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Book ID: CBB001420219

An Alternative History of Hyperactivity: Food Additives and the Feingold Diet (2011)

Smith, Matthew (Author)

Rutgers University Press

ISBN: 9780813550169

Publication Date: 2011
Physical Details: xii + 243 pp.; bibl.; index
Language: English

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Food science; food technology Allergy and immunology Children Mental disorders and diseases Nutrition; dietetics Therapeutic practice; therapy; treatment Public health Public understanding of medicine Controversies and disputes Psychiatry 20th century, late San Francisco (California) Feingold, Ben F.

In 1973, San Francisco allergist Ben Feingold created an uproar by claiming that synthetic food additives triggered hyperactivity, then the most commonly diagnosed childhood disorder in the United States. He contended that the epidemic should not be treated with drugs such as Ritalin but, instead, with a food additive-free diet. Parents and the media considered his treatment, the Feingold diet, a compelling alternative. Physicians, however, were skeptical and designed dozens of trials to challenge the idea. The resulting medical opinion was that the diet did not work and it was rejected. Matthew Smith asserts that those scientific conclusions were, in fact, flawed. An Alternative History of Hyperactivity explores the origins of the Feingold diet, revealing why it became so popular, and the ways in which physicians, parents, and the public made decisions about whether it was a valid treatment for hyperactivity. Arguing that the fate of Feingold's therapy depended more on cultural, economic, and political factors than on the scientific protocols designed to test it, Smith suggests the lessons learned can help resolve medical controversies more effectively.

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Reviewed By

Review Evans, Bonnie (2014) Review of "An Alternative History of Hyperactivity: Food Additives and the Feingold Diet". History of the Human Sciences (pp. 136-141). unapi

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https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB001420219/

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