subject: Adhd And Nutrition [print this page] There is a lot of debate as to whether or not nutrition can improve ADHD. This calls into question a number of issues of course. Such as, is the diagnosis of ADHD accurate? There is controversy over what actually causes ADHD and so it is difficult to pinpoint what can improve a condition if you do not fully understand what causes the condition in the first place. Some behavioural symptoms can I indeed be caused by poor nutrition as the brain chemistry cannot function properly if it is missing the vital nutrients needed to make that happen. The other issue to consider here, is of course the quality of the nutrients that you are taking, not to mention which ones should you be taking.
Well, all of this was the basis of a research programme that I carried out over 10 years ago in order to identify if there was a basic nutritional programme that all children with behaviour issues could benefit from. After carrying out detailed questionnaires and establishing health profiles for all the children on the programme and measuring this again at the end, here is how we went about things.
The child was then put on a very basic nutrition programme. Although there is a powerful argument that everyone should follow an individualised programme of nutrition as we are all very different. My remit was to find out if there was a basic nutritional programme that all children could benefit from if they had behavioural issues.
These new techniques made a big improvement in behaviour for the children: Firstly, they all needed to take a complete vitamin and mineral supplement. There is a lot of research that has been undertaken with criminal populations in prisons that show their behaviour in prison is better when they take a vitamin and mineral supplement. This is because a lot of food which has undergone modern processing has lost a lot of these essential nutrients for the body ( and in this case the nervous system and the hormonal system ) to function properly. There is however a big difference in the quality of the vitamins that you can buy in the High Street. Obviously synthetic (chemical ) vitamins should be avoided in favour of food derived vitamins which are sourced organically and that have not been overheated in the extraction process. The heating process can be damaging just like if you boil you vegetables for too long!
What was also included in this programme was a good vegetable based protein drink which the children took every morning. In my research, it was very noticeable that the kids taking the supplements were better behaved and more focused. They were less easily distracted and there were improvements in their hyperactivity levels. Included alongside this was the famous 'fish oils' which we have all heard so much about. Quality of course is vital. Fish sometimes comes from polluted waters and this can have a detrimental effect on what we are trying to do here. So you are better off with an organically sourced supply of flax seed oil which has the right balance of essential fatty acids; Omega 3,6 & 9. Again a lot of research has been done into how effective this is with young people and their behavioural issues.
And I made sure there were anti oxidants were part of the regime. These play a very important role, because they clean up things called 'free radicals'. These are the toxins that we take in from our food and environment that take its toll on our health and well being.
The final results of the research programme were amazing. The children who were on the nutritional programme had an 86% improvement over the ones who weren't.
The reason why nutritional supplementation is so important is because of the poor quality of our dietary intake these days! So taking supplements should of course, be part of clearing the back log over up after years of compromised diet and should be considered in respect of dietary improvements at the same time. This sometimes takes some lifestyle adjustments which are never easy but this is a proven approach to using nutrition in treating the symptoms of ADHD.
