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Diet and ADHD, reviewing the evidence: a systematic review of meta-analyses of double-blind placebo-controlled trials evaluating the efficacy of diet interventions on the behavior of children with ADHD
This 2017 review aimed to address the inconsistent findings of past reviews investigating the efficacy of diet treatments in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). This present article examined meta-analyses of double-blind placebo-controlled trials evaluating the effect of diet interventions (elimination and supplementation) on ADHD. Six of the 14 included trials employed identical dietary interventions such as artificial food color (AFC) elimination, the few-foods diet (FFD) and poly-unsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) supplementation. Artificial food color elimination and the few-foods diet were found to have a substantial mean effect on ADHD, while the effect size of PUFA supplementation were 0.17 for parental ratings, -0.05 (according to teachers’ ratings), and 0.16 (based on both parents’ and teachers’ ratings). Thus, PUFA supplementation is unlikely to make a noticeable difference on ADHD treatment, while AFC elimination should be analyzed further to determine its potential use in ADHD. Since the average effect size of the few-foods diet was considerable, it may open the door for its use in subgroups of children with ADHD not responding to or too young for medication. [NPID: ADHD, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, review, diet, intervention, food, few-foods diet, food color, PUFA, fatty acids, poly-unsaturated fatty acid, supplements, supplementation]
Year: 2017
