The best part of the article is reading a quote that could
be said by any LCer who knows that their life & health are
better without bread and milk.

"The skepticism is infuriating. I'm glad I have a good
education and can stand up for myself when I meet doctors
who ridicule what I'm doing," says Grete, putting her arm
around Sigbjoern's shoulder.


Diet change gives hyperactive kids new taste for life in Norway

by Nina LarsonSun Feb 24, 1:52 PM ET

Tears streak Rita's cheek as she recalls what it was like
trying to figure out what was wrong with her son more than a
decade ago, but she breaks into a smile when she explains
how changing his diet made all the difference.

"I could tell something was wrong with him as soon as he
began eating solids as a baby. It was if the food was
draining him," says Rita, 50, describing how her son
Christoffer had yoyoed between passive and hyperactive
behaviour until she had removed several staples from his
diet including milk and grains.

Christoffer, today a normally developed 14-year-old, is one
of 23 children suffering from hyperactive disorders who were
put on milk-free diets in 1996-1997 and whose development
has been tracked ever since by a small group of educators
and researchers in the southwestern Norwegian town of Stavanger.

The group set out to prove a theory by Oslo-based scientist
Karl Ludvig Reichelt that a metabolic disorder making it
difficult to break down certain proteins, including casein
(the protein in milk that makes it possible to make cheese),
could cause mental problems like Attention Deficit
Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).

"One of the kids I worked with started on the diet on
Wednesday and by the weekend his parents said they saw a
huge positive change in his behaviour," says special
educator Magne Noedland, who helped spearhead the diet project.

All 23 children, who were between four and 11 years old when
the project started, were suspected of having ADHD and had
been shown to have abnormal levels of peptides in their urine.

The accumulation of peptides, which are short compounds
containing two or more amino acids, is an indication that
the enzyme needed to fully break down certain proteins is
inhibited or missing, and can have an opium-like effect on
the brain, according to Reichelt.

Much international research has been done linking such
protein disorders to cases of autism and schizophrenia, and
a growing number of studies also hint that some cases of
ADHD are connected with the digestive problem.

There is however a lot of skepticism to the theory in
medical circles, with many doctors believing medication like
Ritalin is the best way to treat the condition.

Noedland acknowledges the Stavanger project does not meet
all scientific standards, claiming the main problem is the
lack of comprehensive studies on how many ADHD children
suffer from peptide abnormalities.

"There is no reason to put everyone with ADHD on a diet if
only 10 percent of them have protein imbalances," he says.

The children in the Stavanger project all followed a strict
casein-free diet the first year, and the results were
overwhelmingly positive, Noedland says, pointing out that 22
of the 23 families reported clear improvements in their
child's behaviour and attention-span.

A number of the children have since stopped following the
diet for different reasons and some were put on medication,
but after eight years six were still strictly avoiding all
milk products and several had also cut out gluten, which is
found in wheat, rye, barley and to some extent oats.

"We see a clear difference between those who stopped and
those who stayed on the diet," Noedland says.

"Seeing these kids going from one day not being able to
learn a thing to the next day being receptive; as a teacher
that's a wonderful feeling," says Kristine Fosse, one of the
educators involved in the project.

To illustrate her point, Fosse pulls out a writing test by a
six-year-old boy who took part in the project.

The boy was asked to write his numbers after involuntarily
breaking his diet and ingesting milk on September 22, 1996.
The result was a confused and jumbled mess of squiggly
lines. Just two days later, again strictly steering clear of
casein, he repeated the exercise, this time writing four
clearly legible numbers in an even line.

"It's incredible. We've seen intelligence tests that had
gone steadily down suddenly turn around and go back up"
after a change of diet, says Ann-Mari Knivsberg, who covers
the research end of the Stavanger project.

One of the children who still avoids milk and gluten,
17-year-old Sigbjoern, says any lapse in his diet affects
his performance in school.

"I can tell right away when I've eaten something I
shouldn't. It's really hard to concentrate. I'm always
careful before tests," he says, taking a big bite of gluten
and milk-free carrot cake.

Considered a hyperactive problem child with retarded
development in nursery school, Sigbjoern today ranks among
the best students in his class.

"He had a slow start and a lot of trouble learning to begin
with, but by secondary school he was really doing well,"
says Sigbjoern's mother Grete, 52.

Both Grete and Rita asked that their families' last names
not be used for fear of stigmatisation.

"It is considered shameful to have ADHD," Grete says. "When
they're on a diet they're just like everyone else. Just look
at them. We have two normal, great kids. I'm eternally
grateful that Sigbjoern was included in the project."

Hundreds of other Norwegian children with ADHD, mainly in
and around Stavanger, have in recent years been put on
milk-free diets to help deal with their condition, but Fosse
complains many doctors don't inform parents of the option.

"We want to get the word out that this can be an
alternative. Parents have to do a lot of searching before
they get this information," she says.

"The scepticism is infuriating. I'm glad I have a good
education and can stand up for myself when I meet doctors
who ridicule what I'm doing," says Grete, putting her arm
around Sigbjoern's shoulder.

"I mean, as a parent, wouldn't you want to at least try
switching your child's diet before medicating him?"

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