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One other thing I want to make very clear at the outset is that this book is not about ‘miracle cures’. We are all prone to believing all kinds of things that turn out not to be true, simply because they fit in with what we want to believe. It’s called ‘the triumph of hope over experience’ and we are all prone to it. Our society tends to emphasize the ‘quick fix’, and the wonders of modern technology have led to a situation in which we’re surrounded by all kinds of goods and services—from electronic gadgetry to air and space travel—that seem to ‘work like magic’.

Amazing brain-imaging techniques can show you how your brain lights up when you solve a problem; global satellite navigation systems can talk you through the narrowest side-streets in a foreign country; guided missiles are said to need no human intervention to find their target; wonder drugs will apparently rescue men’s failing sex lives and turn them into super-studs overnight. Yes, really. Advertising has become so clever and so insidious that we are all prone to falling for promises of things that either couldn’t possibly be delivered—or which come at a cost (often a hidden one) that none of us can actually afford.

Against this background, we are all too easily fooled into parting with good money for some miracle treatment that will reverse ageing, cure baldness, allow us to eat all that we like and still lose weight, and more. If you’ve already fallen victim to promises like these, you are certainly not alone. But perhaps it’s time to try a different approach. The plan set out in Chapter 11 really needn’t cost you much money, and in fact may turn out to save you a great deal.

Good nutrition (and the avoidance of toxins as far as possible) can of course only provide your child with the basic foundations for better mood, behaviour and learning. Many other factors are important, including general health, physical activity and sleep, as well as a wide range of social, educational and cultural factors. Could parenting skills or the family situation be in need of a rethink? What educational input is your child really getting—and from whom? Does your child seem to be more influenced by his friends, or by what’s on TV, than by anything you or his teachers say or do? Children are exposed to all kinds of influences in our modern age—many of them quite pernicious⁶—so your child will need all the help you can give him or her. Only minimal guidance on these issues can be provided here, but plenty of good books have been written on these subjects. You’ll find some of these in the References and Resources chapter, which also includes helpful sources of information.

‘Miracle cures’ are certainly not common, but when the dramatic changes that can attract this label do happen, they usually reflect something very important—and often very simple—that has hitherto been overlooked. The story of Patrick, an eight-year-old boy whose moody and defiant behaviour had his loving parents at their wits’ end, is a good case in point.

A highly intelligent and sensitive child, Patrick suffered unpredictable mood swings and temper-tantrums. He was underachieving at school, found it hard to make or keep friends and knew how to manipulate his parents and siblings. Most of all, he was clearly unhappy. Talking about the situation with him just seemed to make things worse.

Patrick also looked unhealthy and tired when I saw him, but, with his mother’s help, we gathered some basic information and drew up a plan that he was willing to try. It quickly turned out that he was very intolerant to cows’ milk and anything made from it. Once milk products were removed from his diet, Patrick’s ‘moody’ spells simply vanished.

His mother Sarah wrote to me: ‘Patrick is a transformed child following your diet. His aunts and uncles just couldn’t believe the change in him after such a short time. They want to know how I did it. I can hardly believe it myself, but I will never be able to thank you enough. Keep up the good work.’

The media are very fond of ‘miracle stories’, of course—and one superb example of how to influence public opinion with no more than anecdotes came from the BBC TV series Children of Our Time. Children born in the millennium year are monitored at intervals for the purposes of this popular TV series. Early in 2004, one episode focused on just two of these children, who had been showing serious behavioural problems. ‘Miraculous’ improvements were reported after their diets were supplemented with fish oils. It certainly made great TV—and the Internet bulletin boards were buzzing for some time afterwards. Sales of all fish oils (many of dubious quality and content, and some quite unsuitable for these purposes) went through the roof, and I found myself on the receiving end of yet another deluge of enquiries from the media, public and professionals, as the only UK scientist who’d actually done controlled trials in this area. As the more responsible journalists pointed out (and as I tried to emphasize), there were many other possible explanations for the improvements shown by these two particular children.

Whenever possible, try not to base any important decisions you make on purely anecdotal evidence. If we want to be able to predict anything with reasonable certainty, we need to adopt ‘scientific methods’.

To be confident that any treatment really does ‘cause’ positive changes, we ideally need what are called ‘randomized controlled trials’ (RCTs), as explained in the Appendix, page 375. These are very difficult to carry out, however, and are in some cases just not feasible. In these cases, other evaluation methods have to be used. Even then, the best we can do is to assess probability. Your child may be different from the ones studied. In short, there are no miracles and no guarantees, I’m afraid.

Having said this, ‘scientific’ is the word to describe many of the case studies carefully carried out by parents and practitioners I’ve met. Often, these people have observed and experimented with dietary changes for years, and many of them have done so despite the scorn of the so-called ‘scientific establishment’. Although some of them may be misguided or plain wrong in what they have come to believe, it is my view that we would do well to pay more attention to some of their ideas, as I’ve always tried to do. In many cases it’s their insight and observations that have led to some extraordinary breakthroughs, opening up new and highly fruitful lines of scientific investigation.⁷