ATLANTA, Georgia (PNN) - October 23, 2015 - With the guise of improving academic achievement, doctors like Dr. Michael Anderson are prescribing drugs like Adderall to children with self-admitted, made-up Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) diagnoses. Adderall is a dangerous stimulant, but Dr. Anderson, a pediatrician for many poor families in Cherokee County, north of Atlanta, prescribes Adderall when he hears that his patients are suffering in school, whether they have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or not. He admits the disorder is “made up” and prescribes the drugs anyway, but usually only to children in low income schools with the explanation that they need to be drugged to keep up with children who perform better academically.
“I don’t have a whole lot of choice. We’ve decided as a society that it’s too expensive to modify the (child’s) environment, so we have to modify the (child),” said Anderson.
“ADD and ADHD are the result of neurotransmitter and neuroendocrine imbalances. The four main imbalances include high norepineprine and cortisol, dopamine dysfunction, serotonin deficiency, and insulin irregularity. Each of these imbalances are rooted in nutritional deficiencies that with correction improve symptoms of hyperactivity and inattention. Food allergies and intolerances also contribute to malabsorption of nutrients,” said Anderson.
One of the easiest and safest ways to correct ADHD behaviors, whether the disorder was made up or not, is to correct nutritional deficiencies. School lunches, especially in poor neighborhoods, are especially suspect when it comes to providing proper nutrition.
More than 90% of children aged 4 to 18 don’t meet recommendations for vegetable intake, and more than 75% don’t meet guidelines for fruit intake. Moreover, more than 90% of children consume more than the recommended amounts of solid fats and added sugars. We have Coke machines in school cafeterias, yet we are prescribing Adderall? A drug that is used to treat narcolepsy? A drug that contains not one but two stimulants: amphetamine and dextroamphetamine?
Dr. Anderson is sorely mistaken in his judgment, and likely makes a significant bonus for prescribing this drug from its maker, Shire, who recently had to pay $56.5 million for claiming it could “normalize” children with ADHD. If your child has been prescribed this drug so he or she can cope academically in school, I urge you to look instead to supplementing his or her diet with good nutritive foods.
