FOOD INTOLERANCE NETWORK FACTSHEET
Diet, sleep disturbance and insomnia
The effects
• difficulty falling asleep
• frequent night waking
• waking up too early
• restless legs
• ‘weird’ dreams
• nightmares
• night terrors
• sleep walking
• some people also report an
improvement in sleep apnoea
The
science
Sleep disturbance,
including difficulty settling to sleep and frequent night waking, has often
been noted in research concerning the effects of diet on children with
behaviour problems. It has also been documented in adults with food
intolerance, see some references below.
Which
food chemicals?
Reactions to food chemicals
are a pharmacological - or food intolerance - reaction, not an allergic reaction. The food chemicals that
have been associated with insomnia include artificial colours, natural colour
annatto, preservatives, synthetic antioxidants, flavour enhancers and naturally
occurring chemicals called salicylates and amines. Dairy foods and less
commonly wheat or gluten can be a problem for some people but are less likely
to be a problem than additives and salicylates. See more details of problem
additives below. Sleep disturbance can also be the unintended side effects of a
medication.
Who
is affected?
Anyone of any age can be
affected. When whole families embark on their elimination diet to support a
child with behaviour problem, it is common for them to report that everyone is
sleeping better. Food chemicals can pass through breastmilk
to affect breastfed babies.
I
think my insomnia might be related to foods. What can I do?
People have different
reactions to various food chemicals so any or all of the above food chemicals
can cause the problem. See the Failsafe Booklet on the website www.fedup.com.au. If
reducing your intake of nasty additives doesn’t help, it may be worth doing a full
elimination diet to find the cause of the problem. Some people can be affected
by what they eat, put on their skin, clean their teeth with, and inhale (such
as air fresheners).
You can email for our list
of supportive dietitians: confoodnet@ozemail.com.au
Reader
stories
[146] Restless babies from tartrazine
(yellow#5, colour 102) (February 2002)
"Thank you so much for
the "Restless Babies" article
(available on website) I recommended it to a distraught mum in the
Here are the foods that the
[366] “My babies woke up 8 times every night” (March 2005)
A friend gave me your book
"Fed up" to read and I simply can't believe the difference it has
made to our lives. I have four children. Three of them have been terrible
sleepers right from birth. I have spent a week at Tresillian
house with my 3rd child, where he was handed back to me at the end of the week
unchanged. My babies all woke up on average 8 times every night and I have been
so sleep deprived over the past 8 years that I became postnatal. I have a Degree in Early Childhood and have
worked as a Director in a Pre-School for many years, and thought that I could
control their behaviour by employing techniques acquired through professional
training. It was frustrating to find that I couldn't cope. My first child was
such a shock! I simply couldn't leave the house with him.
This book came in time for
my 4th and final child. My daughter fell into the same terrible broken night
sleep pattern as the others. After struggling for 8 months, she did start to
settle down, waking perhaps once a night.
This was great until I started her, at age 10 months, on bread. She
immediately returned to night waking - for no apparent reason - and also had a
clear runny nose. I found that the bread
she was having had 282 in it. SO we stopped feeding it to her. Within a couple
of nights she again settled down to a peaceful nights' sleep! AND her nose
cleared up! I can't believe that it could have been that simple!
My question to you regards
my children when they were babies, constantly struggling to sleep - could this
additive (calcium propionate, 282) have been passed on to the baby through my breastmilk, causing a similar reaction??? [The answer is of
course, YES, food chemicals are passed through breastmilk
– Sue] – by email
[363] “Sleep apnoea, incessant
snorting and inability to breathe at night” (March 2005)
Before the diet, my son
presented with headaches, itchy skin (in elbows, on legs, usually scratching
until it bleeds), black circles under his eyes, "jumpy" behaviour,
irritability, day and night pants wetting, pains in the tummy and awful loose
bowel motions, blocked ears and sleep apnoea as well
as incessant snorting and inability to breathe at night. As a baby he had
eczema, colic, could not sleep and fussed with breast milk from 4 months ...
somebody needs to support vulnerable new mothers to help their fussy kids, not
make it worse by shoving disguised dairy foods (or whatever the particular
issue is) down their throats, and then advise the mother to let them scream it
out because they obviously have us fooled with sleeping and behaviour problems!
