Nutritional Protocols for ADHD

When dealing with ADHD or any other type of approach to the root cause of someone’s health issues, it is very individualized. ADHD at its core is an imbalance in neurotransmitters, like dopamine and norepinephrine, so it’s all about figuring out why that imbalance is happening for that particular person. It could be compromised gut health, food sensitivities, thyroid problems, too much refined sugar/processed foods, nutrient deficiencies, or environmental exposures. Here are a few tactics and nutrients that may help:

Food sensitivities: Food triggers are a big cause of ADHD symptoms. An elimination diet or food sensitivity test, where you can identify your triggers and eliminate them has been shown to be very effective. Instead of eliminating these foods forever, it is best to eliminate them for the time being while your gut heals (which is the main cause of food sensitivities), then slowly re-introduce these foods.

Blood sugar control: This is very important due to the fact that 88% of the U.S population isn’t metabolically healthy. In other words, they don’t have good blood sugar control. Having a meal high in carbohydrates with not enough protein or healthy fats will spike your blood sugar. The spike is fine, but afterwards will lead to a crash and not go back to baseline. That crash can lead to a sympathetic nervous system response. So altering your protein to carbohydrate ratio can help influence these neurotransmitters leading to those behavioral symptoms.

Amino Acids: Similar to the last paragraph, getting enough amino acids (protein) in your diet is needed for your overall brain health. These amino acids in protein such as phenylalanine, tryptophan, and tyrosine are all responsible for creating the neurotransmitters I mentioned earlier that your brain needs to feel good and function properly such as dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine. Eating too much refined carbohydrates and not enough protein are not only detrimental to your body in this way but a lot of other ways.

Iron: Iron plays an important role in dopamine system activity. Children with ADHD have been shown to have much lower iron levels than their age and sex matched controls. Even in the absence of anemia, supplementing with iron can still have an impact on ADHD symptoms.

Fatty acids: Fatty acids have such an important role in the central nervous system and neurotransmitter activity. Supplementation with omega 3s changes blood levels and can lead to changes in mood and behavior. It’s pretty well known that eating fish can improve your health, but for this it seems crucial. I would consider an omega 3 supplement of 500mg to 1000mg per day or eating fatty fish at least 3 times per week.

Reducing processed and packaged foods will also have a lot of benefits, probably more so than all of the others. Food dyes, additives, and artificial colorings have been shown to negatively influence behavior and increase hyperactivity especially in children. Some others worth mentioning have that shown positive effects are vitamin D, magnesium, and exercise.

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