by Lawrence Wilson, MD
© December 2009, The Center For
Development
Many thousands of children today suffer from delayed
development. It may also be
labeled as mentally slow, persistent delayed development, learning disorder,
autism and others. Let us examine
what these children have in common and how it is sometimes possible to correct
this condition.
Hair mineral testing usually reveals inadequate zinc
reserves in children with delayed development syndromes. However, one must understand that the
low zinc can be hidden.
This means that the hair zinc level may be normal, or even
elevated. This can be
confusing. Please note that any of
the following indicates a zinc deficiency on a properly performed hair mineral
analysis from a laboratory that does not wash the hair at the lab. There are only two such labs in the
world that I am aware of, Analytical Research Labs in Phoenix, Arizona and
Trace Elements, Inc. in Addison, Texas.
The indicators include:
1. A zinc level less than about 12 mg% or 120 parts per
million.
2. A copper level greater than about 2.6 mg%
3. A cadmium level greater than about 0.01 mg%.
4. A mercury level greater than about 0.06 mg%.
5. A zinc/copper ratio greater than about 12:1 often is an
indicator. A zinc/copper ratio
less than 6:1 may also be an indicator.
6. A sodium/potassium ratio less than 2:1 may be an
indicator.
7. A hair phosphorus level less than 10 mg% is often an
indicator.
8. Any elevated toxic metal may also be an indicator, such
as a high lead level.
Zinc is required for growth and development. Many other nutrients are also required
as well. However, zinc is the most
common nutrient, in our experience, that is deficient in these children.
The most common cause, in almost all cases, is low zinc in
the mother, though the father may have some influence as well, strange as that
might sound. Other causes of low
zinc are excessive stress on an infant or suffering an illness, such as an
infection of some kind that depletes zinc.
The child could also have been born with excessive copper or
cadmium, for example, and these antagonize zinc. This means they can interfere with the normal metabolism of
zinc in the body.
Another cause of zinc deficiency is a diet of too many
sweets, especially sugars of any type, including eating a lot of fruit or fruit
juices, a common food today of infants and children.
All of these situations could, in theory, result in a severe
enough zinc deficiency that halts both physical and mental, or nervous system,
development and leads to delayed development syndromes.
Correction. Fortunately, zinc deficiency, as well as excesses of copper
and cadmium, are not usually that difficult to correct using nutritional
balancing science. In many cases,
they can be corrected enough to begin development once again within a few weeks
to a few months at most. A
complete nutritional balancing program is often essential, not a single
nutrient such as zinc, and not just nutritional supplements.
Note: Just giving zinc to a child is
often not enough. In fact, if zinc
is given in a formula with copper or other minerals such as manganese, it can
make zinc deficiency worse.
Also note: We do not like the use of
synthetic or natural chelators to remove mercury, cadmium or other toxic metal
in infants, or in adults, for that matter. These include drugs such as EDTA, DMPS and DMSA (the best of
the three). They also include
alginates, zeolite, cilantro, chlorella, Metal-free, NDF and several other
popular products. The chelators
can make things much worse, and are always unnecessary. The problem is they can all remove some
vital minerals, of which these children are almost always low in to begin
with.
For example, one child was recently referred to us who was
taking piles of vitamins, plus natural chelators such as modified citrus
pectin. The child had made no
developmental progress in a year and was very agitated on the supplements. When they were discontinued, and a few
supplements given based upon a properly performed and correctly interpreted
hair mineral analysis, he felt much better and began to grow quickly.
What can be
expected? Correction does not mean the
child will regain normal height, weight or other developmental parameters
immediately. It could take months
or even years, but young children can grow to normal height, weight and other physical
size quite easily.
Mental development is also often easily corrected, provided
the child is young when the process is halted and restarted. If the child is over the age of 10, for
example, then mental development might be stunted, although not necessarily. The reason for this is the personality
of the child is developing by this age, and some development of the personality
may be impaired for life. However,
even in older children, remarkable changes can occur with nutritional
correction.
