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?

While it's obviously better for children to have a healthy than an unhealthy diet, diet is not the cause of ADD. And who made Joe Wicks the expert on the subject anyway?

I think it's clumsily worded, but I do think that a bad diet impacts cognitive function. If you have ADHD, part of what it will impact is your ADHD affected cognitive functions.

I have ADHD and have no problems admitting that high caffeine helps combat the effects of it. I don't see why other chemicals wouldn't also have an effect, be it positive or negative.

Of course it's wrong to say that junk food causes ADHD.

He needs to stick to what he knows best. Doing exercise and getting his wife pregnant.

Me too

I think he’s absolutely right in that there’s a huge growth is these inattentive behaviours, and for some kids it is diet and inactivity and brain stimulating tv and apps that create an inability to focus. For many, like mine, who gets minimal tv and junk food, it’s much more integral than that. But if you fixed diet you’d clear up a lot of childhood behaviour issues, including some which are probably being classed as adhd.

Of course it's taken off because you chose a bare faced lie as your thread title.

You should write for the Daily Mail yourself if you don't already

ADHD is only a disorder in today's society where children spend most of the time sitting in class and there is little physical play space. It was probably an asset in stone age times. Catching prey or running away.

Some additives are known to cause ADHD behaviours but they are banned in the UK (although they might now be creeping back in)

My DC would show ADHD-like behaviour after a lot of sweets or a lot of screen time

Ok, sorry I did perhaps target Joe in my original comment unfairly! I just feel extremely annoyed at the generalisations around ADHD and autism, particularly the past couple of years where everyone is questioning the rise in diagnoses and disputing the validity of them.

I have ADHD and am parenting two nd children. Having an understanding of ourselves, how ours brains work and accepting our differences, along with appropriate medication has been truly life changing for me and I often wish I had known and been treated sooner as I have felt a failure my entire life. I want my children to grow up knowing that there isn't something they or I did 'wrong' that makes them the way they are. It's a brain difference. I totally agree that diet, along with many other strategies such as managing screen time and having boundaries etc, help to manage daily life for children with ADHD. It's when sources such as the Daily Mail, take this idea and run with it as a way of implying ADHD isn't real, or can be fixed by better parenting in some way or another, that I get frustrated! However I fully accept that isn't what you are suggesting @fieldsofbutterflies and probably nor was Joe!!

Which is to be expected anytime a celebrity dares to talk about the poor diet that too many people seem to have no problem with their children consuming.

Except actully, there's some evidence that caffeinne, for example, is helpful for people with ADHD. Prior to getting DS properly diagnosed and on medication. As with many others with ADHD children, the occasional use of caffeine is something we found helpful prior to DS being medicated. I can't really talk about the chemicals in many drinks etc, and certainly I'm not wild about them, but there's a lot of evidence that it's all very low in the bigger scheme of things.

I think there's more than enough truth to the fact that diets can make existing conditions worse/ more manageable. But to blame them for causing ND is ridicuolous. And in our house, DS is the one who has always been such a good eater that he's been eating all cooked from scratch, mostly the same food we eat, pretty much since he was weaned. While DD who is a fussy pain in the ass eats much more processed food as a result and doesn't have so much as a hint of any ND whatsoever.

Honestly I haven't read it, but my eldest has adhd and her diet does impact her mood/behaviour. Any kid plied with sugar and processed food will be impacted by it but from my own (very limited) experience it is more noticeable in my eldest than the younger too.

In response to the headline, I have no scientific background or evidence to back it up but think the causation argument is bullshit.

Our food is fucked and is definitely affecting us. How exactly and what is dangerous vs what is not would need some proper research. But it’s not in the interest of Industry to do that research so it won’t be done.

But people who think just because it’s for sale means it’s safe to eat, are fools.

Oh look, a brainless man not understanding neurological conditions. What a surprise.

