As long as your child is eating from each of the healthy good groups and doesn’t get too much sugar they’re getting what they need, right? Well in most cases, yes – but for a small group of children, those who suffer with food intolerances or sensitivities, some of those foods that are so healthy for most children, cause them problems that growing research is showing can affect learning.

While the number of children in the general population who have problems in this area is small. Children who have learning challenges more frequently have underlying food intolerances or sensitivities. Some of the signs they present with include:

• frequent day dreaming
• difficulties with sleep
• persistent snoring and/or mouth breathing
• skin rashes, hives or eczema
• bloating after meals
• frequent constipation/diarrhoea
• frequent ear infections and/or runny noses
• hyperactivity
• explosive emotional outbursts for no apparent reason

These above mentioned problems can contribute significantly to learning challenges and identifying and managing these intolerances can make a big difference to therapy and learning outcomes for these children, in my experience.

To “unpack” this complex issue, this week I sat down with my colleague Emma Blank, Paediatric Dietitian from Allergy Medical. Emma has a special interest in food allergies, intolerances and sensitivities, and in our discussion we talk about:

• how these issues present in so many ways,
• why that is so, and
• how to go about dealing with it.

For your convenience, Emma has provided a number of links to excellent resources to make exploring this important issue a little easier:

Royal Prince Alfred Food Intolerance Resource Pack

A Review Of Unorthodox Food Testing

An Overview of Food Intolerance Signs, Symptoms, Assessment & Management

Sue Dengate’s Food Intolerance Network