Article reference: http://www.laleva.org/eng/2004/03/autism_and_adhd_linked_to_addictive_food_additive.html

Autism and ADHD Linked to Addictive Food Additive

Autism and ADHD Linked to Addictive Food Additive
24 gen 04

New research shows that a common food additive in restaurant and processed food can cause abnormal fetal development, causing ADHD and Autism in children.

For the last fifty years, the medical community has been baffled by the rise in cases of Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder and Autism. These two diseases, unheard of before 1950, have been striking an increasing number of children. Physicians have been unable to explain to parents why their children are suffering these maladies despite there not being any family history of the disorder.


Finally these parents will know the answer.
Thanks to John Erb, a developmental disorder researcher and author of the book The Slow Poisoning of America , the cause of ADHD and Autism is no longer a mystery. 
    "These diseases appear to be caused by a food additive commonly known as MSG or Monosodium Glutamate." John Erb explains, "MSG is added to food because of its addictive qualities, it is nicotine for food. It is highly reactive in the human brain and other organs."

MSG and its related ingredients have been found in increasing amounts in processed and fast foods. Almost every restaurant and most processed foods from snacks and soups to ready made meals have glutamate in them in some form or another. MSG has no nutritional value. Scientific studies have shown that food laced with the MSG cause people to eat more of it, and faster, than food without it.

"Corporations use this knowledge to sell their products. Their competition uses MSG, so they keep adding it in larger amounts to keep up with them," John Erb comments. The FDA has no limits on how much MSG can be added to foods, even though as little as two tablespoons of it has been shown to cause epileptic convulsions and death in animals such as dogs.

MSG is a highly reactive amino acid. It is used by scientists in studies to purposely cause death to areas of the brain and is fed to rodents to make a strain of obese and pre-diabetic test subjects. MSG is classified as a neurotoxin: too much of it introduced to the brain can cause rapid cell death. It is this kind of destruction that John Erb states is the cause of ADHD and Autism. He came to this conclusion after reviewing hundreds of medical journal articles detailing the ways in which glutamate affects
organs such as the brain. According to John Erb, "When a woman becomes pregnant, the placental barrier is not fully formed in the first month of fetal development. The chemicals the mother eats can go directly to the developing child. The glutamate stimulates rapid growth in the brain, creating ADHD symptoms. Too much glutamate over-stimulates areas of the brain, resulting in neuronal cell death. This destruction to the neurons results in the symptoms categorized as Autism."

MSG is used in almost every institutional setting across the country. From hospitals to school cafeterias to elderly care facilities, MSG is being added to mass produced food to increase its palatability. Women are being exposed to a major toxin that can cause irreparable damage to their child even before they discover they are pregnant.

Shocked by his discovery, John Erb met with Dr. Thomas Ward, Nova Scotia's Deputy Minister of Health,a pediatrician who specialized in Neonatology. When Mr. Erb explained to Dr. Ward about the dangers of MSG, Dr. Ward replied, "I know how awful the stuff is,I would never touch it." When John Erb pressed the Deputy Health Minister to remove it from all food products, Dr. Ward said that it was an issue for the federal government, and suggested that Mr. Erb take
his book The Slow Poisoning of America to the federal government and "Hit them over the head with it."

John Erb took his discovery to Dr. Susan Bryson, head of the Autism Research Center in Halifax, and one of the leading Autism scientists in Canada. She was amazed by his findings, and confirmed that current studies being done by the National Institute of Health show that the cause of Autism has been linked to a toxin invading the embryo's brain stem at as early as twenty days after conception. The NIH had not yetidentified the toxin, but thanks to John Erb's discovery, they now know the direction in which to focus their research.

"The sooner people know that MSG can cause ADHD and Autism in their unborn children, the sooner they can take steps to avoid being another victim of the steadily increasing numbers of these disorders," John Erb states. Autism, unheard of before 1950, (MSG was introduced to the American diet in 1948) has now risen to epidemic proportions, with one in every 200 children born with the affliction.

"There may be a genetic component deciding who is stricken with ADHD and Autism, otherwise when you consider the rampant use of MSG in today's diet, every child would be born with either ADHD or Autism. But if the growth curve keeps going the way it has, it won't be long before this is the case."

MSG has been hidden in food ingredient lists as hydrolyzed vegetable protein, autolyzed yeast extract,soy protein isolate, and many other names. Every year, the amount of this substance hidden in foods rises astronomically. Just because the name MSG does not appear on the label, does not mean that the food does not contain the excitotoxin glutamate.

"People should demand that the food industry, both restaurants and food manufacturers, remove the added glutamate in all its forms from anything we ingest," John Erb states emphatically. "The fact that they add it to make us addicted to their food is appalling enough, but considering it is doing terrible damage to our children, for that there is no excuse.
The sooner corporations remove this addictive neurotoxin from food they produce and serve, the sooner we can eradicate ADHD and Autism from the maternity wards across the nation".

Source: PR Web