Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder, or ADHD, is broken into three subcategories: Predominantly Hyperactive-Impulsive, Predominantly Inattentive, or Combined. Accurate diagnosis requires gathering information on a child's behavior in several settings -- usually school and home -- as well as ruling out problems such as anxiety, learning disability and depression. Mental health and educational professionals rely on the American Psychiatric Association's DSMIV, a book that provides standards for diagnosis. If you have Predominantly Inattentive ADHD, you likely have difficulty focusing on tasks and following instructions. Even paying attention to something of interest is an everyday challenge. So far, there is no cure for ADHD. Rather, you manage its symptoms and find coping mechanisms. Medication is one path to addressing ADHD, but boosting your daily intake of certain nutrients can also diminish ADHD symptoms.
The Role of Vitamins in Attention
Your brain relies on a constant supply of micronutrients to accomplish several complex tasks. The Linus Pauling Institute says if you don't have enough of certain micronutrients, the results can be cognition that's not up to par for everyone, including those who don't have ADHD. Examples of adverse effects include poor concentration, confusion, memory loss and, in extreme forms of malnutrition, delusions and psychosis.
Vitamins as Treatments
While some nutrients are readily available in a typical American diet, some are not and must be supplemented either through changes in your diet or with vitamin supplements. Not all vitamin supplements are completely safe, however. Talk to your doctor about dosage levels that provide the additional therapeutic effect you're seeking without being toxic or harmful to your liver.
Vitamin B-6, Pyridoxine
Vitamin B-6 factors heavily in the making of crucial brain chemicals serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine, all of which are impacted in people with ADHD. Research that links vitamin B-6 to improvement of symptoms is inconclusive, but promising. You can add pyridoxine to your nutritional intake by eating more broccoli, chicken, potatoes, white rice, fruits, and squash. You can also get too much vitamin B-6 if it is taken in supplement form, so consult your physician if you want to take more than the amount in a typical multi-vitamin.
Other Supplemental Nutrients
Vitamins aren't the only micronutrients that may have a positive impact on Inattentive ADHD. Other possibilities include essential fatty acids such as omega-3 and omega-6, minerals like calcium and magnesium, amino acids such as tyrosine, L-carnitine and products that combine nutrients.
Zinc
Many Americans don't get enough zinc through what they ordinarily eat every day. Also, some daily medications -- such as oral contraceptives and diuretics -- can deplete zinc levels in your body. The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center reports on two studies that demonstrated modest benefits for children with ADHD -- one group that was using no other treatment and another group that was using Ritalin. Because it can be toxic, adding zinc supplements to your diet should be done only with the guidance of a physician who can recommend a safe dosage. You can safely boost your zinc by eating more oysters, red meat, poultry, whole grains, beans, and nuts.
Tyrosine
Another micronutrient that may affect ADHD symptoms is tyrosine, which is metabolized from phenylalanine, an amino acid. Tyrosine is necessary to make dopamine and norepinephrine. Phenylketonuria is the most common genetic disorder of amino acid metabolism, and can lead to mental retardation. Accordingly, patients with this condition have special diets. In one case study, physicians treated a boy who had both phenylketonuria and ADHD with tyrosine supplements, and the results were a reduction in his ADHD symptoms. You can find tyrosine in a wide variety of foods: soy products, chicken, turkey, fish, peanuts, almonds, dairy -- especially hard cheese -- lima beans, pumpkin and sesame seeds.
Other Treatments
The most commonly known treatment is medication with stimulant and non-stimulant drugs that are specifically prescribed for ADHD. Even though studies are inconclusive, dietary changes should not be ruled out as potentially helpful. Daily physical activity, especially when it requires brain-work too, such as in martial arts, can increase your dopamine levels -- an issue for people with ADHD -- and give your brain, essentially your focus muscle, a strengthening work-out.
References
- Centers for Disease Control: Facts About ADHD
- Oregon State University Linus Pauling Institute: Micronutrient Information
- University of Pittsburgh Medical Center: Zinc
- "The Journal of Neuropsychiatry & Clinical Neurosciences"; Tyrosine Supplements for ADHD Symptoms With Comorbid Phenylketonuria; J Posner, M.D., D Gorman, M.D., B Nagel, Ph.D.; Spring 2009
- University of Maryland Medical Center: Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
