Study: Diet Helps Some ADHD Kids More Than Drugs

Dr. Lidy Pelsser, Dutch author of a new study on diet and ADHD, reports that 64% of children diagnosed with ADHD are actually experiencing a hypersensitivity to food.

Listen to the doctor’s interview on National Public Radio, on the program All Things Considered. The interview covers research results, an explanation of an elimination diet, and recommendations.  Click for the NPR interview here.

Dr. Pelsser points out that while a minority of children may need medication, it should first be determined if food is causing the symptoms. Instead, current practice is to put all children with ADHD symptoms on medication rather than checking for dietary reactions.

NPR reports:

“In all children, we should start with diet research,” she [Dr Pelsser] says. If a child’s behavior doesn’t change, then drugs may still be necessary. “But now we are giving them all drugs, and I think that’s a huge mistake,” she says.

“We have got good news — that food is the main cause of ADHD,” she says. “We’ve got bad news — that we have to train physicians to monitor this procedure because it cannot be done by a physician who is not trained.”

Lidy Pessler is from the ADHD Research Center in Eindhoven, in the Netherlands. The research was published in the journal Lancet. See research abstract here.