FOOD INTOLERANCE NETWORK
FACTSHEET
Fish oils, vitamins and
vegetables
1.
Fish Oils
Q. Is it possible that a fish oil supplement could have
caused an increase in my three year old Aspergers son’s behaviour problems? It may
purely coincidence but it appears that his behaviour seriously deteriorated
(started waking at night, stopped using the toilet and was doing almost all his
wees and poos in his pants, generally out of control behaviour such as hyper,
loud, aggressive, hitting, yelling, squealing) when we started giving him the
fish oil and it improved - or rather went back to what is was before the fish
oil- a couple of days after we stopped giving it to him.
A. Fish oil is thought to benefit about 30 per cent of
children with learning or behaviour problems. Others can be badly affected due
to the presence of natural salicylates (in ingredients such as thyme oil,
evening primrose oil and lemon or lime flavouring) and natural amines in fish
oils. Failsafers have reported adverse reactions including behaviour problems,
depression and migraines to a range of fish oil products. See below for reader
reports regarding children's reactions. Some families do a fish oil challenge
for a week or more while keeping a careful food and symptom dairy - at the end
of the time, parents can review the diary and decide whether their child is
better or worse.
[454] 'Wanted to warn others' about fish oil capsules
(August 2006)
Previous to the diet, on
the recommendation of our pediatrician we tried fish oil capsules for 4 weeks
with good results for concentration. We stopped using the fish oil supplement
when we started the diet as we wanted a clear reading of what it would do. (We
were very much non believers at this stage). The difference on the diet was
amazing and we did the diet very successfully for over three months. We were
into our second challenge when I reintroduced the fish oil thinking nothing of
it as it was recommended along with diet by the pediatrician. We never got back
to where we started even after four weeks of strict diet. We came off it
thinking it was possibly a one off and his body had adjusted to the diet. We
have paid heavily for it, forgetting what life was like before the diet. My son
is unhappy and we even began Ritalin trials feeling that we had exhausted all
avenues. Then a friend who is also a failsafer was told by a doctor at the RPA
Allergy Clinic that there is a problem with fish oil and I just wanted to warn
others who may fall into the same trap. We have begun the diet again today and
my son is happy to go back on it even though he knows it means no McDonald
parties and fruit and pizza which are his favourites. Thank you for giving us
another option, and this fabulous website which makes the daunting task much
easier.
[440] "my son had an horrific reaction to fish oil
" (August 2006)
I complained to the Adverse
Medications Events hotline (thru your website) about the fact that the label on
a particular brand of fish oil supplements says free of salicylates and amines
and they were most sympathetic and helpful. They asked the Queensland Nutrition
Council to investigate and discovered that not only does the lemon and lime
flavouring contain salicylates and amines, but so does the tuna, and how high
depends on whether the tuna is fresh or canned. As I told you, my son had an
horrific adverse reaction to it, and was waking up through the night on it - in
fact, he asked me if he could stop taking it. I tried lowering the dose to a
teaspoon in the morning only (two teaspoons recommended morning and night), and
it made no difference, so I stopped it. The AME spokesperson told me she had
written to the company involved asking them to justify their claim. She also
told me the product has been withdrawn in the
[439] "Migraines due to amines including fish oil"
(August 2006)
My daughter has had
migraines since she was about three years old. We had no idea what they were
for several years. She usually gets a fever with her migraines and because of
the fever the doctor would always put it down to 'a virus', prescribing
painkillers. I would often give her panadol for four days straight just to keep
the headaches at bay. She goes limp and listless, her eyes droop, she lies
there and sleeps for hours until the panadol wears off and then the pain and
fever return. Most times she will scream and cry at me grabbing her forehead,
pleading with me to take the pain away. “Mummmy Mummy my heads hurts, please
stop it.”
A year after she started
getting the migraines, we were referred to a paediatrician who could find no
medical reason for them. He thought it may have been an attention grabber or
perhaps the start of a cold. He was at a loss too. He asked me to diarise her
migraines. The migraines continued on and off with no regular pattern that I
could work out. Once a week, then maybe another in 6 weeks times, then two months.
It varied greatly. Two years later we started taking a fish oil supplement [not
the same brand as the one mentioned in the two stories above]. The migraines
became more frequent and she started throwing up with them. She would go to
sleep with a migraine, wake at
On the second day of the
amine challenge, my daughter got a migraine, fever, droopy eyes and became
listless. School rang and asked me to collect her, again. She stayed unwell for
several days with the headache. Since the end of the amine challenge three months
ago we haven’t had one migraine! So, no more amines for my daughter. It turns
out that the fish oil supplement has amines in it which is why her migraines
would have become so frequent and regular. I was giving her six capsules per
day for three months as per instructions. - mother of a seven year old
1.
Vitamins
Q. The local Amcal pharmacist said that the Amcal
One-a-Day tablet is only for adults and
is not recommended for children. She
said to check with my doctor before giving it to my daughter. She also said they have one for children but
of course it is flavoured. Can you confirm that this multivitamin is okay for
children or should I check with my doctor?
