Almost one year ago to the day I posted about school lunch, including a paper I wrote on the history of the school lunch program. Today new research is being discussed that suggests a link between our western diet (processed foods, meat, diary, candy) and an increased risk of ADHD. I can tell you as a teacher I am frsutrated that we* give our middle and high school kids french fries with every lunch, corn dogs, chicken nuggets, and vending machine candy, and then ask them to sit still, no recess, for another 2-4 hours while complaining their behavior is so poor (as the saying goes, “No one has a good 7th period.”)

“We found a diet high in the Western pattern of foods was associated with more than double the risk of having an ADHD diagnosis compared with a diet low in the Western pattern, after adjusting for numerous other social and family influences,” Dr Oddy said.

A “healthy” pattern is a diet high in fresh fruit and vegetables, whole grains and fish. It tends to be higher in omega-3 fatty acids, folate and fibre. A “Western” pattern is a diet with a trend towards takeaway foods, confectionary, processed, fried and refined foods. These diets tend to be higher in total fat, saturated fat, refined sugar and sodium.

“When we looked at specific foods, having an ADHD diagnosis was associated with a diet high in takeaway foods, processed meats, red meat, high fat dairy products and confectionary,” Dr Oddy said

Things like this make me feel like we fool ourselves to think that the Word of Wisdom is some lesser law disconnected from our spiritual well-being, or that is consists of Don’t-only.

*And by we I really mean the public and the school district. Most lunch workers our good, thoughtful people who do a lot with the little we give them. I do not lay the blame, or much of the blame, at their feet.