– by email
[131] We just love the effects of the diet (December 2001)
"We have recently gone
onto a fairly strict version of the elimination diet - and have seen fantastic
results in our 4 year old son. He is sleeping better, has become very loving
and affectionate with his father, more agreeable, less tense and generally
calmer and more 'angelic'. We just love it. The hardest part was just getting
used to what foods were safe and allowed."- reader,
email
[390] “I was angry because I couldn’t fall asleep” (March
2006)
My 6 ½ year old son, Tim
(not his real name) is currently undergoing investigation of mixed depressive
disorder with anxiety and obsessive ruminations. We have used the failsafe diet
in the past with one of our other children, but had not ever thought of foods
being linked to Tim’s mood problems. When you mention the “gifted and
depressed” child in your recent talk my ears immediately pricked up and took
note. Tim has been identified as highly gifted and everyone has been saying
that is the cause of his problems but I have always felt there was something
else underlying that was contributing. We will be contacting our GP today and
hopefully starting the failsafe diet ASAP…
Two months later … Since
starting the elimination diet Tim has not self harmed once! He is much calmer
and has noticed this in himself. He no longer seems to be as restless and has
been falling asleep easily at a reasonable time in the evenings. We started
with the salicylates challenge this week and there seemed to be no reaction,
until day 5/6 when we started to notice his behaviour was getting worse. We
will stop this challenge tonight and wait to try some other groups. His GP and
Clinical Psychologist are both thrilled with the change as are well!
One week later ….After I
emailed you we finally had the BIG reaction we were looking for. It happened on
Day 7 of the salicylate challenge - we had already stopped the challenge that
morning. Tim went to bed as normal then began to write swear words all over his
bed, his sheets and his body. ("I was angry with you because I couldn't
fall asleep") This is the behaviour and obsessive ruminations this poor
boy was experiencing on a daily basis before. - WA
[379] Sleep and behaviour problems due to hairspray, airfreshener (November 2005)
I stopped wearing hairspray
about 6 months ago when we went totally failsafe and saw great results with our
children's behaviour. Two weeks ago I was going out without the kids, so after
putting them to bed I sprayed on some Sunsilk
hairspray and liked the way it looked. So the next day I did it again and
within a couple of hours my 3 year old son's behaviour changed. He was
overactive, very fidgety, hitting and kicking, and headbutted
his sister hard enough to give her a blood nose. As time went on he was crying
a lot with loud silly behaviour and wanting demands met immediately. That night
he could not get to sleep. I wore the hairspray for three days not putting two
and two together then we realized it must be the hairspray as their diet is so
failsafe it couldn't be the food he was eating. I stopped wearing hairspray and
his behaviour returned to normal. I have also noticed that when I visit my mum
who uses airfreshener - lots of air freshener - my
son's behaviour deteriorates after a few hours. - Vic
[150] “I have spent the better part of my adult life wanting
to sleep” (April 2002)
I have been an insomniac
since I was 16. From my mid 20s it has been a major issue in my life. I have
lived on approximately four hours sleep a day. I have spent thousands of
dollars in trying to find the answer. I have seen naturopaths, homeopaths,
medical doctors, Chinese herbalists, acupuncturists. I have been to a sleep
centre where they tried to teach me to sleep. I have tried every imaginable
trick to try to sleep. For three years, I stopped drinking or eating anything with
caffeine. I would drink warm milk before bed. I would take a run before bed. I
would read a book before bed. Have a bath before bed. You name it, I have
probably tried it. By the time I turned 30, I decided that I had to learn to
accept my insomnia - 'this is as good as it gets' sort of thing. In the worst
scenario I would read till all hours of the morning. Having said that, I had to
also accept the fact that I was tired most of the time.
I had my son at the age of
31. He was a colicky baby, a terrible sleeper. He also had heartburn at night,
which his paediatrician attributed to the fact that
my son still breast fed at night, up to the age of 25 months. I never
understood the relationship between breastfeeding at night and heartburn, so
continued doing it. My main resource and my inability to accept my paed's advice was due to my own travels to primitive
cultures, where I saw babies and toddlers breastfeeding constantly; 24/7 days a
week and these babies were NOT colicky, did not suffer heartburn. In fact, they
seemed very happy, content, and rarely cried. When they did cry, it was more of
a whimper rather than the cries I hear in western society.
