Diet and ADHD

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The continuing emergence of supportive evidence highlights the need for more well-developed usage guidelines.​


Evidence continues to accumulate on the potential of lifestyle factors to influence ADHD, for good or for ill. Recently updated official treatment guidelines for ADHD now recognize that in some instances a dietary modification or omega-3 supplementation can be beneficial, although dosage and duration guidance is still lacking for those interventions for ADHD.

What The Science Says

A study out this month, from a French group, looked at over 1000 births and followed the children to age 8. Maternal healthy diet was associated with a reduction in symptoms of hyperactivity over time as these children developed. As in other studies of this nature, the effect size is modest, suggesting that the diet may modulate rather than cause or prevent ADHD. Nonetheless, it adds considerable hope that if you are concerned about possible ADHD in your offspring, eating a healthy, “mediterranean-style” diet will reduce the severity or chance of ADHD occuring. As science continues to identify why diet affects hyperactivity, we will be able to find more specific and effective, perhaps dietary, aids to get a stronger benefit. 

​A key goal, as well, is to better identify which children are likely to benefit from or be affected by diet in relation to ADHD. Some evidence has already emerged regarding genetic differences in ADHD-related diet response.​ Stay tuned!

​Sources:

J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2018 Mar 24. doi: 10.1111/jcpp.12898. [Epub ahead of print]Prenatal diet and children’s trajectories of hyperactivity-inattention and conduct problems from 3 to 8 years: the EDEN mother-child cohort. Galera C, Heude B, Forhan A, Bernard JY, Peyre H, Van der Waerden J, Pryor L, Bouvard MP, Melchior M, Lioret S, de Lauzon-Guillain B; EDEN Mother-Child Cohort Study Group.PMID:29573342 DOI:10.1111/jcpp.12898

​The The British National Health Service assessment and treatment guideline for ADHD (called the N.I.C.E. guideline) is available here https://www-ncbi-nlm-nih-gov.liboff.ohsu.edu/pubmedhealth/PMH0099070/

 

Dr. Nigg cannot advise on individual cases for ethical, legal, and logistical reasons.