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.
update July 2006
