Joe Wicks says junk food causes ADHD

[RiffRaffBananas]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-13292511/amp/Joe-Wicks-blames-ultra-processed-junk-explosion-children-ADHD-reveals-ran-sugar-kid-thinks-love-Sunny-Delight-Wagon-Wheels-jam-sandwiches-caused-behavioural-issues.html

I politely disagree with Joe. I have a very health conscious friend who cooks from scratch, plenty of vegetables and a Mediterranean diet as recommended by all healthcare professionals and has two children. One has ADHD and one doesn’t.

Has Joe jumped the shark on this one?

I have no time for Joe Wicks (or Jamie Oliver) but I am disgusted by the terms used on this thread and the way what he said has been misinterpreted.

I think a lot of it is due to excessive screen time. Doubtless there is a population with ADHD whose symptoms are much worse due to modern lifestyles. A combination of screens, not enough exercise, poor diets, inadequate parenting, will combine to worsen things. It doesn't mean ADHD is caused by any of these things, but these things will worsen the manifestations.

GPs don't diagnose ADHD. (In my area, they aren't even permitted to make referrals for children with suspected ADHD.)

Nutritionists don't diagnose ADHD.

HTH.

Also what's wrong with Jamie Oliver? Were you one of the parents feeding your kid chips through the school fence because vegetables are an abuse of their rights?

Agreed!

Why? For saying that ADHD symptoms could be made worse by a poor diet?

Why is it okay acknowledge that poor diet worsens our physical health but not our mental health, I wonder?

Also what's wrong with Jamie Oliver?
Nothing, as far as I am concerned, other than he seems to have lots of children with rather twee names. I have no time for him because I'm not particularly interested in trying new recipes.

I am trying a different eating pattern at the moment, having healthy oils at every meal. I’ve been told it may help alleviate my fatigue.

I find it odd people assume diet has no impact on behaviour.

DS1 got absolutely vile for a while, and we suddenly realised it was caused by cetirizine. Switch to loratidine and he was a different child.

Maybe some people are really sensitive to the fluctuations of chemicals, as a symptom of an underlying condition like ASD or ADHD? I mean, we know sensory difficulties are part of it, don’t we?

I need a routine like a baby to be healthy- not overstimulated, regular sleep and food… boring as hell but better than pain!

Any time that someone tries to point out that the poor diet that numerous children are being subjected to, are doing them absolutely no favours, look at the abuse that they get. All the name calling is disgusting. Jamie Oliver is a case in point. How people could have been criticising him for trying to improve children's diets was astounding.

@ListToHunt ADHD is terribly misunderstood, and many people diagnosed with it aren’t those whose brain is “wired from birth” - hence my statement that the medical profession doesn’t know much about it. This is a widely-researched phenomenon: search “ADHD Misdiagnosis” and you will find many studies showing that other conditions can be mistaken for ADHD.
I’m sure that in the future, more research will reveal much more information about ADHD, but for those people currently caught in the “ADHD catch-all” spectrum, cutting down on UPF’s may well improve their health generally, as well as their symptoms specifically.

I am all in favour of improving diets and my DC grew up without any UPF because we don't eat a typically British diet. But Joe Wicks seems to be going beyond that?

I dont mind Jamie Oliver except for his business chicanery.

Plenty of studies show a link between upf, sugar and ADHD. This is just one of them.

https://www.ion.ac.uk/news/how-can-nutrition-help-to-manage-adhd

But that's not the same as causing it.

You can't cause a neurological disorder through diet.

It's like saying chocolate causes Type 1 diabetes.

Really? Talk about harsh. He's a human being who's done an enormous amount of good.

Who even is this person other than a knob who jumped at the chance to become famous during lockdown by getting bored women and kids to do his stupid exercises? So no, I won't be taking any notice of the drivel that spills out of his mouth.

Also never heard the term Jump the shark 🤣

No it doesn't show that at all. It shows that UPF and sugars can exacerbate the effects of ADHD, not a causal link ADHD as your post suggests. You need to be really careful with the wording.

I’m fascinated by the number of people who are showing such intense dislike for someone who got so many people out of the rut of unhealthy habits during lockdown. I mean, come on - your man got an MBE out of his own initiative!
Do people on here just hate those who make a success of themselves?

@FieldInWhichFucksAreGrownIsBarren , OP didn't use it correctly IMO. It's usually used to describe TV shows.

@Daftasabroom , but @AnnaKristie doesn't say it causes it, only that there is a link.

The issues far as I see it is that lifestyle factors (the polite way of putting it) can cause symptoms that are like adhd but whether they can cause permanent changes in the brain is not clear. I've read reports that neglect can cause symptoms which appear to be autistic traits but it is the same as autism which is spontaneous/inherited (and in my humble opinion we don't really understand and it the future we'll have multiple conditions which have different names!)

I never said CAUSED. The article posted in OP didn't say CAUSED. JW never said CAUSED. Op said caused.

I genuinely think nutritional therapies are just too hard for people and this is why people react this way. The 'pop a pill' culture is real.

Me too - l love Joe Wicks and find his honesty when talking about his own battles so refreshing.

Oh, he’s qualified as a doctor? Well done Joe.

JW triggers people.
People who don't like to take responsibility for their own health, and have offloaded their personal responsibility to the 'experts'

ADHD is a genetic condition