Paper
Poor Eating Habits and the Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder during Childhood
- Authors:
- Lubna Mahmood; Ghazi Daradkeh
- Abstract
- Understanding the eating behaviors and attitudes during childhood is very important in terms of children’s health. Peers, parents and advertisements have the most important social influence on children’s eating habits that can affect them much on the consumption of processed foods which contain natural and artificial additives with some coloring agents such as erythrosine, Tartrazine, Monosodium glutamate, and Benzoate which are known as substances that added to food to preserve flavor or enhance its appearance and taste. It has been claimed that food additives and coloring agents have been related to behavior disorder which is known as Attention-deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), one of the most common chronic disorders during childhood which is affecting approximately 3% of the children between (4-8) years old. This disorder can be highly related to both environmental and familial disorder as well as many other modifiable risk factors, some studies showed that (ADHD) can be also related also to heavy metal and chemical exposures, lifestyle and psychosocial factors, prenatal substance exposures as well as nutritional factors. Disruptive behavior, inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity are common in (ADHD); academic difficulties are common as related problems. It can be difficult to define symptoms as well as to determine the exact normal levels of hyperactivity, inattention, and impulsivity end and the significant levels where interventions are required or should begin. Despite of all the studies done, a controversy about the negative effects of additive substances found in processed foods still exist and people are faced with a choice whether they can consume those products safely or not.
- Keywords
- ADHD; Food Additives; Artificial Food Colors; Hyperactivity; Child Behavior
- StartPage
- 57
- EndPage
- 62
- Doi
- 10.5963/PHF0303002