Current Nutrition Reports · 4 authors, 2 centres
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This narrative review examines recent cohort studies and dietary interventions on the role of nutrition in ADHD management. The few-foods (oligoantigenic) diet shows response rates of up to 60% in children with ADHD, while evidence remains insufficient to recommend micronutrients, omega-3 fatty acids, or probiotics.
This narrative review by Lange et al. synthesizes recent research on nutritional factors in ADHD, including micronutrients, omega-3 fatty acids, probiotics, overall diet quality, and the few-foods (oligoantigenic) diet. The review covers both observational cohort studies and dietary intervention studies in children, adolescents, and adults with ADHD. Regarding micronutrients, the authors note preliminary evidence of potential beneficial effects on ADHD symptomatology but conclude that current evidence does not suffice to recommend supplementation. Probiotics are discussed as potentially novel strategies but lack sufficient evidence for clinical recommendations. Observational studies suggest inverse associations between adherence to healthy dietary patterns and ADHD symptoms, though these cannot establish causation. The few-foods diet, involving elimination of individually identified trigger foods, demonstrated the most promising results, with response rates of up to 60% and substantially improved behavior and cognitive functioning in responding children. Key limitations include the heterogeneous and multifactorial nature of ADHD, the lack of biological diagnostic markers, potential for reverse causation in observational studies, and the need to identify specific subgroups likely to benefit from dietary interventions.
