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I was diagnosed with ADHD around the 3rd grade (2 separate psychiatrists diagnosed me) and have never heard about diets as working above all others. Are there a

I was diagnosed with ADHD around the 3rd grade (2 separate psychiatrists diagnosed me) and have never heard about diets as working above all others. Are there any studies or information about this route or is it perhaps changing your eating behavior allowed you to do those same things with other parts of your life?

hopia 7y ago
There are some studies about certain nutrients being beneficial in the treatment of ADHD. For example: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23495677 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23495677 This particular study found that phospholipid improves ADHD symptoms in children (4-14 yo). There's some ongoing research about the neurotransmitters related to ADHD: https://psychcentral.com/lib/neurotransmitters-involved-in-adhd/ https://psychcentral.com/lib/neurotransmitters-involved-in-a... However, I don't know if any comprehensive studies have been conducted about the effects of diet to ADHD, it could be tricky to study that.
CathedralBorrow 7y ago
I don't know about studies but here's an anecdote. I've experimented with many potential factors for my ADHD over many years, and the strongest and cleanest correlation I've found is: More carbs and sugar => More brain fog.
dec0dedab0de 7y ago
The book Healing ADHD by Dr Amen reccomends diet, and exercise based treatment, as well as stimulants and coaching. It's been a long time since I've read it, but at the time I used some of the techniques, and they worked really well. I should probably read it again.
firethief 7y ago
Evidence for dietary intervention is too weak to recommend it in general: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diet_and_attention_deficit_hyperactivity_disorder https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diet_and_attention_deficit_hyp... That said, it's always possible that an intervention works well in a subgroup of high-responders (this can be true even if the particular intervention is a placebo, not that that's necessarily the explanation here), so everyone saying it works for them should probably keep it up.

hopia 7y ago

There are some studies about certain nutrients being beneficial in the treatment of ADHD. For example: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23495677 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23495677 This particular study found that phospholipid improves ADHD symptoms in children (4-14 yo). There's some ongoing research about the neurotransmitters related to ADHD: https://psychcentral.com/lib/neurotransmitters-involved-in-adhd/ https://psychcentral.com/lib/neurotransmitters-involved-in-a... However, I don't know if any comprehensive studies have been conducted about the effects of diet to ADHD, it could be tricky to study that.

CathedralBorrow 7y ago

I don't know about studies but here's an anecdote. I've experimented with many potential factors for my ADHD over many years, and the strongest and cleanest correlation I've found is: More carbs and sugar => More brain fog.

dec0dedab0de 7y ago

The book Healing ADHD by Dr Amen reccomends diet, and exercise based treatment, as well as stimulants and coaching. It's been a long time since I've read it, but at the time I used some of the techniques, and they worked really well. I should probably read it again.

firethief 7y ago

Evidence for dietary intervention is too weak to recommend it in general: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diet_and_attention_deficit_hyperactivity_disorder https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diet_and_attention_deficit_hyp... That said, it's always possible that an intervention works well in a subgroup of high-responders (this can be true even if the particular intervention is a placebo, not that that's necessarily the explanation here), so everyone saying it works for them should probably keep it up.