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• 1 2017-04-18T08:45:23-07:00 Diet Restriction and Media Misconceptions 20 Diet restrictions have been mediatized in a way that is aimed at parents as a natural alternative treatment to medicine that the whole family can engage in as part of a lifestyle change. plain 2017-04-23T18:05:00-07:00

  On the same post from the Ayurveda Facebook page, some people made posts that were angrily directed at food companies for including compounds that are “causing” their children to have emotional outbursts (4). Social media has been used as an outlet for people to voice their opinions about diet and its relation to ADHD. Diet is often considered a "cause" of ADHD by posters rather than something that causes "symptoms" like those commonly associated with ADHD. Many posts about diet are fueled by anger directed at food companies and how parents are feeding their children. Many parent’s posts on Facebook target food coloring in particular, which is currently being researched extensively for its effects on behavioral outbursts in children. A few examples from the Ayurveda Facebook page are below to give you an example of the emotion that fuels people's posts about diet as a cause of ADHD.

   
  
  
  
  
  

  In addition to the social media, the Feingold Diet has been mediatized further through its website where the program material for the diet may be purchased. With the purchase, the buyer receives a one year membership and access to the Member’s Area of the website, which features the program materials, a member’s only Facebook group and forum, a search app for your phone, and produce alerts and facts (5). In addition to the "perks" of being a member, the Feingold website has created a brand for itself that a customer buys into indirectly when they join the program. There are Feingold recipes that have been designed by the Feingold Associated that are used to market products that endorse the diet and make their own brand of food for the diet. An example is shown below of an advertisement for a Feingold recipe in the handbook that customers use to create their diets:

   
  
  
  
   

  It's important to be careful when considering media related to special diets such as the Fiengold Diet. This treatment method focuses on the idea that ADHD is caused by poor nutrition and uses it as an opportunity to sell their products. I suppose there is a way to make the Wacky Cake shown about with less sugar and healthier ingredients that doesn't involve having a Feingold stamp of approval on your cake mix box.

   

  4.     The Feingold Association of the United States. http://feingold.org/. Accessed 9 Mar. 2017.

  5.     Friedman, Sharon M.,  Sharon Dunwoody, and Carol L. Rogers (eds). Communicating Uncertainty: Media Coverage of New and Controversial Science. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.