Diet in the treatment of ADHD in children—A systematic review of the literature

Abstract

Background: Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the most prevalent psychiatric conditions in childhood. Dietary changes have been suggested as a way of reducing ADHD symptoms. Aims: To provide an overview of the evidence available on dietary interventions in children with ADHD, a systematic review was carried out of all dietary intervention studies in children with ADHD. Methods: Relevant databases were searched in October 2011, with an update search in March 2013. The studies included describe diet interventions in children with ADHD or equivalent diagnoses measuring possible changes in core ADHD symptoms: inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity. Results: A total of 52 studies were identified, some investigating whether ADHD symptoms can improve by avoiding certain food elements (20 studies), and some whether certain food elements may reduce ADHD symptoms (32 studies). Conclusion: Elimination diets and fish oil supplementation seem to be the most promising dietary interventions for a reduction in ADHD symptoms in children. However, the studies on both treatments have shortcomings, and more thorough investigations will be necessary to decide whether they are recommendable as part of ADHD treatment.

• ADHD
• Dietary intervention
• Review

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Marie-Louise Cooke Jarløe for help with language correction.

Declaration of interest: The work was supported by a grant from The Danish Ministry of Social Affairs, but not funded by any company. Tine Houmann has served as a speaker for Novartis, Shire, Medice, Janssen-Cilag and Eli Lilly, and has received conference support from Novartis, Medice, Janssen-Cilag and Eli Lilly. Allan Hvolby has been included in an advisory board of Shire and served as a speaker for Shire, Novartis, Eli Lilly, HB Pharma. Niels Bilenberg has served as speaker for Shire and Medice (Novartis and Eli Lilly more than 3 years ago) and has received research funding from the Lundbeck Foundation. Maren Johanne Heilskov Rytter has received research funding from the Lundbeck Foundation for another research project about immune function in malnutrition (not related to ADHD or child psychiatry). Louise Beltoft Borup Andersen, Christian Mølgaard, Kim F Michaelsen and Lotte Lauritzen have no conflict of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.