March 2011         
  
In This Issue:
  - FDA Hearing on food dyes
  - Are food dyes really safe?
  - Feingold's not just for kids
  - 2011 Autism symposium
  - The cookbook is back
  - On the other (left) hand
  - NY water
  - Events & exhibits
  - From the Mailbox


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And on the other (left) hand ...
According to the New York Times, there is a genetic connection to left-handedness, which has remained at the same percent of the population for centuries, while over-represented in certain areas - but researchers still don't know much about it. More . . .

NY Water
Psychiatrist Richard Carlton, MD, has shared with us a letter he wrote in support of Councilman Vallone's efforts to get New York City to stop adding fluoride to the public water supply.

He explained that for people living in cities or towns that are fluoridated, it's just one more thing that can make it difficult or impossible for their children to think, feel, and behave normally.

- Read Vallone's article and Dr. Carlton's letter below it

Events & Exhibits

Modesto, CA
Free Workshop:
April Walker, Feingold mom and nutrition counselor, will give a free workshop on tools to assist children with behavior problems.

Participants will hear about the various health & behavioral symptoms in children (and adults) who are affected by what they eat or every-day chemicals in their environment. She will explain how to help.
- Mon, March 14, 2011
- 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm
- Family Connections
   1120 Tully Rd
   Modesto, CA
RSVP Lori: 402-5014

Richmond, VA
VA School Counselors Association Annual Conference
"Champions of Change in Challenging Times"
March 23-25, 2011 Richmond, VA

Pittsburgh, PA
The Feingold Association has been invited to participate in the 5th annual Farm To Table local food conference which will be held at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center on Friday and Saturday, March 25 and 26. The event provides opportunities for consumers, health care professionals, teachers and families to learn and experience the benefits of cooking local food.

There will be 2 days of speakers, cooking demonstrations, food samples and the ability to purchase products and wine directly from the vendors. The exhibits will include farms, farmer's markets, non-profit organizations, restaurants, and health care providers - as well as a Food Tasting on Friday night, March 25, on the upper floor of the Center, jutting out over the river.

Jamesburg, NJ
The La Leche League has invited the Feingold Association to participate in their conference to take place at the Crown Plaza Hotel in Jamesburg on Saturday, April 2 and Sunday April 3, 2011.

There was a great deal of interest the last time we were at their conference and we look forward to sharing our information again.

Atlanta, GA
Global Health and Humanitarian Summit at Emory University
Atlanta, GA
April 1-3, 2011
FAUS will have an exhibit, and Shula Edelkind will speak about the Feingold diet on Sunday, April 3rd
FREE ADMISSION
See more & Register

Hartford, CT
Autism Society of CT
The Feingold Association will again participate in the annual conference of the Autism Society of Connecticut to take place at the Hartford Convention Center on Saturday, April 30.

There was a great deal of interest the last time we were at their conference and we look forward to sharing our information again. More information

Groton, CT
On Friday May 6, and Saturday May 7, the CT Association for Foster & Adoptive Parents will be meeting at the Mystic Marriott in Groton.

We have been working with social services and families of foster and adoptive children and know how vital our information is for these children and their families!


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FDA hearing on food dyes this month


The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), will hold a hearing on food dyes March 30 - 31, 2011 at the Hilton Hotel, Silver Spring, MD. The ballroom can hold 125 people, and we hope you will be planning to attend.

Although Yellow 5, Red 40, and other commonly used food dyes have long been shown in numerous clinical studies to impair children’s behavior and health, the FDA has continued to dismiss the mounting evidence against the dyes. This all may change in March. See more.

A major presenter invited to the hearing is going to be Dr. Jim Stevenson, from the UK - the force behind the 2004 Bateman and 2007 McCann studies on food colorings and children, and the more recent 2010 study indicating that genetic differences are involved in controlling the varied reactions to food dyes seen in these studies.

Other invited presenters will be:
  • Michael Jacobson, PhD, Executive Director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), and author of the 2008 petition which led to this hearing.

  • L. Eugene Arnold, MEd, MD, Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry at Ohio State University, who reported on treatment alternatives for ADHD for the 1998 NIH conference on ADHD. He has been invited as a representative of ChADD;

  • David Schab, MD, MPH, Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Columbia University and co-author of the 2004 meta analysis of studies on diet and behavior;

  • Andrea Chronis-Tuscano, PhD, Associate Professor of Psychology and Director of the University of Maryland's ADHD Program, whose recently published study describes the improvement in parenting skills observed when giving Ritalin to mothers of children with ADHD;

  • Sean Taylor, PhD, for the International Association of Color Manufacturers. The previous reply of the IACM to the CSPI petition can be seen here.

  • Bernard Weiss, PhD, a toxicologist and Professor of Environmental Medicine and Pediatrics at University of Rochester School of Medicine, and a member of the Feingold Advisory Board.

