The first culprit - Potassium Sorbate

I have started this blog to document our struggle with the immense and deliberating issues that preservatives have on our chid Angelica who is 8 years old. During this time we have experienced a rollercoaster ride as we have tried to determine the cause of many many problems and struggles that have been caused by preservatives present in Angelicas diet.

Up until the age of 3, Angelica truly was angelic. Her behaviour was practically perfect and she was agreeable and sunny natured. At this stage we started to notice a gradual decline in her behaviour and also other symptoms started to appear. To begin with, we simply put this down to regular toddler tantrums and pushing boundaries. It also coincided with her starting Nursery and we felt this was a factor. However her behaviour continued to deteriorate. She was frequently hyperactive and found it difficult to follow simple adult instructions or requests. Sitting still was literally impossible. On family days out, Angelica would start running and need to be chased. It sounds amusing but it made going out on simple shopping trips a huge challenge. She had disturbed sleep patterns. Furthermore she would often  be constantly scratching.

At school she struggled during teaching sessions. She was unable to concentrate during carpet sessions and would constantly talk. She would not sit still for long. This continued for four years until she reached year 2. At this stage the school had labelled her as a "naughty child". She was constantly in trouble for having tantrums and struggled socially. People saw her as a badly behaved child. We were in despair and had tried everything.

There were times when Angelica was well behaved but it was a constant knife edge. She was never completely calm although at times she was more manageable then others. We started to investigate her diet to try and find triggers.

We investigated cutting out sugar and food colouring but that made absolutely no difference. Finally we started a food diary and began a process of elimination.

One day we went out for a meal. Angelica was good until we left the restaurant. About 15 minutes after leaving her behaviour changed drastically. She started shouting and screaming and had a huge melt down in the car park. She was behaving aggressively. It was as though she was possessed. Clearly she had ingested something! To transform so rapidly from entering to leaving the restaurant, it indicated that she had to have eaten something that had affected her almost immediately. We looked at the bottle of juice that Angelica had brought out of the restaurant. After checking the ingredients and researching them, we noticed one of them was "Potassium Sorbate". Little were we to know that this preservative would become engraved on our minds. After getting home we checked all of the food in the cupboards . We found three foods in the fridge had it listed as an ingredient. It was also present in biscuits, drinks, cakes, crumpets, muffins and the list can go on and on.


We replaced all of the food in our cupboards with potassium sorbate free foods. Within two weeks Angelica was a changed child. Her school work was improving, her concentration improved, she was able to focus and socialise and was happier and more relaxed. Her sleep improved and the scratching stopped. 

This was the start of a long hard and frustrating journey which we have undertaken  as I shall continue to tell you about...