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Areas › Focus, starting, and ADHD › Treatment and medication
Removing additives or colourings helps a small number of children, and the trouble is that you cannot tell in advance who they are, so most families take on months of label reading, separate meals and arguments for very little. Practice across Europe has moved towards building meals up around vegetables rather than stripping items out. It is cheaper, it causes fewer rows, and it does something for general health, which matters here more than average.
This explains how treatments work. Never start, stop or change a medication because of something you read here.
God wants ease for you, not hardship (Quran 2:185). Where a food regime is making family life much harder for a small and uncertain gain, that verse is worth weighing.
البقرة
شَهۡرُ رَمَضَانَ ٱلَّذِيٓ أُنزِلَ فِيهِ ٱلۡقُرۡءَانُ هُدࣰ ى لِّلنَّاسِ وَبَيِّنَٰتࣲ مِّنَ ٱلۡهُدَىٰ وَٱلۡفُرۡقَانِۚ فَمَن شَهِدَ مِنكُمُ ٱلشَّهۡرَ فَلۡيَصُمۡهُۖ وَمَن كَانَ مَرِيضًا أَوۡ عَلَىٰ سَفَرࣲ فَعِدَّةࣱ مِّنۡ أَيَّامٍ أُخَرَۗ يُرِيدُ ٱللَّهُ بِكُمُ ٱلۡيُسۡرَ وَلَا يُرِيدُ بِكُمُ ٱلۡعُسۡرَ وَلِتُكۡمِلُواْ ٱلۡعِدَّةَ وَلِتُكَبِّرُواْ ٱللَّهَ عَلَىٰ مَا هَدَىٰكُمۡ وَلَعَلَّكُمۡ تَشۡكُرُونَ
It was in the month of Ramadan that the Quran was revealed as guidance for mankind, clear messages giving guidance and distinguishing between right and wrong. So any one of you who is present that month should fast, and anyone who is ill or on a journey should make up for the lost days by fasting on other days later. God wants ease for you, not hardship. He wants you to complete the prescribed period and to glorify Him for having guided you, so that you may be thankful
Qur’an 2:185read it in the library
Translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem, The Qur'an, Oxford University Press, 2004.
A randomised, double blind, placebo controlled trial gave vitamin D and magnesium to 66 children with ADHD, prompted by reports of lower blood levels in this group. Sixty six children is a small trial, and it looked at supplementing a deficiency rather than at removing foods. So it is a reason to take nutrition seriously in general, not a result you can build an elimination diet on.
Hemamy M, Pahlavani N, Amanollahi A, Islam SMS, McVicar J, Askari G, Malekahmadi M. (2021). The effect of vitamin D and magnesium supplementation on the mental health status of attention-deficit hyperactive children: a randomized controlled trial.. BMC pediatrics doi
Strength of evidence: one line of research. A single study, or a theoretical account.
A broad improvement everyone can live with beats a narrow restriction most families cannot keep up.
If a child has a diagnosed allergy or intolerance, that is a separate matter and follows medical advice rather than this.
Think of it the way you would think about diabetes. Something to manage with several things at once, most days, for as long as it is there.
Part of why so many adults are coming forward now is that well known people have said out loud that they have this. Seeing someone capable say it makes the asking cost less.
You are going to look things up anyway, so start somewhere with proper review behind it. CHADD and Understood both have professionals checking what goes on the page.