  • I will be presenting the Feingold perspective on the science, as Research Information Director of the Feingold Association. Dr. Weiss and I will be sharing Dr. Jacobson's scheduled time.


One hour of public commentary will be provided on March 31. If you wish to speak in person during the public commentary, contact Carolyn at the address below - however, you must sign up before March 15th, and if there are more than 20 "public comment" speakers, they must hold a lottery. All of you, however, have also been invited to write your "before-and-after" stories, explaining what happens to you or family members when accidentally eating foods with food dyes, why it is so hard to raise a child in an environment saturated with highly-dyed products (and how that is different from dealing with allergies such as peanut or milk allergy), or just give your opinion on why these chemicals should be eliminated from the general food supply.

You can send your submission to Carolyn Jeletic, the Designated Federal Official. Her email address is carolyn.jeletic@fda.hhs.gov. If you can get your stories or opinions to her in writing by March 23, they will be presented to the FDA panel presiding at the meeting.

Details about the location, time, etc. of the meeting are at the Food Advisory Committee Meeting Announcement. Keep this link - background materials will also be published there a few days before the meeting.


donuts
The burning question: Are food dyes really safe?

According to an article in Health.com, this is still a valid question. They present the arguments both for and against the idea that synthetic food dyes are safe, concluding that if you have a child with ADHD, maybe you should go ahead and avoid the dyes anyhow.


The arguments for food dyes:
  1. Lab tests prove they’re harmless.
  2. The amount used is small.
  3. The FDA monitors food carefully.
The arguments against food dyes:
  1. Some may be linked to cancer.
  2. They may worsen ADHD symptoms.
  3. Europe is taking action.

Let's touch on the above claims briefly:

SYNTHETIC FOOD DYES ARE SAFE:
  1. Lab tests prove they’re harmless. Well, no ... lab tests prove that the dyes don't outright kill rats and mice before the researchers sacrifice them; however, the rat and mice pups exposed to food dyes have various neurodevelopmental abnormalities and damage to organs that the FDA doesn't count. I suppose it depends on your definition of "harmless." More . . .. (Scroll down and find the 5 interesting studies by Tanaka first, numbered 79 to 83.)

    They have also rarely investigated food dyes combined with other additives (which is the way we eat them). The only study I have found on such combinations is the Lau 2006 study, in which Dr. Lau showed that when two additives are combined the damage is far greater than when each are studied alone.

  2. The amount used is small. Well, we don't know that. The amount TESTED on people is certainly small, but since the manufacturers refuse to divulge how much is in food, this is difficult to say. FAUS and CSPI are in the process of having several snack foods actually tested, which nobody seems to have bothered to do before.

  3. The FDA monitors food carefully. It's true: Each batch of food dyes is tested to make sure that it doesn't contain more than the allowed amount of lead, mercury, arsenic, and benzidine.
NOT SAFE:
  1. Some may be linked to cancer. Quite a few studies show that the colorings cause DNA damage, increased tumors, organ damage, etc. The dyes are allowed to contain benzidine and other carcinogens. While only 1 part per billion of benzidine is allowed, in 1999 Lancaster found up to 200 times that amount in ordinary bottles of Yellow #5 (tartrazine). Although it's been over ten years, benzidine content in the other dyes have not even been studied, as far as I can find. More . . .

  2. They may worsen ADHD symptoms. Every study on this subject done since 1987 supports a connection between additives and ADHD. Older studies that don't support it were carefully designed to that end, using tiny amounts of food dye as a "challenge," or using a diet that didn't actually exclude the colorings in nonfood items, were only maintained for a few days, etc. See the research.

  3. Europe is taking action. The recent studies in England which gained the attention of governments throughout Europe showed that the cognitive and attention abilities of ALL children are affected by the food dyes. While "normal" children are less affected than those with a diagnosis of ADHD, it is measurable... reported as an average of a 10% decline in attention. Is 10% important? Well, think about it - if you are about to go in for surgery, wouldn't you be more comfortable knowing that your surgeon has NOT been eating artificially colored cereal for breakfast, and is NOT 10% impaired?

Feingold's not just for kids, you know!
Below is an email we received from a member in December, and reprinted with permission.

Hello!

We wanted to write and thank you and all those at Feingold. This year my husband did not have one reaction to foods over the Christmas holidays. While he gets points for paying more attention, part of the success is definitely due to the Feingold info and being much more aware of potential pitfalls.

His reaction is similar to a child's---but shows up as intense restlessness, leg tingling and lack of sleep, sometimes for MORE than one night.