A. You can check
with your dietitian or email confoodnet@ozemail.com.au
for our list of supportive dietitians. For children, dietitians generally
recommend half doses of Amcal One-a-Day, Elevit pregnancy supplements or
Macro-M multivitamin and mineral supplements. Unlike megavitamins, all of these
supplements contain low dose vitamins and minerals at the close to the
recommended daily allowances. For example, there are 75 mg of Vitamin C in one
tablet of Amcal One-a-Day, so the dose for children is 37.5 mg. Recommended
daily allowances of vitamins vary slightly between countries. The current US
recommended daily allowance for Vitamin C is:
30 mg for babies under 6
months
35 mg for babies 6-12 months
40 mg for children 1-3
45 mg for children aged 4-10
50 mg for children 11-14
60 mg for over 15
Other vitamins and minerals
will be in roughly the same proportion, and these supplements are free of added
preservatives, colours or flavours, unlike supplements designed specifically
for children.
2.
Vegetables
Q. How will my child get enough Vitamin C without fruit
juice?
A. Many fruit and vegetables including potatoes contain
varying amounts of Vitamin C and other nutrients. When three year old Ethan
from
Before Ethan started on his
elimination diet, he was such a fussy eater that his mother had worried about
his nutrition. At the age of three, Ethan was diagnosed with autism and severe
communication disorder (‘basically just a few words’). After five months on his
new diet, Ethan’s language was age appropriate, he made good eye contact and
his frequent tantrums had disappeared. ‘It was much easier than I expected,’
said his mother Darani, ‘and the improvements in Ethan have been huge. He’s a
completely different child’.
Ethan’s Menu
Breakfast: Soy smoothie with
soymilk, carob powder, pear and egg or gf toasted bread or rice flake porridge
with pear puree and soymilk
Lunch at school: 4 rice
cakes, home-made hummus or chickpeas and cashew with carob or gluten free
sandwich with rissoles
Morning /afternoon tea: soy
yoghurt or pear muffin (Margie's lunchbox muffins) or baked muesli slice or
pureed pear icypole or packet plain crisps (only on treat days)
Dinner: hearty chicken noodle
soup (see recipe below) or spaghetti with failsafe topping or baked dinner or
rice crumbed chicken nuggets and chips or mince and potato casserole with
hidden green vegies
Darani’s hearty chicken noodle soup/stew
This highly nutritious meal
was 3 year old Ethan’s favourite during his elimination diet and he ate it
nearly every day.
1 whole free-range chicken
1 leek (halved lengthways)
1 tsp salt
1 cup red lentils
12 brussel sprouts or approx
1/2 cabbage
1 swede
4-6 sticks celery
4-6 shallots
1 cup frozen green beans
375g pkt Orgran rice and corn
(5%) spaghetti noodles or Fantastic rice noodles
Place chicken in pot with
leek and enough water to cover, add salt, bring to the boil and simmer until
cooked through, about 45 minutes. Remove chicken and allow to cool a little.
Strain stock, return to pot and add red lentils, then washed and finely chopped
vegetables. Gently simmer until well cooked, about one hour. Meanwhile, remove
skin and bones from chicken, finely chop or process and return to pot with
vegetables. Add noodles and cook for a further 10-15 minutes. This usually
makes enough to fill about 8 rectangular Chinese take-away containers (2 serves
in each for my son) which I then freeze and use as needed. Soup is very thick,
more like stew really, and can be watered down a little if preferred.- Darani
Note that you can blend this
soup (without the noodles) for extra fussy eaters.
Hiding the vegetables
Research shows that new
vegetables need to be introduced to children about ten times, on average,
before they will learn to eat them - so never give up. The best way to get vegetables into difficult
kids is to hide them.
Mothers say the best hiding
places are:
• failsafe mince
• home-made pies
• blended vegetable soup
• chopped small or blended in
chicken noodle soup (see Darani’s hearty chicken noodle soup)
• mashed potato
• blended kidney bean sauce
or Howard's bean paste - see below for nutrition considerations
• savoury muffins - replace
in the sugar in your usual muffin recipe by 1/2 tsp salt and add finely diced
safe veggies such as chokoes, brussels sprouts, potato, green beans, etc
(see recipes in the Failsafe
Booklet)
Kidney beans every day keep the doctor away
Fruits and vegetables are
rich sources of beneficial natural antioxidants not to be confused with nasty
synthetic antioxidants like BHA 320. Natural antioxidants can neutralise free
radicals known to cause cancer. In 2004, researchers from the US Department of
Agriculture rated 130 common foods for the antioxidant power. Three of the top
five entries were failsafe. Beans and nuts scored particularly high and of
those, red kidney beans are exceptionally good value. Coming in at number
three, and as the only dried beans that don't cause wind, they contained more
than three times the antioxidant power of apples. Most of the top 20 were
beans, nuts or berries.
|
Rating |
Food |
Antioxidant capacity in TE units (tocopherol equivalents) |
|
2 3 5 11 17 18 |
mexican
red beans red kidney
beans pinto beans black
beans black-eyed
peas red
delicious apples |
14,920 failsafe 14,412 failsafe 12,358 failsafe 8,040
failsafe 4,342
failsafe 4,257
moderate in salicylates |
Research shows that
antioxidants such as Vitamin E, Vitamin C and betacarotene in supplements do
not have the same beneficial properties of fruit and vegetables. More
information: Lisa Melton, The Antioxidant Myth, New Scientist,
FOR MORE DETAILS:
You can see Darani and Ethan
in the interviews on our DVD
Ask Darani for a booklet of
Ethan’s recipes, email: darani@xceltek.net.au
See more vegetable-hiding
recipes in the Failsafe Booklet under FAILSAFE EATING on www.fedup.com.au.
The information given is not intended as medical
advice. Always consult with your doctor for underlying illness. Before
beginning dietary investigation, consult a dietician with an interest in food
intolerance.
© Sue Dengate update December 2006
