By David McEvoy
Is Omega 3 a natural remedy for ADHD? The simple answer isno. Omega 3 is an essential fatty acid that is absolutelyvital for adults, hence the word ‘essential’ - for childrenof birth age until age two, it is even more important thatthey receive enough of the Omega 3 fatty acid DHA for thehealthy construction of the brain. Beyond two years, theyneed EPA for the healthy function of the brain.
So why is it not a remedy? It is not a remedy for thesimple reason that it should already be included in thediet, and not simply as an afterthought to add it to thediet because the child or adult has ADHD.
Does this mean that if you give a person with ADHDhigh-strength pharmaceutical grade fish oil in addition toa poor diet, they will not feel any effects? The answer hasto be yes, of course they will feel the effects. If youstarve anyone for long enough of vital nutrients then thebody will react in certain ways – if you then replace thosenutrients, the body will return in time to its correctbalance.
What is ADHD? A good definition is as follows:
A common developmental and behavioural disorder, it ischaracterised by poor concentration, distractibility,hyperactivity, and impulsiveness that are inappropriate forthe child's age. Children and adults with ADHD are easilydistracted by sights and sounds in their environment,cannot concentrate for long periods of time, are restlessand impulsive, or have a tendency to daydream and be slowto complete tasks.
Fish oil supplementation
With current research revealing that Omega 3 fatty aciddeficiencies may be a factor affecting learningdifficulties, authorities in Durham, England, initiated aprogramme to see if it was possible that an improved dietwould lead to improvements in the classroom. Butoverturning the high-carbohydrate, heavily-processed dietsthat children typically consume was going to be a momentoustask. So they decided to see if fatty acids in the form ofa fish oil supplement could be of any use.
This was the largest and most extensive trial looking atOmega 3 fatty acids and learning conditions to be carriedout within the United Kingdom.
This trial involved more than 100 children at 12 primaryschools in the Durham area. The trial looked at dyspraxiaand motor skills, but also assessed for dyslexia and ADHD.
Trial results
At the start of the trial, the percentage of childrenwithin the clinical range of an ADHD diagnosis was set at32% for the fish oil group and 31% for the placebo group.
After 3 months of omega 3 fish oil supplementation, thepercentage of children within the clinical range of an ADHDdiagnosis reduced to 18% for the fatty acid group, whereasthis only dropped 1 % for the placebo group.
A raw score was calculated from the teacher rating formthat assessed each child's behaviour. After 3 months therewas a highly significant reduction seen in the fish oilsupplement group, compared to those on placebo, in thisbehavioural score. The fatty acid group reduced from anaverage score of 74.7 to 58.1., whereas the before andafter treatment scores for the placebo group were 69.5 and67.9.
The active fish oil group also saw significantly reducedteacher ratings on the Conners’ DSM ADHD global scale after3 months, compared with the placebo group. The placebogroup saw similar improvements on this scale after crossingover to the active fish oils for the 3-6 month period ofthe trial.
Within 3 months children on the active supplement saw asignificant reduction on the rating scale ofHyperactive-Impulsive behaviour, compared to those onplacebo. Further reductions were seen in the 3-6 monthperiod of the study.
Dramatic results were also seen within just 3 months of thedyspraxia trial. The active group supplementing with Omega3 fish oil saw significant improvements in reading (9.5months), spelling (6.5 months) and behaviour, compared tothe placebo group where no overall improvement was made.
During the 3-6 month period when the placebo group crossedover to Omega 3 fish oil supplementation, considerableimprovements were shown in the same areas, with an averagereading gain of 13.5 months and an average spelling gain atover 6 months. The active group continuing supplementationdisplayed further signs of progress or maintained theirimprovement.
At the start of the trial, children were a year behindtheir chronological age for reading and spelling, but afterthe trial, the active group who had been on Omega 3 fishoil throughout the trial made spelling and reading gainsover and above their age.
An alternative view
On the face of things these results look fairly conclusive.However, when you take into account that by their ownadmission they had a real battle with the children (and insome cases parents) to change their eating habits then theresults - to a qualified dietician and anyone who knowswhat a balanced diet is – swing. Far from seeming to showthat fish oil cures ADHD and dyspraxia, it rather appearsto demonstrate the need for a very balanced diet, with allthese nutritional components included in the first place.
What would be far more interesting than turning a lot ofunruly children’s diets into the correct balance and thenclaiming that fish oil helps with ADHD, would be to take alot of children who eat a very balanced Mediterranean stylediet, which is already very balanced, and perform a trialwith those children to see if it actually improves theirreading or spelling ability.
Conclusion
Not all the children involved in the trial showed greatgains in behaviour, spelling and reading, and thosechildren that did show great gains were in my opinionchildren who were very badly deficient in Omega 3 alreadythrough a very poor diet.
The correct approach is not to supplement children withfish oil, but to drastically improve the child’s eatinghabits, following the example of a Mediterranean diet whichincludes oily fish, and trying to cut out all additives andpreservatives and the wrong kinds of “bad fats”.As most parents will know this is almost an impossibility,but changing a few little things about the diet will make adifference. As for the fish oil capsules, if you reallycan’t get your child to eat oily fish then as this trialproves, supplementing with a high quality fish oilsupplement is highly advisable so that your child can getthe correct amount of Omega 3 in their diet.
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