This year I offered to make some food I knew would be safe when visiting....sometimes I got turned down and told they had plenty....so we packed safe foods in a lunchbox. Yes, a few teased him but he defended himself very well! (He tells the teaser that he will come by later and stay up all night at THEIR house.) I helped make the cookies for one get-together and discovered the hostess used all cookie MIXES as the base of the cookies, so all were off limits.... we made some at home and shared. Hubby knew to eat only the ones he recognized from home.

When you are traveling, go to the Members' Message Board and ask for suggestions about favorite restaurants in the area you plan to visit.

Next time you're in Alexandria, fabulous food for Feingolders can be found at the beautiful Alexandria Whole Foods Market.
We traveled earlier in December for a military funeral at Arlington. Staying in Alexandria it was 2 days of restaurants...potential pitfalls everywhere. Our waitress at Joe Theismann's (a steakhouse) checked the meat source with the chef to be certain meat was free of MSG or any rubs. It was. She even checked the vanilla ice cream to be sure it was free of yellow dye. What a sweetie~ we thanked her with kind words AND a great tip. We brought homemade baked goods for breakfast in the hotel, not relying on the hotel breakfast bar for anything other than fruit. One morning the scrambled eggs had ORANGE cheese cubes in it. Arrgghh~

This is long but bottom line, thanks for all of your great info and also for giving us confidence that we CAN go places and avoid problems. It takes planning, patience and a sense of humor but it can be done ~ thanks!!

~ Paula Kocher

Dr. Jed Baker, Dr. Shana Nichols, Dr. Avi Glickman
2011 Autism Symposium
Although the Feingold Association is not participating in this Symposium, we want to share it with you if you are dealing with children or teens on the autism spectrum, including Asperger's Syndrome.

While the Feingold diet helps these children, it is rarely enough alone, and learning how to help them become all that they can be is a team effort.

In this symposium in Pontiac, MI, Dr. Jed Baker will give an all-day workshop on May 12, 2011 called Handling Challenging Behaviors and Teaching Social Skills to the Adolescent/Young Adult with ASDs.

On May 13, Dr. Shana Nichols will give a morning workshop titled Girls Growing Up on the Autism Spectrum: Understanding and Support in Adolescence and Adulthood, and Avi Glickman will give the afternoon workshop on Technology as a Tool for Teaching: Innovative Community Instruction for Individuals with ASD.

See more information.




The Cookbook is back!

Due to the overwhelming demand,
our Cookbook has been out of stock,
but it is again available.

You may purchase it at www.FGshop.org
- first click on your country (top, left)
and then scroll down the page to find it.







An Easy Way to Make a Difference
Donate by using Goodsearch as your search engine. Go to their web site and add Goodsearch to your toolbar or make it your home page. Designate the Feingold Association as your "designated cause."

For every search you make, the Goodsearch (Yahoo) people will donate a penny to FAUS. And you can see your pennies add up when you click on the "amount raised" link. Moreover, you will be amazed at the number of companies willing to donate a generous percentage when you make on-line purchases through Goodsearch. Even eBay!

From the Mailbox

Why do our volunteers continue to put in so many hours for us year after year? Because of what you tell us; no other job is as fulfilling. Here are some comments since last time:
  • A mom writing in to change her email address: My daughter has found Feingold to be a wonderful help. When she first started the program (12 years ago), the school was convinced that she had started medication. She continues to follow the program today in college. Finding Feingold was truly life changing for our family! Keep up the great work!

  • Joining in NC: I'm ordering this for my grandson who has been diagnosed with ADD. I had my two sons on the program when they were small in the mid 1970's. I'm thrilled that you are still around helping families.

  • Renewing from KS: Thank you! This has been life changing for us! I recommend it to people all the time.

  • Renewing in AZ: Thank you for all the great work your group does. My family truly appreciates it.

  • New member from TN: We have been doing Feingold without the materials with some good results. I'm hoping with the materials to see vastly improved results.

  • Renewing from CA: We love Feingold! It saved our family! Thank you so much for all that you do.

  • Renewing in CA: Thank you for making a difference in our lives....

  • New member from WI: I've been using the Caveman's Feingold Diet since October of 2010 with my 6 year old daughter. We've seen such a change in her behavior and attention span. Thank you for making that resource available (Note: We provide the Feingold Caveman Diet for free, but recommend buying membership materials and returning to the 21st Century if it is helpful for your family.)

  • On buying a book for her sister: I am buying this book for my sister. Her 5 year old son is totally out of control and I truly believe the Feingold diet can turn his behavior around. I hope and pray she will read it and take heed.
Coming in April 2011 PURE FACTS:

  • Pure Facts celebrates April Fool's Day with some of the newest additions to the Wacky World of Food

  • Smencils! Is your child's school promoting them?

  • The many "healthy" foods that aren't, and why vegans need to be especially cautious

  • Sometimes a good diet isn't enough
Notes

Planning to change your address? Don't forget to let us know - use the force ... I mean the form ... so you will not be out of touch.