When we think of malnutrition, we often think of pictures showing starving kids in Africa. Or your parents used to tell you, “eat all your food. Kids are starving in another country.”
Even though malnutrition is still a significant public health issue in many developing countries, overweight and obesity are becoming serious threats to children in the United States.
Being overweight and obese are forms of malnutrition. Malnutrition (both under- and over-nutrition) during childhood may affect the health and performance of children when they become adults.
Malnutrition is associated with poorer IQ levels, cognitive function, school achievement, and more behavioral problems, such as attention deficits and emotional instability.
Children in the US have better access to food, but that does not mean they have better nutrition or better health. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), childhood obesity affected 19.7% or about 14.7 million children and adolescents aged 2-19 years in 2017-20201.
Children in the US eat too many empty calories from processed foods that miss essential nutrients, causing excessive weight gain and nutrient deficiencies.
There have been decades of research to support the strong relationship between ADHD and obesity. Remember, in the Anatomy of the ADHD Brain, we talked about how low dopamine levels and the effects of sugar can cause sugar addiction and overeating in people with ADHD.
A person with ADHD is four times more likely to become obese than someone who does not have ADHD. There are hundreds and even thousands of biochemical reaction pathways in the body that are going on constantly to sustain the function of the body. Every single one of these pathways and reactions requires at least one mineral and vitamin that acts as a catalyst to turn on that pathway.
When there is a mineral or vitamin deficiency, some biochemical reactions are affected, resulting in the body not functioning correctly, and you have “dis-ease.”
When we look at our anemic food supplies – genetically modified organisms or GMO products that are not suitable for human consumption, manufactured food, that’s been stripped off of essential nutrients, over-farming causes, mineral depletion in the soil from which our fruits and vegetables come from, you see how your body can become deficient in nutrients over time.
And do you see why getting proper nutrition is difficult?
We, human beings, can only thrive on simple, pure food and a clean environment.
Unfortunately, all these are affecting our children. Children with ADHD are found to be deficient in magnesium, zinc, iron, omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin D, and many others.
Eating a healthy diet alone is not enough to correct all these nutrient deficiencies. Think of nutrient deficiency as an empty bucket. The emptier the bucket, the longer it takes to fill the bucket back up to par for things to be back to normal.
Getting nutrients from food is the ideal choice for daily maintenance, but when the bucket is empty, we need to refill the bucket with a hose, not drips.
