Title of original German edition: Die Heimliche Droge Nahrungsphosphat, Ursache für Verhaltensstörungen, Schulversagen und Jugendkriminalität by Hertha Hafer, first published 1978 by Hüthig Verlagsgemeinschaft, Decker & Müller GmbH, Heidelberg, Germany, current (sixth) edition published by Thieme Verlag, Germany (ISBN 3-8226-4488-9)

Translator:

Editor:

Jane Donlin

Richard Jeffreys

Contents
Translator's Preface
Introduction to the Sixth Revised Edition
Preface to the Fifth Edition
Revised Introduction to the Sixth Edition

1.0 Phosphate as a Cause for Behaviour Disorders (Attention Deficit Disorder)
1.1 Report of a Discovery
1.2 Case Studies that confirm this Discovery - Biographies of ADD

2.0 A Scientific Survey of the ADD Issue
2.1 Description of the Syndrome: Literature and Opinion
2.2 The ADD Research
2.3 The Effects of Phosphate in Food
2.4 Who are ADD-Children? Who is affected?
2.5 Target Organ - The 'Three Part Brain' (The Triune Brain)
2.6 ADD and Delinquency
2.7 ADD and Drug Addiction
2.8 The Syndrome in Detail

3.0 Prevention
3.1 Recognition of Phosphate Sensitivity
3.2 Low Phosphate Food in Public Institutions

4.0 Advice on Diet and Medication

5.0 A Four-Day Diet Plan

6.0 Summary

7.0 References

German researcher Hertha Hafer is first and foremost someone who has struggled to raise an extremely hyperactive son herself and therefore has direct personal experience of the severe problems this condition can cause in families.

But Hafer is also a very experienced research pharmacist, accustomed to the forming and testing of scientific theories and hypotheses. In her attempts to find an explanation for her child's hyperactivity, she read everything she could get hold of in her own language, in English and in French; she sought with great persistence a form of therapy which could enable him to live a normal life and realise his undoubted potential.

Alerted by the work of US allergist Ben F Feingold to the fact that there appeared to be a relationship between hyperactivity and the consumption of certain foods, she commenced to research this subject very thoroughly. She was aware that reports of ADD/ADHD date back only a century or so and that the incidence of the condition has increased enormously in the last thirty years. The same period has seen vast changes in diet, in the processing and marketing of foods.

Her analytical research led her to the profound discovery that phosphate was the common component in the foods which triggered her son's hyperactivity. Phosphate is a very common and versatile food additive, considered to be harmless and widely used by the food industry to enhance, emulsify and preserve foods. A diet containing only minimal phosphate led to a marked reduction in the symptoms of ADD and, in many cases, to their eventual disappearance. Many families tried Hafer's approach and found that it worked for them too, sometimes within days, sometimes after a longer period.

Today researchers in various parts of the world are verifying her observations and new scientific evidence supports many of her findings.

In The Hidden Drug: Dietary Phosphate Hafer describes her discovery and her experience helping other families and provides a wealth of practical, dietary and scientific information for families affected by ADD/ADHD.