Food and Dyslexia et al (by sarah)
Food would appear to play a large part in how bad things like Dyslexia, Dyspraxia and ADHA get, or how the symptoms show. It has been suggested that diary plays a large part in this and I have to say that I have personally noticed a coralation with this but I due have food intollerances. These may or may not be connected to the problems however excessive diary does seem to act things up as does general none home cooked food to be honest. Obviously there is the issue I have with food colourings, caffine and sugar combinations - I assume these are part of the ADHD but apart from caffine can find no mention of them.
The other one is that Omega-3 (I think) oil seems to play a huge part too - or at least it's absence. This is interesting as it plays straight into the joint issues and for me at least the pain management stuff. Add in collagen difficiences and the like and I came to a conclusion (this is mine there is no research on this - it's just something I have observed with me!). We basically need fish and shelf-fish type nutrition in our diet to remain healthy - this appears to be true of many people anyway but more so with those with Dyspraxia and stuff.
Of course this would be a situation that is getting worse as modern diets are down to a fraction of the amount of sea food it once had in it - on top of that we are killing the seas and they may not be able to provide for us 🙁 I think you can get the oils from things like flax seeds so there are veggi options though they may take more digesting.
I have noticed it is not just me with these conditions and either the chronic pain nor the food intollerences - they crop up in combinations startingly frequently on the forums and help sites I've seen - people asking are their intollerences/allergies part of the condition etc...
This is something I really feel would benieft from some more research done on it 🙂
Sun 17th Oct 2010 10:08 am 
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By Iain Watson, Mon 18th Oct 2010 @ 9:36 am
That's an interesting point. Could easily be a genetic link between those food intolerances and underdeveloped nervous or connective structures. I'm less sure it's directly diet based though, or we'd see a huge spike in these disorders amongst far-inland communities.
Our friends Jack Cohen and Ian Stewart raised a beautifully elegant (and therefore probably entirely wrong) model of homo sapiens as evolving on the beach, exploiting the easy, stationary and abundant shellfish as a food resource that other land animals could not access. It explains our webbed fingers, inherent swimming ability, face-splash breathing reflex, phenomenal breath control (good enough for speech)and of course shellfish provide the necessary oils for big brain development. As wooly and pseudoscientific as evolutionary anthropology is, I do quite like the theory 🙂
By Angie "Mum", Mon 18th Oct 2010 @ 2:37 pm
Shell food could also have paid a big part in my being able to work for 26 years as a shorthand secretary, even though I too have dyslexia. I have always eaten shell fish, mackerel and sardines often much to my families and friends dismay. The smell getting them down, especially mackerel or pilchards on toast for breakfast. I agree that dairy can be detrimental, especially where digestive problems occur. Ulcerative colitis is in many cases aggrevated by cream, butter and some cheeses, but not all. Using either goats or soya seems to help. Many intolerances are individual to each person but would agree that there does seem to be hereditary factors as well. I probably do not eat as much shell fish as I used to and my balance does seem to have deteriorated. Old age or Omega 3 or cancer treatment, wno can tell. I think I may increase my intake of shell fish and fish in general once more regardless of the smell. Collogen appears to be a factor in dyspaxia, there is a high level of double jointed people in the family and when younger twisted ankles for no reason and knees that bend backwards on occasion have always been a problem for me. Much more fish in diets for non-veggies and more omega 3 replacements for veggies could help. I am sad that so often dyspraxia is seen as a child just being clumsy and dyslexia as them being lazy when these children, often turn our to be the most articulate and gifted people both from an arts/crafts point of view and an academic point of view. Unfortunately if not spotted and addressed often a child who is told they are clumsy, lazy, stupid, and so on will become conditioned to reacting in such a way and is such a waste of ability and interlect. My parents could see that I could not read and write but taught me to sew and knit to a very high standard, but never told me that I was lazy, stupid or clumsy. When I finally got sufficient programmes in place to aid my eventual reading and writing skills, I already had very advanced abilities in the creative/craft field and at 14 could excel. At this time my shell fish intake also improved. Perhaps this is the answer to my lack of balance and senior moments!