Some think the problem is a product of unfortunate circumstances. For example, a parent will say, “He has a hard time behaving because he was upset when his father and I divorced.” Or, “He was upset when I remarried.” Other parents suspect there are bipolar symptoms on one or both sides of the family tree. Others complain their child rejects discipline because his father doesn’t cooperate or they agree with his teacher who said, “He might be ADHD.”

Of course any of these speculations could be true, or partly true, but regardless of underlying causes, changing the child’s diet along with careful parental reactions may hold the only hope for permanent improvement. They also require the most effort.

Children don’t keep track of their diet let alone the effect of any particular part of it. For behavioral problems, caffeine is the biggest culprit. Studies by the U.S. Department of Agriculture show children and teens guzzle 64 gallons of soft drinks a year with an average of 38 milligrams of caffeine in every ounce. For adults, it’s coffee and if it’s fancy coffee the caffeine may be as high as 200 milligrams. After the temporary boost in energy, there’s the inevitable drop in energy and disposition that follows. A re-supply of caffeine will produce another burst of energy, but an addiction is beginning to form.

Hofstra University professor Michael Schare studied 400 preschoolers for a year and found that the heavy users of caffeine had more “uncontrollable energy,” which could be diagnosed as ADHD. If caffeine is occasional, provided at school but not at home, for example, a “bipolar disorder” might be suspected. Caffeine effects, and the additional sleep disturbance that comes with them, provide pharmaceutical companies with a host of prescriptions for children. Physicians often recommend less than 100 milligrams of caffeine—about two ounces of most colas—for the whole day. Why they recommend any at all is hard to understand.

In addition to a diet that contains caffeine and sugar in large quantities, food allergies can be part of the problem. The National Institutes of Health reports that 50 million Americans suffer from allergic diseases and 54 percent test positive for one or more allergens. The most common disruptive culprits in children’s diet besides caffeine and sugar are sugar-laden junk foods, milk products, citrus fruits, tomatoes, bananas and certain food additives.

“Food intolerances” occur when the digestive process rejects a certain kind of food. Other problems are “food allergies” where certain (possibly stomach) tissues are irritated by the food. In either case, keeping careful records of what your child eats and when he acts up can identify foods that produce behavioral reactions.

A child who is sensitive to particular foods is likely to be more frequently irritated by parents, teachers and siblings. He is not likely to understand that his disrupted sleep and resulting unhappiness may be an additional allergy symptom along with his runny nose, stuffiness, wheezing, stomach ache, itchy eyes or muscle ache. Even his parents may not recognize the connection.