Industry leaders in improving attention. |
|
For more information call (800) 788 - 6786 or request
a |
The Effects Of Nutritional Supplements On ADHD
Probably the most frequent request I receive from subscribers is to publish studies on natural/nutritional/alternative treatments for ADHD. You have not seen any such studies reviewed in ADHD RESEARCH UPDATE, because I have not come across any studies on this topic that have been published in scientific journals. Recently, however, I finally found one.
This study was published in Volume 33 of Integrated Physiology and Behavioral Science, page 49-60. The study reports the effects of two nutritional products upon the severity of the symptoms in children with confirmed diagnoses of ADHD. One product tested was a glyconutritional product containing saccharides "known to be important in healthy functioning" and the other was a "phytonutritional product containing flash dried fruits and vegetables. (I'm sorry that I can not provide more information about these supplements but I really do not know much about them, and the way they are described is confusing to me. I am in the process of trying to learn more about this and will pass on what I find out in subsequent issues.)
In the study, 17 children with ADHD were recruited from local parent support groups - 12 of the children had been receiving medication and 5 had not. Over a 6 week period, all children received the glyconutritional product and their behavior was rated by parents and teachers both before the supplement began, and then 3 more times over a 6 week period. Of the 12 children who had been taking medication, 6 continued to received it throughout the study and 6 had their dose reduced by half after two weeks. Three weeks after the glyconutritional supplement had been started, the phytonutritional supplement was also introduced.
The authors report that the glyconutritional supplement decreased the number and severity of ADHD symptoms, and other behavioral symptoms, during the first two weeks of the study. In those children who had been taking medication, side effects were also reported to decline, although it was not really clear how this was evaluated. Further reductions in symptoms after the phytonutritional supplement was introduced were not observed. According to the authors, the degree of symptom reduction from the glyconutritional supplement did not differ for the children who were not receiving medication, those who had their dose reduced by half, and those who took their regular dose over the entire study. The authors conclude that symptoms of ADHD can be reduced by the addition of saccharides to children's diet.
Is this a reasonable conclusion? While I applaud the attempt made to begin investigating the benefits of this type of treatment for ADHD, this conclusion seems to be QUITE premature for several reasons. The questions/concerns that most physicians and mental health professionals would have about these results include:
Sample Size Is Very Small And Probably Not Representative Of Children With ADHD.
Parents who volunteer to have their child test a nutritional product for treating ADHD may be predisposed to see such treatments as helpful;
Supplements Were Not Administered In A "double -blind" Manner.
Because parents, subjects, and probably teachers knew when the nutritional treatment was being implemented, the ratings made of children's behavior may have been biased. If you expect or at least hope that something will work, it is just very difficult to provide an unbiased, objective ratings of a child's behavior. Thus, one would have to questions the validity of the improvements reported here.
It is important to emphasize that the same thing is true for the use of medication in treating ADHD as well. This will be clearly illustrated in the case study reviewed below.
Short Term Improvements May Not Translate Into Long Term Benefits.
Even if the concerns noted above were addressed, one also has to be cautious about assuming that improvements that are noted over a short duration will translate into long term improvements in children's outcomes. The point to emphasize is that any treatment needs to be monitored over a sustained period with evidence that it results in meaningful improvements in a child's functioning over a meaningful time period.
Once again, this is not a critique limited to nutritional treatments, as the same holds true for medical and behavioral treatments of ADHD as well. To date, there is a real lack of good data on the long term benefits of any treatment for ADHD, although this may be because the well designed and required studies have not really been done. This type of important and essential work is currently underway and I will be sure to include results in future issues of ADHD RESEARCH UPDATE as these results are published.
The bottom line is that I would regard these results as perhaps a promising beginning for documenting the effectiveness of glyconutritional- for some children with ADHD. This should really be considered a very preliminary pilot study, however. Unfortunately, I am sure that you will see data from this study being used on the internet to promote the use of some companies product based on the "published scientific evidence." Please be very cautious about any such claims.
Note: This article originally appeared in Attention Research Update, an online newsletter written by Dr. David Rabiner, a Duke University psychologist and former member of CHADD's Professional Advisory Board. You can learn more about Attention Research Update and sign up for a free subscription at www.helpforadd.com.