CHILDRENŐS DIETS
All children today need a lot more cooked vegetables,
preferably twice daily. If a child
is fussy, cook the vegetables in a soup and after cooking for 15 minutes or so,
blend the soup into a puree, and most children will eat it. Also, use onions as a base, as they are
an excellent vegetable and very sweet and their flavor may overwhelm the flavor
of other vegetables. Do not add
other sweeteners and there is no reason to mix a lot of vegetables or other
ingredients with the vegetables.
Some children will also eat more vegetables if you use a
dressing or garnish of butter, coconut oil, or a little diluted almond butter,
for example, over the vegetables to add flavor.
Most young children, in particular, need a lot more quality
fats and oils than many eat. They
need these with each meal, or at least twice daily. They include red meats, dark meat chicken or turkey,
certified raw dairy products are excellent, oily fish
such as sardines or salmon in small quantity, eggs (with the yolks soft are
best), and such items as butter, coconut oil is okay and sweet, olive oil, flax
or hempseed oils, and some almond or other nut butters are okay in moderation.
FOOD
SENSITIVITIES, ANOTHER COMMON PROBLEM, BUT NOT THE CAUSE OF DELAYED DEVELOPMENT
Food sensitivities among autistic children, in particular,
are extremely common. This is not
usually the precipitating cause of the delayed development, although if the
diet is low in zinc and the digestive system is very deficient or weak, it is
possible this could help induce a zinc deficiency. Therefore, it is a factor to consider and definitely a
factor to think about in terms of correction of the situation.
Food allergy testing is often helpful, but not necessary in
most cases. The childŐs diet needs
to be very simple, with the removal of offending foods, at least for a time
until the intestines rebuild.
The most common sensitive foods that we eliminate with every
child, anyway, are wheat, beef, sugar and dairy products. These are not needed in almost all
cases, and are best avoided. Some
children will need to avoid all gluten grains, including oats, barley, rye,
spelt and perhaps even rice for a time.
Corn is often okay, but not always. Other food restrictions that may be needed are to give up
all citrus fruit and all nightshade vegetables. These include tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant and all peppers,
even hot chiles.
Correction of food imbalances or intolerances is often a
slow process of renourishing the child, getting rid of irritating foods such as
those mentioned above, and plenty of rest and relaxation. Stress makes this much harder, as does
inadequate rest and sleep.
Rarely, special products may be needed such as a probiotic, anti-candida product,
anti-parasite product, or other. I
have never recommended a medical drug for this purpose, as natural products
usually can work well. Aloe juice
is very soothing to an irritated intestine.
Children have an important need for the essential fatty
acids, particularly EPA and DHA.
These very important fatty acids are needed for brain development. They are not found in most food today,
however. Therefore, it is best to
supplement them with capsules or oils.
The best source is fish oil, which is not the same as cod
liver oil. The label should give
the amount of EPA and DHA contained in the product. Other sources are flaxseed oil, hempseed oil, borage oil and
a few others.
One can get these oils from foods, but it is difficult. Among the fish the best sources
are salmon and sardines, both of which are hard for babies to eat at times, and
must be limited to once or twice weekly due to their mercury content. Other sources are lamb, grass-fed beef
only and wild game. Eating a lot
of vegetable oils, such as corn, sunflower, safflower, canola, peanut and soy
oil actually interferes with the metabolism of the omega-3 oils by providing
too much of the omega6 and omega 9 oils.
For this reason, we like to supplement these very important
oils today. Little is needed,
about 1 teaspoon for most adults and even less for most children. Fast oxidizing children can have a
little more than slow oxidizing children.
Other nutrients
all children tend to need. These include iodine, vitamin D,
vitamin A, carotenes and proteins.
These all tend to be low in children who live on refined food diets of
cold or hot cereals, breads, pasta, cookies, candies, soda pop and other
refined products. These diets are
extremely harmful for all children and feeding children better must be a
priority for our nation if the children are to avoid even worse health problems
in children in the future.
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