In the News: The Mediterranean Diet May Protective Developing ADHD

It seems like the more and more research exploring the benefits of the Mediterranean diet is released daily!!  And now a new study has indicated that lower adherence to this diet may be positively associated with an increase in ADHD diagnosis amongst children and adolescents.

It was a case controlled study which involved 120 children and adolescents (60 were controls and 60 were previously diagnosed with ADHD). "Energy, dietary intake, adherence to a Mediterranean diet, and familial background were measured. Logistic regression was used to determine associations between the adherence to a Mediterranean diet and ADHD" per the research published in Pediatrics.  Lower adherence to a Mediterranean diet was associated with ADHD diagnosis and remained significant after adjusting for potential confounders. The factors that were associated with a ADHD diagnosis were less consumption of fruit, vegetables, pasta, and rice and higher frequency of skipping breakfast and eating at fast-food restaurants, along with high consumption of sugar, candy, cola beverages, and noncola soft drinks as well as low consumption of fatty fish. The researchers admitted that although this study does not establish causation it does warrant more research looking into the potential effects of consuming the Mediterranean diet with respect to development of ADHD.

Check out the study HERE