If you’ve viewed the video we posted of Dr. Doris Rapp on ADHD and allergies, you’d be surprised to find that your child’s problematic behavior originates from the dinner plate. Many children with ADHD suffer from undiagnosed digestive problems that influence their cognitive function and autoimmune condition. There are many reasons behind why certain foods trigger unwanted behaviors, and one of this is a deficiency in digestive enzymes.
Enzymes and the body
The saying “you are what you eat” is only partially true. The fact of the matter is that you are what you digest. While ADHD may be caused by nutritional deficiencies due to poor eating habits, these deficiencies are often called by a problem in digestive enzymes, the key to a healthy digestive system. Without enzymes, the food we eat would be nothing more than inert chemical substances – proteins, vitamins, mineral, and water.
Enzymes are the “labor force” of the body – they’re responsible to carry out various chemical reactions like:
1) Food digestion
2) Breaking down toxins
3) Cleansing the blood
4) Building protein into muscle
5) Strengthening the immune system
6) Reducing stress on the pancreas and other organs
Every child is born with a limited number of digestive enzymes, which has to last a lifetime. The faster a person uses up his enzyme supply, the more he experiences health problem. A great deal of our digestive enzymes gets wasted through eating food processed with chemicals, the use of junk food, and the consumption of alcohol and drugs. The average child may have lower enzyme stores because of unhealthy eating habits. Studies also show that children who have ADHD also have a gene variation that makes their enzymes more “lazy” – that is, enzymes that cannot process food as efficiently. Without enough healthy digestive enzymes, the digestion process gets interrupted and leads to a whole set of complications – nutritional deficiencies, leaky gut, and food allergies. Going on a nutritious ADHD diet isn’t enough if the gastro-intestinal tract can’t absorb the vitamins properly due to an enzyme deficiency.
Supplementing with digestive enzymes
Nature placed enzymes in raw food to help the body digest everything it eats – protein, fat, starch, fiber, sugar, and dairy – instead of making the bodily enzymes do all the work. There are seven different kinds of digestive enzymes:
1) Lipase – breaks down fat
2) Protease – breaks down protein
3) Cellulase – breaks down fibers
4) Anylase – breaks down starch
5) Lactase – breaks down dairy
6) Sucrase – breaks down sugar
7) Maltase – breaks down grains
Eating raw food can replenish your enzyme stores, but your child can also take enzyme supplements if needed. Autism specialist Dr. Joan Fallon was awarded a patent for a system that makes use of digestive and pancreatic enzymes to help children with ADHD and other learning disorders. The need for these enzymes is evaluated based on the low levels of the enzyme chymotrypsin in the stool. Chymotrypsin is an inactive enzyme produced by the pancreas, which becomes active once it meets the proteins in the small intestine. Poor protein digestion affects the formation of amino acids, which are the building blocks of new proteins and neurotransmitters. Dr. Fallon found that problems with protein synthesis causes neurological problems in the child and affects attention span, learning, and motor control. After handling hundreds of children with ADHD and autism, she discovered that using digestive and pancreatic enzymes reduces symptoms and restores their cognitive function. For more information on treating ADHD with enzyme therapy, visit http://www.curemark.com/.