The issue of diet and ADHD have been controversial since the 1970s, when advocates of the Fiengold diet argued that artificial coloring and preservatives where the main culprits when it came to ADHD. Specifically, Fiengold and his followers asserted that some child were more sensitive to these ingredients and that by removing these problematic items from a child’s diet ADHD could be alleviated. However, research consistently showed that these factors accounted for very little, if any, of the symptoms and problems associated with ADHD. Subsequently, except for an occasional claim that some other dietary factor might account for ADHD symptoms there has been little focus on diet. Rather, it seems that those looking for alternatives to medication based treatment have been focusing on neurofeedback (this issue will be discussed in future posts).
Recently, new research has emerged that has been touted to document that diet does matter when it comes to ADHD. A study by Pelesser and her colleagues which appeared in the journal, the Lancet, in 2011. This study asserted that elimination diets, diets where various foods are sequentially eliminated from a child’s diet, showed significant benefit in alleviating ADHD symptoms. While this study has raised the idea that the removal of additives, such as dyes and preservatives, from a child’s diet, might be a key to the treatment of ADHD there appear to be a number of cautions that need to be considered. First, this is one study. One study is not a solid foundation for making new claims about how to best understand a disorder nor about how to best treat a disorder. Second, the findings of this study are contrary to much previous research on the benefits of diet in the treatment of ADHD. While groundbreaking research often departs from previous findings it is often more likely that one contradictory finding is an anomaly, rather than clear evidence for a new understanding of ADHD. Specifically, before one jumps on the diet is the solution bandwagon it would be prudent to wait for other studies to support this finding. Third, Pelsser is a strong advocate of diet in ADHD, which raises the possibility that investigator bias may have played (albeit inadvertently) a role. In conclusion, it would seem prudent to wait for a consistent body of evidence before advocating a new understanding of or treatment approach. There is already a strong body of evidence that supports medication and behaviorally focused interventions in the treatment of ADHD, with children.
Pelsser et al’s article can be found here.
For a detailed critique of Pelsser’s work the reader is referred a detailed discussion of this study by Russell Barkley, PhD., in the ADHD Report, October 2012, Guilford Press