I don't think it's the cause of adhd but I think junk food, especially artificial additives, can cause hyperactivity which would make adhd symptoms worse and may present temporary adhd like symptoms.
I read a theory that adhd may be caused by birth trauma as the baby goes into survival mode which can affect brain development. My ds hasn't been diagnosed but he certainly presents with adhd like symptoms and did have a traumatic birth and special care for a few weeks.

Don't forget getting his wife's body back to pre-pregnancy fitness! And showing us, so we can all drool over how heroic he is to have done that for her.
He's virtually a saint when it comes to showing women what they need to know and do.
The term mansplaining could have been coined for him.

You clearly didn't read the article 🙄

I have found my tribe! Joe Wicks is a self satisfied mouthy gobshite and Jamie Oliver is another one

I have an ADHD teen and good diet absolutely can improve symptoms and functioning - just like it can with every other health issue - diet isn’t a cure but it helps.

there’s a lot of things about ADHD that many don’t realise.

the dopamine seeking behaviour is huge. My teen seeks the dopamine high from eating sugar. I bake cookies and cakes and flapjacks with real sugar and fruit and butter and chocolate. I choose wisely and avoid products with certain E numbers because the do have a negative effect. Thankfully in the U.K. the E numbers that have an adverse effect on kids and adhd are limited but the do exist. Our local American candy store is a nightmare for DC who wants it all!

the only sugar free products we use is sugar free cordials because ADHD teen also has sensory issues and won’t drink water. Any drink is better than no drink. A dehydrated kid is a monster we do not want to unleash.

forgetting to eat is a huge issue with adhd. Even more so when medicated.
I make sure meals are as rounded as possible with high protein for good blood sugar control and try to limit binging of carbs. Which happens when you’ve gone all day without eating because the meds suppress your appetite and adhd hyper focus means you forget to eat.

Caffeine sends my teen to sleep. That throws people off, sending teen to bed having an espresso but I’d rather a cup of coffee than dosing with melatonin.

on a related note we all feel awful on junk/UPF/low nutrient Foods. We have brain fog, sluggishness, irritability/anxious feelings, trouble sleeping, exhaustion. All of this can mimic many adhd symptoms and this can be resolved with better diet.

so yes anyone with adhd should fix their diet first to filter through what symptoms are caused or made worse by diet and which will need other treatments such as medication. Food can improve things if done right.

but it doesn’t cause it. Diet is part of the whole treatment plan.

This bloke will try anything to stay relevant, and here we are, discussing him like he matters.

What he has done, is probably opened up a national discussion, that is not without merit.

Caffeine sends my teen to sleep. That throws people off, sending teen to bed having an espresso but I’d rather a cup of coffee than dosing with melatonin.

I am one of the hordes of, ahem, middle aged women who believe they have undiagnosed ADHD. This predates all the TikTok nonsense, which I don't watch anyway. I discovered relatively recently that my love of caffeine isn't because it makes me feel bouncy and hyper, but because it makes me feel calm and, if I'm already tired, it will help me sleep. I honestly didn't notice before, except to wonder why people talked about needing their morning coffee to help them wake up - because it never, ever worked for me. I'm drinking a coffee now and feel as though my brain has slowed down and my current ear worm (Lola - The Kinks😆) has faded into the background a bit!

He also calls broccoli, ‘midget trees’. Ignore him.

the body of the article isn’t saying junk food causes ADHD it is saying that it can be linked to behavioural issues.

I think it fair, it is proven that certain foods are good and bad for your mental and physical health.

Joe also lives in America and other countries part-time, where red dye and e numbers are not regulated in the same way. There are a lot of children in the US who suffer the ill-effects of diets containing these, and I would assume he is referencing those studies in a roundabout and dumb way.

I have friends whose children were able to stop taking Ritalin in America when they went to an unprocessed diet. The constant consumption of junk in even the healthiest "snack foods" was disrupting their health, behaviour and sleep cycles to the point that giving them Ritalin was the only medical answer. I know how life-changing ADHD meds can be, but in the US, they are over-prescribed.

Poor Joe is a tall poppy.

Some unnecessary nastiness on this thread.