Children – Learning Disabilities

Statistics indicate that some 10% of the population experience learning disabilities today. This can be a tragedy, as learning is so important in our society. It can also give rise to low self-esteem and other problems, especially for children.

Hair mineral analysis can be helpful to identify biochemical causes for learning disorders. These include heavy metal toxicity, imbalanced copper, a fast or slow oxidation rate, food sensitivities, candida albicans infection and hypoglycemia.

Toxic Metals

All toxic metals impair the functioning of the central nervous system. They include lead, mer­cury, cadmium, arsenic, aluminum and others. Excess toxic metals are a very common problem in children.

Often toxic metals are passed on from mother to child in utero. Other times children acquire them from drinking water, prescription medica­tions, amalgam dental fillings and diets deficient in essential minerals.

Many scientific studies confirm that lead toxicity, for example, is associated with learning disorders and even mental retardation. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, hair analysis is one of the few ways to detect toxic metals. Once identified, a corrective supplement and dietary program may help remove them and restore normal brain functioning.

Copper Imbalance

Many children are born with, or acquire a copper imbalance. Copper stimulates excitatory neurotransmitters which alter brain activity. Many children with learning disorders improve when copper is brought into better balance through an individualized nutrition program based upon hair mineral analysis.

Fast And Slow Oxidation

One's oxidation rate may have a great impact upon learning. Those with a fast oxidation rate are often very intelligent, but have difficulty concen­trating. They are often easily distracted by other children, noise or other factors. Most very young children are fast oxidizers.

Slow oxidizers may not learn well because their energy is low and they often have excess copper or other heavy metals affecting brain function. More and more children today are slow oxidizers. They can be in a state of adrenal burn­out at a very young age due to improper diet, stress or congenital weakness. Hair analysis is an excellent way to evaluate the oxidation rate and guide its correction through an individualized diet and supplement program.

Food Sensitivities

Thousands of children have allergies or sensi­tivity to various foods. When these foods are eaten, body chemistry is disrupted. Often the brain and central nervous system are heavily affected. Food sensitivities can cause headaches, fatigue, confusion, dullness, anxiety and other symptoms that interfere with a child's ability to learn in school.

Although hair analysis does not identify which foods are the offenders, it identifies patterns of allergies and can be used as a guideline to suggest dietary principles to help identify and eliminate offending foods. Balancing body chemistry, at times, will eliminate food allergies. In other cases, testing specific foods is also needed.

Candida Albicans Infection

Many children are afflicted with some degree of candida albicans overgrowth. Causes for this condition include copper toxicity, overuse of antibiotics, consumption of foods produced with antibiotics such as commercial meats and dairy products and most important, high-sugar and high-carbohydrate diets.

The candida organism produces alcohol and acetaldehyde. Both are poisons that affect brain function. It can cause a condition that some call "brain fog", which impairs thinking and learning.

Candida albicans can sometimes be corrected just by eliminating sugar and sweets from the diet. Other cases require anti-candida medication as well. Some cases require a complete nutritional balancing program to eliminate copper excess and other hidden causes of a tendency for candida overgrowth.

Low Blood Sugar

Low blood sugar has severe effects upon brain activity. The brain is totally dependent upon a constant supply of fuel in the form of glucose. If the glucose level decreases for any reason, the brain begins to 'starve'. This causes symptoms of confusion, panic, irritability and others. It is well-known this can affect learn­ing ability.

Low blood sugar is rampant among children. Some is due to diets high in sugar and carbohy­drates and low in fat and protein. Also, many children are deficient in trace elements such as zinc, chromium and manganese. These elements are essential for proper sugar metabolism. Defi­ciencies in B-complex vitamins can also predis­pose one to low blood sugar.

Hair mineral analysis may be used to help identify the tendency for low blood sugar and trace element deficiencies. It can also guide food selection to correct low blood sugar.

Other Causes

The brain requires a wide variety of vitamins, minerals and amino acids for its functioning. Subtle deficiencies in many nutrients can impair learning.

Stress will affect learning as well. Nutritional stress, family stress and other types as well, need to be corrected. Stress will derange body chemis­try causing a wide variety of problems including learning disability.

It is also well to remember that children learn differently. Some learn best alone, others in a group. Some are more oriented toward visual, audio or tactile instruction methods. Parents need to explore alternatives for those children who do not do as well in the conventional school system.