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Q: How about children. I'm wondering if they develop yeast problems. What are their symptoms?

A: They have lots of them. I'm especially interested in children because I practiced pediatrics for over 35 years.

Q: How and why are children's health problems yeast-related?

A: I'd like first to focus on the child with recurrent ear problems. In 1994 T.M. Nsouli, M.D., Joseph A. Bellanti, M.D. and colleagues at Georgetown University published an article in the Annals of Allergy which showed that over 3/4 of the children with recurrent collections of fluid in their ears were allergic to common foods, especially milk and wheat.

Q: Food allergies? What do they have to do with the "yeast connection?"

A: We've already discussed antibiotics. As you know, children with ear or other infections are given "tons" of antibiotics, creating a leaky gut, which allows allergens from milk, wheat and other foods to be absorbed.

Q: Although my two boys in high school are healthy and interested in sports, I'm concerned about boys in our local high school who are being given Ritalin or Prozac to make them settle down and pay attention. What causes so many young people to develop these problems?

A: There are many, many reasons, including diets which lack many essential nutrients. ingredients of such diets include fabricated foods containing sugar, food coloring and hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated fats. Such are also deficient in magnesium, zinc and other nutrients which people need if their bodies and brains are to function properly. Pollutants in the air, food, soil and water also play a part. I'm especially concerned about pesticides.

Q: How and why are ADHD and other behavior and learning problems yeast related?

A: Based on my own observations in practice and feedback I receive from other physicians, antibiotics given to young infants -- are one of the major reasons. Support for that hypothesis can be found in studies by researchers at the University of Colorado and Yeshiva Medical School. This study, published in 1987 entitled, "An association between recurrent otitis media in infancy and later hyperactivity," reported that 69% of children being evaluated for school failure who were receiving medication for hyperactivity gave a history of greater than ten ear infections. By comparison, only 20% of nonhyperactive children had more than ten ear infections.

You'll find a detailed discussion in Chapter 8 of my 1999 and 2000 editions of The Yeast Connection Handbook. Here's a chart which shows how these various factors work together. [page 191 compendium]