DIET is one of the common fad therapies used in a variety of ailments.
Many therapists believed that foods and certain substances in them could be the offending agent(s) in certain health problems. Identifying and eliminating these from the diet can go a long way towards preventing many illnesses.
Elimination diet is the most common method in identifying the offending food causing allergy. This is done by simply eating one type of food at a time.
Then the patient is observed for several days for allergic reactions. If none, add more food one at a time to the diet until one of the offending allergen is identified.
Once identified, the food or offending allergen is eliminated from the diet.
Feingold diet is used to treat learning and behavior disorders in children. The proponent of the diet is Dr. Benjamin Feingold, an allergist who observed that elimination from the diet of artificial food coloring, flavors, preservatives, and naturally occurring salicylates in vegetables and fruits (apples, cherries, and oranges) improved the behavior symptoms of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
However, the research data of several studies failed to show the beneficial effects of the Feingold diet in improving the symptoms of ADHD.
Subsequent studies also failed to identify the agent(s) in the food that may contribute to the exaggeration of the hyperactive behavior and learning disabilities in children.
Some therapist postulated that sugar could cause or exaggerate hyperactive behavior in children. Elimination of sugar from the diet became a fad treatment in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
Several studies on sugar failed to show its direct effect on behavior in both normal and children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
Indirectly, it is noted that a carbohydrate-rich meal has a greater sedative effects on children than protein-rich meal. Carbohydrate is known to activate serotonin, a substance widely distributed in the tissues particularly in the central nervous system.
Serotonin is concerned with the process of sedation and sleep. Serotonin release by carbohydrate-rich meal causes sedation and subsequent inattentiveness in children.
Restrictive diet is used in many illnesses including cancer. Many therapists argued that certain diets could prevent cancer or help those who already have the disease. In restrictive diet therapy, foods are chosen, prepared and cooked personally by the practitioner with special instructions on how it is consumed by the patient.
The stricter the dietary restriction, the greater is the probability of the patient developing nutritional deficiencies. Children are at greater risk than adults. In general, children are growing organisms. They need more calories, protein, vitamins and minerals. Children should not be subjected to restrictive diets that will retard their growth and development potentials.
Megavitamins
Fad therapies on megavitamins involve the giving of vitamins in doses 10 times higher than the recommended daily allowance. They are used in a variety of illnesses from cancer to common colds.
For patients with cancer, large doses of vitamins A, B, C or any combinations were tried. Practitioners of megavitamins therapy differ as to the type and the dose of the vitamins. Proponents claim that large doses of vitamins may help prevent or cure cancer.
They believed that vitamins are important immune system booster and may even help those who already have cancer respond to conventional treatments or even kill cancer cells directly.
Several well-controlled studies reported no significant improvement in the outcome of the patients with different forms of cancer. However, most of the studies reported adverse side effects from the vitamins.
Megavitamins were also tried in the treatment of children with learning disorder and ADHD. A well-controlled trial using vitamin B6, niacinamide, ascorbic acid and calcium pantothenate in doses 10 times higher than the recommended allowance showed no improvement of symptoms in children with learning disorders and ADHD.
In fact, adverse side effects were reported, including elevated liver enzymes. Disrupted behaviors were reported in 25 percent of the children included in the study.
Megadoses of vitamin C are the current fad therapy of common cold. Anecdotal experiences reported doses of 20 grams of vitamins C for mild colds, 50 grams for a bad colds, and 100 grams for severe colds. A single fruit of orange has only 30 milligrams of vitamins C. You need to eat about seven hundred oranges to prevent or treat a mild common cold.
Research data from studies conducted on the large doses of vitamin C in adults failed to prevent, shorten, or lessen the severity of the cold symptoms.
The presence of many adverse effects in adults did not justify further research in the pediatric age groups. Large doses of vitamin C should not be used to prevent or treat common colds in children.
It seems that vitamin C is losing ground as the number one fad therapy for common colds. But fans of this vitamin never stop. They just continue on giving anecdotal reports like one doctor who claimed that intranasal (through the nose) inhaled powdered vitamin C is effective in preventing common cold.
If you feel that you have the beginning symptoms of a common cold just inhale through your nose like "snorting", several doses of powdered vitamin C. The author though suggested that you do this in private. Otherwise, you may be suspected of using prohibited drugs and may land in jail. Just imagine the headlines in the newspapers the following day: Vitamin C User Jailed! (To be continued)
