The trick to keeping adolescent boys with ADHD focused in school may be as simple as sprinkling flax seeds and walnuts on their cereal.
A new study out of the Netherlands found that school-aged boys with ADHD (attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder) had improved concentration when they ate a diet high in omega-3 fatty acids compared to the study's sample group who didn’t follow the diet.
"'It most likely wouldn't hurt to try using omega-3 supplements in kids together with their medication, as it might give some extra alleviation' of ADHD symptoms," said lead author Dienke Bos, a postdoctoral researcher with the Brain Center Rudolf Magnus at the University Medical Center Utrecht in the Netherlands.
"It most likely wouldn't hurt to try using omega-3 supplements in kids together with their medication, as it might give some extra alleviation" of ADHD symptoms, said lead author Dienke Bos, a postdoctoral researcher with the Brain Center Rudolf Magnus at the University Medical Center Utrecht in the Netherlands.
However, the diet shouldn't be used to replace medication, Bos and Russell Barkley, a clinical professor of psychiatry and pediatrics at the Medical University of South Carolina, said.
Omega-3 fatty acids are found in fatty fish such as trout, herring and salmon, as well as some oils, walnuts and flaxseed, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.