Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in childhood appears to increase the risk of antisocial personality disorder and substance abuse in adulthood. The researchers note that these results confirm findings from earlier studies and strongly suggest that children with ADHD are at significantly higher risk for a specific negative course marked by antisocial and substance-related disorders. COMMENT: ADHD is a challenge to treat, but nearly everyone who has it can improve with dietary modifications. Stimulants, like Ritalin or amphetamines, are rarely required. Traditional doctors will jump up and down and claim that sugar has nothing to do with this illness, but I am convinced that it does. Part of the confusion relates to the fact that one requires a comprehensive approach to the dietary changes. Sugar needs to be eliminated, but so does milk, soda, juice, fruit and most grains like bread, pasta, rice, cereal and potatoes. When one applies the more rigid sugar restriction, improvement is quite consistent and dramatic. The Heller's wrote a new book called Carbohydrate Addicted Kids which is an excellent initial introduction for the treatment of ADHD, No More Ritalin by Marianne Block and Is This Your Child by Dorris Rapp are also useful texts. The goal is to solve the problem in childhood so the child does not have his entire life ruined with antisocial behavior and substance abuse.
American Journal of Psychiatry (1998;155:493-498)