5 Foods Linked to ADHD

Artificial food coloring has long been suspected of contributing to diagnoses of ADHD, but a new study from Perth’s Telethon Institute for Child Health Research shows an association between ADHD and the broader eating patterns of a ‘Western-style’ diet in some adolescents. The research has just been published online in the international Journal of Attention Disorders.

Leader of Nutrition studies at the Institute, Associate Professor Wendy Oddy, explained that the researchers looked at the dietary patterns of 1800 adolescents from the Raine Study and classified diets into ‘Healthy’ or ‘Western’ patterns. The Raine Study is an ongoing health research project which has followed a large group of mothers and their offspring over the past 18 years.

What researchers found is that a diet high in foods typical of the standard Western diet was associated with more than double the risk of having an ADHD diagnosis, compared with a diet low in the Western pattern–even after adjusting for other social and family influences.

“We looked at the dietary patterns amongst the adolescents and compared the diet information against whether or not the adolescent had received a diagnosis of ADHD by the age of 14 years. In our study, 115 adolescents had been diagnosed with ADHD, 91 boys and 24 girls.”

A ‘healthy pattern’ is a diet high in fresh fruit and vegetables, whole grains and fish–it is generally higher in omega-3 fatty acids, folate and fibre. A ‘Western pattern’ is a diet generally higher in total fat, saturated fat, refined sugar and sodium.

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Janine K.

5:46AM PDT on Mar 30, 2011

Sounds like a human plan for humans.

send a green star

susanna l.

3:51PM PST on Jan 30, 2011

girls that are ADD often are quiet, "good", daydreamers and get overlooked

Nancy S.

6:34PM PST on Jan 29, 2011

Thank you

Darilynn T.

10:33PM PST on Jan 28, 2011

Wow. Make's sense!

Elizabeth M.

8:19PM PST on Jan 28, 2011

Thank You for sharing. My daughter who just turned 40 was told that she probably suffers from ADHD. She is very smart, but her mind races, sometimes preventing proper sleep. She is a very organized type and always trying something new. Yoga is a great help to her and she has all her certifications to teach.She is a vegeterian, but sometimes breaks her own rules about the occasional junk food. I was aware when she was in preschool that she could not sit still. I taught her never to disrupt class and to sit for spells and read, also crafts to keep her mind busy..she started designing her own Barbi clothes. I was unaware of drugs while she was young, thank goodness.

Catherine C.

8:40AM PST on Jan 28, 2011

thank you

km A.

8:53AM PDT on Sep 6, 2010

I ran across this interesting study on ADHD and thought I would share it here. I have long believed that while ADHD exists I think the number of children on medication is absurd. Some of them may not even have ADHD at all according to this theory on sleep. Check out this article I posted to my blog. This is not a spam or advertisement (hate it when people do that on here) but as a teacher I found this theory really interesting.

http://blog.katmag.com/?p=17

I'd be interested on feedback and if anyone else on here has experienced this or not...

Linda T.

6:10PM PDT on Sep 4, 2010

My grandson is ADHD and his mother cooks from scratch and feeds him healthy food and makes sure he gets healthy meals for lunch and snacks. I am the only one that is guilty one for Easter and Halloween, but I am Nana

Grace J.

5:18PM PDT on Aug 10, 2010

thanks

Mervi R.

4:52PM PDT on Aug 9, 2010

Interesting, thanks!