FOOD MATTERS: What's eating little boys

The modern version of the early 19th century nursery rhyme asks the question what are little boys are made of? The response "...frogs and snails and puppy dogs' tails." The rhyme goes on to declare little girls made of sugar and spice and all things nice.

This one-line response on little boys could not be more accurate on the comparative "palatableness" of little boys and little girls! That is my controversial opinion of course, and I have always thought the value of having male children dramatically overrated especially in Nigeria of the "Mama na boy" predisposition.

I do have a son; a beautiful four-year old boy who makes the prospect of living with international terrorists commonplace or even desirable.

He takes no naps during the day, and takes no prisoners. His little head came tempered with invisible steel plates. His stomach digests food faster than it receives it. He is able to jump two floors down and smacking him is like giving him a soothing massage.

He is hard work. Most little boys often are. It is documented that the dilemma is encoded in their genes and their hormones, and some people like to say that if they were not built in this way, they would not make very effective men. I do not agree. Genes and testosterone can determine activity but hyperactivity and destructiveness is another matter and is certainly not a requirement for maleness.

An American author and mother of two young boys Marilyn le Brenton writes about her son's extreme reaction to otherwise innocuous foods by simply beginning:

"Jack is a drug addict..." It is a shocking introduction to any child, but she does not mean that he is a real drug addict. She means that his consumption of certain foods produces the same reaction in his system as if he were on the drug morphine. He is like a drug addict because he cannot digest these foods and because his body's only way of dealing with them is to send them travelling undigested around his body and brain. This process produces an unnatural high like that in a drug addict. In time, his body (also in drug addict mode) learns to love these highs and crave the anomaly in his system that produces them.

Some mothers will without understanding the relevance and gravity of what they are saying, relate how their sons will eat nothing other than wheat Cerelac, Weetabix and Golden Morn (in other words wheat and milk).

They will talk about how hyperactive their son is. How he is up from morning till night and still up in the middle of the night. How he can't sit still in class, can't focus on work in school. Can't make it to the bathroom before wetting his pants. Can't listen attentively enough to learn the intricacies of language, or the complex back and forth of relating to others. They will talk about how he lacks a sense of danger and how unbelievably high his pain threshold is. How uncontrolled his temper is, and how he eventually breaks every toy that he touches. And every day, they will feed those abnormal behaviours with more Cerelac, Weetabix and Golden Morn.

It would not entirely be their fault. Nigerians have not matured the necessary habit of questioning the role of the food they are eating; is it just filling our stomachs or is it nurturing our bodies?

Also the informal science of giving or not giving a child something to eat and observing that child to understand the effect seems unnecessary and might be regarded as too much work.

Food sensitivities and allergies don't only occur in boys, but for some reason they are predominant (and increasingly so) in boys. These boys that we value so much in comparison to girls can be much more dyslexic, autistic, attention deficient,

destructive and invested in non-productive activity. Scrutinizing what they eat might not be the total solution, but it is a great starting place.

The irony of the condition is that the issue is not one of junk food, or processed foods, sugar or food additives, - all relevant. A child could be allergic or intolerant to any food at all, even to good food and the consumption of that food can decide the personality and behaviour of that child.

Some children who do not make eye contact will do so once cow's milk and wheat is removed from their diet. Some children who can't concentrate will begin to do so once tomatoes are removed from their diet: Yes this means no Stew, no Jollof rice and no Pizza - but assuredly there are many other th ings to eat or new and inventive ways to cook Stew, Jollof rice or Pizza! There are those other children sensitive to green beans, or potatoes or aubergines or onions or raisins, or plantains or bananas or oranges, all ordinarily wonderful things to feed our children. For some poor children they are strongly allergic to most foods.

There is no neat conclusion on what's eating boys. Some want to link food sensitivities and allergies to the growing complexity of the world we are living in; more pollution, more toxicity, more processed foods.

For those people who want conclusions, your guess and research is as good as mine. The question is as potent and as debated as why bees are disappearing into thin air!