Stuttering Speech Disorders - Causes, Remedies, Therapies and Cures Part Two

Does diet play a part in the dilemma of speech dysfluency? A diet rich in foods and drinks containing debilitating synthetic chemical additives (preservatives, colorants, flavorings, fragrances, sweeteners, binders, thickeners, etc, etc, etc - there are usually around 20 categories per country) can certainly alter body behavior and health. Many of these chemicals affect the nervous system which controls the speaking function. Speech defects are thus easy outcomes of contaminated pathways. Ample evidence exists of slurred speech defects resulting from methanol toxicity, otherwise known as Aspartame Disease, a cause of neurotoxicity.

Approved poisonous colorants in desserts, sweets, candies, drinks, biscuits and ice creams are a massive concern among parents of allergy prone children, whether stutterers or not. Even the minutest quantity of one only chemical can affect a child for weeks. They are another known cause of slurred speech.

A study conducted in the UK and reported in The Lancet medical journal in September and November 2007 found significant adverse hyperactivity affects in children with and without Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD). It conclusively proved the deleterious effects of certain colorants, confirming long held suspicions. The full researchers’ report can be read at http://www.cspinet.org/new/pdf/mccann.pdf. The Lancet’s report of the study gained world-wide attention, generating massive electronic and print coverage and public debate. The article in the New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/06/health/research/06hyper.html is an easily read, layman’s-terms account of the scientific report. Fortunately some responsible government food agencies have acted on the report and ordered phase outs of the “Southampton Six” as the poisonous drugs have become known.

Thousands of food additives have been derived, mostly artificial. The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) http://www.foodsafety.gov/~dms/eafus.html lists a mind-boggling 3000+ food additives in their EAFUS (Everything Added to Food in the United States) database. It further classifies over 1000 as ‘Generally Recognized as Safe’, not the most reassuring statement. In Australia and New Zealand around 300 are approved, of which some 60 are still considered dangerous. Some of those 60 are labeled as causes of life threatening diseases while others are validated with histories of recorded traumas. Approximately 500 are approved for use in Canada and European Union countries, including many undesirables, while once health-conscious Japan has some 450.

If you wish to find similar details in other countries, try googling “food additive regulations in <country’s name>”. It can be a frustrating search of endless promising but useless links, mitigated perhaps by consulting the Wikipedia food additives site. There you will find links to the UN’s Codex Alimentarius which is generally the basis, along with FDA input, of most country’s approved food additive lists.

Some artificial additives, such as Aspartame and MSG can have devastating neurological consequences; these are just 2 of the 12 approved substances consumers consider are volatile poisons commonly found in major brand products. Despite consumer outrage, it seems government food agencies have impunity to submit to the food and pharmaceutical industry’s pressures to condone these and other dangerous additives. Meanwhile the brand name manufacturers recklessly and irresponsibly continue to administer their poison to unsuspecting consumers, outside of countries that have banned the substances, in open defiance of proven research findings and consumer opinion. Their demonstrated social irresponsibility is deplorable.

So, does a poisonous diet contribute to stuttering?

Regrettably, the answer is yes. A poison laden diet, the standard fare of choice among numerous people every day, can cause dramatic neurological reactions in some people. Fast food outlets, soda drinks and packaged snacks manufacturers are major culprits. Concentrated consumption can mimic symptoms of major diseases, such as MS, Schizophrenia and Parkinsonism, while contributing to or causing obesity, malignancies and neurotoxic life altering and life ending outcomes.

Some food additives cause cancers.

The incidence rates of cancers of the brain, liver, kidneys, esophagus, thyroid, bladder, testicles and pancreas continue to rise, as are rates of myeloma, lymphoma, leukemia and melanomas. Interestingly, in the first decade of the 1900's, long before today's poisonous food additives were developed, cancers accounted for 7% of male deaths and 8% of female deaths in Australia. One hundred years later, those figures are 31% and 26% respectively. One wonders what contribution the onslaught of the various carcinogenic food additives have had on those near four fold increases in mortality.

