History and hyperactivity: the Feingold diet

Summary

• The Feingold diet was a popular, yet controversial, treatment for hyperactive children during the 1970s which blamed food additives for the disorder.
• Although parents and the media were attracted to the Feingold diet, the medical community was suspicious and designed trials to test it.
• The trials yielded mixed results and were often methodologically unsound, but most physicians believed they demonstrated that the diet did not work.
• Despite medical disapproval, tens of thousands of families have successfully employed the Feingold diet since the 1970s.
• Recently, medical associations have begun to admit that they might have been wrong about the diet and Feingold's theory is experiencing a re-birth.
• The history of the Feingold diet shows that medical knowledge is often contingent upon social, as well as scientific, factors.
• It suggests that historical analysis be employed by physicians and health policy-makers to help resolve medical controversies.
• It also demonstrates that physicians and health policy-makers, as well as medical historians, should consider patients' experiences more carefully in assessing what constitutes medical knowledge.

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Conclusion #1: Conditions change

• American Academy of Pediatrics admits that it might have made a mistake
• Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver spearheaded a campaign to provide additive-free, organic, and seasonal food in school cafeteria
• Conventional treatment of hyperactivity using stimulants came under intense suspicion
• Medical solutions can only become authoritative under certain social conditions

Conclusion #2: The patient's perspective

• Parental claims of the effects of various foods on the behavior of their children
• The history of the Feingold diet demonstrates that it works for children
• For medical historians, this re-affirms the value of patient-centered history