Being a 30 something Mum, I
also was fully aware of what sort of Mum I wanted to be. I had clear visions of
being a compassionate Mum; this entailed no spanking, no yelling, but rather
validating feelings, finding alternatives whereby both of us would be happy,
and in the worst scenario just accepting that my child and I would not always
agree, but I would still respect this difference rather than fight it. My son's
temperament, however, tested me to the core and I failed often in living my
maternal visions. Yes, I have yelled at my son, yes I have spanked him (to
date, three times - he is 2.5 years old and each time I think about it, I do
cringe with disappointment with the evidence of my weaknesses). My son, from an
early age was high need and wanted full on hands on care, was constantly on the
breast, slow to unwind, wanted in-your-face attention, constantly in my arms.
In a nutshell I found him draining, and highly strung. I remember when he was
only five months old, having this real desire just to throw him across the room
and the reality of my feelings shocked me to my core. I am by nature sensitive
to other people’s feelings, gentle, gracious, etc.
I took him to a sleep
centre, where the staff tried to teach me to help my son to fall asleep on his
own and all I kept thinking about was "seen this movie before". I
thought I was going insane; my son took two hours to unwind before he would
fall asleep and when he did, he would sleep only for one hour, waking up and
then would demand the breast to go to sleep again. After the sleep centre
experience with my son, I decided to go by my instincts; one thing I was sure
about was that I would never let my son cry it out, no matter what. Part of my
reasoning stemmed from 'what if he has the same problems as me? Maybe its
genetics?' another real reason for me was 'he must be waking up for some
reason?'...to my mind, it may be hard to fall asleep, but once asleep, a person
wakes up for a reason...so I decided that if my son woke up every hour, I would
just learn to live with that too and together we would get through it. I put up
with it literally till my son was 25 months old and by that stage, I am sure
the night nursing was more a habit rather than a real need, ie,
whatever was causing the night waking as an infant/baby, no longer existed by
the time he was a toddler.
He was a very active little
boy, who seemed too busy to sit for any period of time. His thoughts also were
busy, talking constantly without taking a breath. As a result, he always looked
like he was misbehaving because he seemed to have no physical self control,
although he was very gentle, loving and extremely aware of the needs of others.
But then, he would all of a sudden display vocal aggression, and physical
aggression, seeming to get pleasure in hurting. I could not understand this
Jekyll and Hyde personality.
Most people that I turned
to, either suggested more discipline, in the forms of spanking or severe
punishment. Others suggested that I was giving him too many sweets. Others
suggested that I train him at home, for instance sitting with him for ten
minutes today, then fifteen minutes tomorrow. Others suggested that my son and
I were too attached and he was playing on my weaknesses. Others implied that I
was not a consistent mother regarding discipline. But I saw my son for the
person he was. I had these real glimpses of his real personality. I thought
about taking him to a naturopath or a homeopath. I resisted though because my
real fear was that his behaviour would become an issue in our life like my
sleeping disorder became an issue in my life. Again, I turned to my own common
sense here and decided that I preferred to accept the package rather than fight
it all the time. Then I stumbled on your book at a health shop and bought it.
I have only read probably
one quarter of your book. But the next day I eliminated wheat, dairy and all
preservatives/additives. Within two days, the son that I only had glimpses of
suddenly emerged for a period of five consecutive days ... and I suddenly found
myself able to fall asleep in ten minutes. My son would still wake up, and I
would still respond in the same manner, but again, I would be able to fall
asleep without any problems. Day six was the day that I cried. I have spent the
better part of my adult life wanting to sleep and feeling tired. I have wasted
years of my youth thinking about sleep. I am at times angry and at times
relieved to just get out of the woods. I just can not believe that I no longer
have to describe myself as an insomniac.
My son now sleeps much
better, but I have realized only today that I think he is also salicylate
sensitive and probably so am I. Both of us, I realize now, demonstrate
aggression for unknown reasons. I can control that side of me because I am an
adult, but my son is more honest with himself and his world.
Today, my son was pushed
over the edge, so tomorrow, I am getting stricter with salicylate and amine
side of the challenges - but I feel good about it. I know where I am going now,
I have direction and that my undisciplined boy does not need more discipline.
In fact in the five days that he was his real self, I had absolutely no
problems. There was such harmony between us that my heart upon just writing
that, is swelling up ... more importantly, it has nothing to do with my
adequacies as a mother, or my son’s personality. It is all external to the
problem. This makes me feel more confident than ever ...
I wanted to tell you my
story and to thank you from the bottom of my heart. If only someone had told me
at 16 what was causing my insomnia ... but then, I also know that my insomnia
stopped me from resorting to ignoring my son's cries and if I was not going to
find the motive of his behaviour and cries, I was just going to accept this boy
as he was ... for better or worse ...