Ample evidence is readily available of approved poisons incapacitating or disastrously damaging various body systems and functions, especially the nervous and digestive systems. A simple toxic pathway to vital muscles readily achieves this. Whether such diet is capable to disable muscles of the respiratory and speaking systems on a long-term basis is unknown, but maybe is quite possible in cases of extreme toxin addiction. http://www.fedupwithfoodadditives.info/factsheets/Factstutter.htm is a useful read.

Effects of extreme toxic addition when allied with advanced obesity are well known. What most people do not realize is that obesity grows two ways - visibly outwards and invisibly inwards. Inward obese growth in the neck often impinges upon and constricts throat muscles, interrupting airflow and speech formation. It is a known problem with obese Sleep Apnea sufferers.

Organic diets comprising natural, nutritious foods are known for their goodness and accordingly can be expected to contribute to and enhance the harmonious functions of the body’s systems. The simple fact is the human form was designed to consume and thrive on the natural bounty of the earth - without intrusion by chemists.

Speech language therapies, which disorder and which remedy?

The largest of the categories of stuttering practitioners are speech pathologists and therapists. Because of their history, numbers and devised theories and hypotheses, they are likely to point at disorders and causes in every direction of the compass. Alas, it seems, from my observation, that proper breathing and relaxation techniques do not rank highly on the horizon of many. Years of useless therapy sessions attended by the 16 year old is just one testimony. His record highlights the ignorance, misunderstanding or indifference to the vital importance of the remedial benefits of proper relaxation and breathing. You can read the 16yo’s story at: http://www.StutteringRemedy.com

Can electronic fluency devices conquer speech disabilities?

Several types of electrical devices have been around for decades. Most involve wearing an ear plug/s or ear-phones which receive signals electronically or by wire from a microphone control device carried elsewhere on the body. In general they have a record of effectively reducing stuttering while being used, yet, a variety of shortcomings have impacted their popularity. Wearing the apparatus can be wearisome, restrictive and aesthetically unappealing, their presence inviting bullying and ridicule by peers, especially among teenagers. Non-transparency or negative reaction to questionable research and marketing tactics, claims and pricing have been red flags. Regardless, their worthiness is restricted by obvious and real life usability limitations caused by wind and other nearby noise interference such as crowd, loud music, radios and machinery, damage to the device and human activities, for instance when bathing, swimming or playing contact sports, etc.

Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_fluency_devices provides a concise wrap on the subject.

Curing stuttering?

It is a well researched and accepted fact that stuttering has no boundaries. Stuttering affects all races, civilizations and tribes, all colors, creeds, classes and ages, all nations and geographies, all levels of beliefs and societal participation. Its distribution indicates it is a disorder unaffected, in normal circumstances, by any social, peer, cultural or political pressures. The stuttering curse is a natural phenomenon. Yet finding definitive understandings of its etiology has proved difficult giving rise to the clusters of theories and therapy concepts. It is indeed a multi-dimensional, multi-causative and multi-treated disorder.

Yet from this mix of questions and uncertainties one sure pathway is clear.

I’ve been quite emphatic about my disregard for some traditional therapeutic approaches and their motives. I believe many stutterers can be cured naturally and quickly and without substantial cost. The answer is obvious. It can be compared to revving an engine by opening the throttle to increase the air/fuel supply. Those sufferers need to increase their breathing volume. They need to increase their inhaled volume and exhaled airflow pressure to achieve the same speaking abilities as non-stutterers. This may require 5, 10, 20, 30% or more airflow initially.

When done they then need to learn proper muscle co-ordination of their respiration, phonation and articulation systems. To do so those stutterers have to learn the techniques of relaxation and speaking fluidly as described in my book, “Stop Stuttering Now, Here‘s How…”, available at http://www.stutteringremedy.com The techniques can be self-learnt very quickly and polished and perfected during natural use over the course of the next few days. No longer will those people then suffer the consequences of the curse of stuttering.

I hope Part 2 has also been informative. If you missed Part 1, here is the link: http://hubpages.com/hub/stutteringspeechdisorderscausesandcures

Your comments are welcome.

Cordially

John Richards