Is Fish Oil An Effective ADD / ADHD Treatment For Kids?

Does fish oil (omega 3) benefit ADD or ADHD symptoms in children?

This is a popularly discussed issue at the moment as ADD or ADHD, known as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, in children has a significant effect on their ability to learn and grow up as functioning and effective teenagers and adults in the years to come.

And a ADHD natural remedy or treatment is always sought after as an alternative to deamphetamine or Ritalin.

Even adult ADD is also increasingly being recognised as a condition that is treated by psychiatrists worldwide with ADHD medication.

Fish oil and omega 3 fats have been in the medical community spotlight because of their benefits on cardiac health (heart attacks and arrhythmias) as well as mental health (including dementia, depression and bipolar disorder).

Now a study by the University of South Australia and CSIRO, conducted by PhD student Natalie Sinn has looked into the effect of omega 3 and fish oil on ADHD.

The Study

The study looked at children from the age of 7 and 12 years, and recruited 182 kids in the study. At the end of the 30 week study, there were 122 children remaining.

The study was a randomised (children were randomly allocated to the treatment or placebo group), double blind (none of the parents or evaluators knew which were on treatment) , placebo controlled trial (compared omega 3 with a placebo).

The supplements given to the children with ADHD were omega 3 fatty acids, and contained a 4 to 1 ratio of fish oil to evening primrose oil. The fish oil was specifically chosen to contain a high ratio of the EPA to DHA, similar to a study in Durham England.

The Results

This is a popularly discussed issue at the moment as ADD or ADHD, known as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, in children has a significant effect on their ability to learn and grow up as functioning and effective teenagers and adults in the years to come.

And a ADHD natural remedy or treatment is always sought after as an alternative to deamphetamine or Ritalin.

It was found that “about 30 to 40 per cent of children over the 30 weeks showed a notable difference”.

Then after 15 weeks “all children went onto the active fish oil capsules and I found that the placebo group once they started taking them for 15 weeks, they showed the same improvements that the fish oil groups had in the first 15 weeks. And the fish oil groups also continued to improve.”

So it seems that fish oil and omega 3 has had an improvement on the behaviour and school performance of children with ADHD in this study.

Note in this study, the omega 3 supplement contained fish oil especially high in EPA.

It would be interesting to see what other studies have shown on the effect of omega 3 on ADD.

References:

www.abc.net.au/ra/innovations/stories/s1695160.htm