I have learned one thing in
life and that is, that it is the worse situations that are character building
and through them I can choose the path I decide to tread ... I am just happy
that you wrote your book 'Fed up' and I am just happy that I chose to read it
... thanking you very very much ... - Ingrid, Melbourne
[125] restless legs (September 2001)
Around February of 2000 I
was searching on the internet for some clues to my life long digestive
problems, when I came across the food allergy section on the About.com website.
The featured food allergy topic happened to be salicylates ... just out of
curiosity, and for the heck of it, I clicked on the link, and started to read
about it … I first off read the list of common symptoms. As I read it the list
was all too familiar to me … I answered Yes to every symptom. Needless to say,
I started to follow a salicylate free diet. To say I felt better would have
been the understatement of a new millennium … ALL of my life I have suffered
from very frequent urination, constipation, stomach bloating, short temper, irritability,
inability to concentrate, memory problems, severe acne, dry skin (especially on
my hands and feet), those restless legs, and more ...<sigh>… The worst of
it for me though was the constant urination, and constipation which led to a
lot of gas ... Thank you so much for your work, and your book. Both have
changed my life forever. I am finally free of a problem which has literally
ruined my life. In case you're wondering, I'm 37 years old ... And yes, 36
years is WAY too long to suffer with this health problem. Sometimes I don't
know how I made it this long with my sanity intact. - from
the
References
See abstracts for the
papers below in www.pubmed.com
1. Breakey J. The role of diet and
behaviour in childhood. J Paediatr Child Health
1997;33(3):190-4.
2. Dengate S, Ruben A. Controlled trial of cumulative behavioural effects of a common bread preservative. J Paediatr Child Health 2002;38(4):373-6.
3. Fitzsimon M, Holborow P, Berry P, Latham S. Salicylate sensitivity in
children reported to respond to salicylate exclusion. Med J Aust
1978;2(12):570-2.
4. Kaplan BJ, McNicol J, Conte RA,
Moghadam HK. Dietary replacement in preschool-aged
hyperactive boys. Pediatrics 1989;83(1):7-17.
5. Loblay RH, Swain AR. 'Food
intolerance'. In Wahlqvist ML, Truswell
AS, Recent Advances in Clinical Nutrition. London: John Libbey,
1986, pages 169-177. 1986.
6.
Avoid
these additives
ARTIFICIAL COLOURS
102 tartrazine,
104 quinoline yellow, 107 yellow 2G, 110 sunset
yellow, 122 azorubine, 123 amaranth, 124 ponceau red, 127 erythrosine, 128 red 2G, 129 allura red, 132 indigotine, 133
brilliant blue, 142 green S, 151 brilliant black, 155 chocolate brown
NATURAL COLOUR
160b annatto
PRESERVATIVES - sulphite preservatives are most associated with asthma
200-203 sorbates (in
margarine, dips, cakes, fruit products)
210-213 benzoates (in juices, soft drinks, cordials,
syrups)
220-228 sulphites (in dried
fruit, fruit drinks, sausages, and others)
280-283 propionates (in bread, crumpets, bakery
products)
249-252 nitrates, nitrites (in processed meats like
ham)
ANTIOXIDANTS - synthetic antioxidants in vegetable oils and margarines
310-312 Gallates
319-320 TBHQ, BHA, BHT
FLAVOUR ENHANCERS
621 MSG
(in tasty foods, fast foods, snack foods)
627, 631, 635 disodium inosinate, disodium guanylate, ribonucleotides (can be associated with itchy skin rashes)
HVP hydrolysed
vegetable protein, vegetable protein, yeast extract
ADDED FLAVOURS - there are thousands of artificial
flavours which don’t have to be identified by number because they are considered
to be trade secrets. Flavours may contain unlisted artificial colours and
preservatives.
More information
People have different
reactions to various food chemicals so any or all of the above food chemicals
can cause the problem. See the free downloadable Failsafe booklet on the
website www.fedup.com.au, under the
Failsafe eating button. If reducing your
intake of nasty additives doesn’t help, it may be worth doing a full
elimination diet to find the cause of the problem. You can email for our list
of supportive dietitians: confoodnet@ozemail.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. You can find a supportive dietitian through the Dietitians
Association of
© Sue Dengate update July 2006
