Vitamin C and ADHD


This article is excerpted from the highly acclaimed Book by Jon Bennett.


This book is available Here


While growing up, your mom probably told you to eat your vegetables – she knew from experience that fresh food is the best way to keep kids healthy, focused, and well-behaved. In the past eating healthy food was the norm, but these days, even with all the talk about the importance of nutrition and a good diet, people continue to make junk food the priority.

The result? Our kids are gaining weight and getting sick. Problems like ADD and ADHD are on the rise, and classrooms have become nothing more than holding pins for drugged up children, surviving each day in a stupor when they should be learning, having fun, and enjoying life as a regular kid!

There’s got to be a better way – and there is. Nutritional supplementation has been proven to work wonders transforming children who experience the symptoms of ADD-ADHD into vibrant, focused, intelligent kids that are a joy to be around.

Vitamin C – a Miracle of Nature?

Vitamin C has been linked in many studies to improvements in children with ADD-ADHD. But what exactly does vitamin C do for your body?

Vitamin C is an antioxidant that keeps your body healthy and prevents cell damage. It neutralizes toxins in your body (called free radicals) that accumulate naturally and from the environment around you.


Vitamin C can actually help speed up the healing process, keeps gums, teeth, and bones healthy, contributes to strong blood vessels, and absorbs iron from the food we eat. It aids in the synthesis of collagen, which is the basis of all the connective tissue in your body.

Generally, it keeps your body and brain in good working order and has been shown to contribute to the proper functioning of many facets of the human body. Our bodies cannot produce Vitamin C like most creatures on the planet, so we have to eat food rich in this vitamin every day to stay in good health.

Vitamin C Deficiency

A deficiency in Vitamin C causes a condition called scurvy. Because vitamin C works to produce collagen in the body (literally the stuff that keeps your body in one piece), a deficiency leads to the deterioration of blood vessels causing hemorrhage, bleeding gums, bruising, loose teeth, and weak bones. Problems involving the tendons, ligaments, skin, bone, teeth, cartilage, heart valves, intervertebral discs, cornea, and eye lens may also occur.

A vitamin C deficiency causes your body to stop functioning the way it should, and can also cause behavioral problems in people who are malnourished and lacking this essential nutrient.

The Startling Link Between Vitamin C and ADD-ADHD

So how does all this relate to the treatment of ADD-ADHD? Because so many children lack adequate amounts of vitamin C in their bodies, it has been suggested that vitamin C may be an effective natural treatment for the symptoms of ADD-ADHD.

At the very least, proper nutrition has a lot to do with finding a solution to the problem.

A study published in the journal Prostaglandins, Leukotrienes and Essential Fatty Acids in January 2006 looked at 30 children with ADHD and 30 healthy children. Each group had to consume 200 mg of ALA and 25 mg of vitamin C two times a day for 3 months. It was found that all ADHD measures improved significantly after the study period.

In addition, there were no side effects!

According to a study done by Karen L. Harding, PhD and Harvard Medical School fellow, Richard D. Judah, PhD, and Charles E. Gant, MD, PhD published in the Alternative Medicine Review (Volume 8, Number 3, 2003), nutritional supplements proved just as effective in treating the symptoms of ADD-ADHD as Ritalin.

This is amazing work that supports the idea that natural remedies for ADD-ADHD do exist – even if no one is telling you about them.

Clearly, daily supplementation of vitamin C along with other vital nutrients and fatty acids has proven to be beneficial to children suffering from ADD-ADHD. There are natural ways to combat the problem so your kids can be focused and calm, leading to better concentration in school and improved behavior at home.

References

Supplementation with flax oil and vitamin C improves the outcome of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Joshi K, Lad S, Kale M, Patwardhan B, Mahadik SP, Patni B, Chaudhary A, Bhave S, Pandit A. Prostaglandins, Leukotrienes and Essential Fatty Acids. 2006 Jan; 74(1):17-21. Epub 2005 Nov 28.

Outcome-Based Comparison of Ritalin® versus Food-Supplement Treated Children with AD/HD. Karen L. Harding, PhD, Richard D. Judah, PhD, and Charles E. Gant, MD, PhD. Alternative Medicine Review (Volume 8, Number 3, 2003).