Fatty Acids and ADHD: Brain and Phospholipid Composition

Title: Fatty acid status and behavioural symptoms of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in adolescents: A case-control study

Link: https://nutritionj.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1475-2891-7-8

Authors: Ashley L. Colter, Caroline Cutler, and Kelly Anne Meckling

Summary: A study compared the dietary intake of 11 ADHD adolescents to 12 similarly aged controls. The cause of ADHD is known to have many factors, involving biological influence and environmental influence. Within the brain, there are four important fatty acids: dihomogammalinolenic acid (20:3n-6, DGLA) arachidonic acid (20:4n-6, AA), Eicosapentaenoic acid (20:5n-3 EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (22:6n-3, DHA). AA and play a major role in the structure of the neuronal membrane and make around 20% of the dry mass of the brain. It is possible that a lack of omega-3 fatty acids, or altered metabolic handling of the fatty acids listed previously, could lead to the symptoms observed by adolescents with ADHD. To test this, 11 children ranging from ten to sixteen were recruited, and 12 similarly aged children were used as a control group. It was found that the ADHD group consumed more saturated fats and trans fatty acids, and both groups had consumed the same amount of omega-3 fatty acids of ALA, EPA, DHA. However, a phospholipid analysis of red blood cell samples showed that the total omega-3 fatty acid levels of the ADHD group were lower than that of the control group. The ratio of omega-3 fatty acids to omega-6 fatty acids were also significantly lower in the ADHD group.

Although the ADHD group consumed diets rich in fats, they had a significantly lower level of DHA, and a lower ratio of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids in red blood cell phospholipids. Because the study size is small, more research is necessary to determine if supplementation of omega-3 fatty acids will influence ADHD behaviors in patients.