. If you see a change in behaviour then you could pursue it further with a dietician.

If you could test for allergies simply by putting food on the belly button or testing people's hair why do you think allergy specialists go in for all these complicated and invasive skin prick tests? Do not give this exploitative quack any more of your hard earned money. Or your ex Dp's hard earned money - he can give it to you to spend on fun stuff.

Diet can have a big impact, or be entirely irrelevant, and it can also have a big placebo effect too (if Mummy says that I am awful after sweets then I will be type of thing). I'd go for a food and behaviour diary to try and get a picture of whether there is any relationship. Cutting out additives and processed food is a good idea in general, so no harm in doing that, but it is really easy to ascribe cause and effect when you have a variable condition and you don't really know why changes occur. There is some very powerful evidence for some diets (like ketone diets for some epilesy cases) and very little for others.

oh i put milk on my daughters back. the results are in my profile. mind you i didnt test her muscle strength, or her energy levels, should i have done

Kinesiology

or this

intolerances can't be tested for in the same way as allergies and so desperate people turn to quacks. I am thinking of setting myself up as a tester. I know which foods cause the common symtoms so I can get an empty box, claim I'm running special tests, give them a bit of basic dietary advice and recommend a sensible exclusion diet and I'm sure at least half of them will improve . At least I wouldn't poison anyway.

Can I also point out that applied kinesiology and kinesiology are completely different things, in case anyone googling gets utterly confused as i did!

Advocates really ought to refer to it by it's full name (ie include the applied) to avoid confusion with the scientific study of movement.

My son is 8 and a half years. You sound like you might be right ... i am watching what he eats.. have never been able to really pin point anything myself that makes him 'hyper'. His Dad obviously thinks this woman is brilliant cos she found he was dairy intolerant. I am not so sure yet what she is. Thanks again mnetters for you opinion. !!! cheers !

but if he;s dairy intolerant he wouldn't be having chocolate and hard cheese anyway, would he?

i am dairy intollerant and i have chocolate and hard cheese They are my cheats and can be tollerated in small doses but maybe this why feeling so rubbish

yes, thats so true POINTYDOG !!

I do wonder if anyone has actually been to practioner who uses methods like AK and been told that they don't have an allergy or intolerance.
The assumption seems to be every symptom must because by food

My son is ADHD and was tested to see which foods affected his behaviour but this was done by a specialist paediatrician and dietician at hospital over a period of months using exclusion diet and diary not by placing food on his belly button.

Yeah, the belly button thing sounds dodgy. Perhaps she was a quack. My sons dad is convinced by her. However, my ds doesnt seem to be noticeably different after eating any certain types of food . I guess i neednt worry then too much. Just best try to stick to health foods in general and avoid any junk ??

My son reacts to cows milk (and products) gluten citrus fruit sunflower oil (and products) so sometime healthy foods can be a problem too.

Really? My ds seems ok on that stuff . I do avoid Blue sweets, icing etc . He loves fruit though , prefering it to cakes, biscuits and sweet things.

We have had BIG behaviour problems after ds eats strawberries, oranges and particular Grapes and Raisins. He is a devil child if he eats them but almost human when these are avoided.

"Yeah, the belly button thing sounds dodgy. Perhaps she was a quack."

There is no perhaps about it. She WAS a quack.

maltesers, if your son is reacting to something like wheat, then you probably wouldnt notice anything after eating, because he would be eating it regularly, so the symptoms would be more or less constant. To notice something, you'd have to do a proper elimination diet, so that he ate no wheat for say, three weeks, and then ate wheat, preferably without knowing.

oh !! ok .
Spoke to my stupid Ex dp yesterday questioning the whole thing and he says " Oh, She is renowned !"; "Renowned for What ?, i asked....lol lol !
My Ex dp is VERY self opinionated so i havnt much hope arguing the toss with him.. HHMM!

Snake Oil!! That's what you need - bet she can sell you some..........

What BRUFFIN Said!