- Health Problems Associated -
- with Some Foods -

The Feingold diet and hyperkinesis

The name hyperkinesis refers to a broad range of symptoms seen in some children. These include physical overactivity that is inappropriate for the task, short attention span and other abnormal responses.

Some years ago Dr Ben Feingold, of the Allergy Department of the Kaiser-Permanente Medical Centre in San Francisco, advanced the hypothesis that salicylates (chemicals that occur naturally in some foods), food flavours and food colours were associated with hyperkinesis and learning disabilities in some children. Feingold claimed that approximately 50 per cent of children with hyperkinesis and learning difficulties improved when kept on a strict diet that excluded foods containing salicylates and artificial colours and flavours.

Many studies have been conducted to investigate this hypothesis. The results of the studies are uncertain but it is quite clear that the improvement rate is far lower than that originally claimed.