New ADHD treatment? Trial Of Omega 3 In Children In UK Study

There have been trials on omega 3 and its effectiveness as a treatment for ADD or ADHD in children.

A study in the UK looking at the effect of highly unsaturated fatty acids (HUFA) - also known as omega 3 - supplements on ADHD symptoms in children with specific learning difficulties, mainly dyslexia.

These were children with both dyslexia and other learning disabilities as well as ADD behaviours.

The study was randomized double-blind, placebo-controlled and looked at 41 children aged between 8-12 years.

Behaviour and performance was measured before and after 12 weeks of treatment with either HUFA or placebo.

The results showed that:

“After 12 weeks mean scores for cognitive problems and general behavior problems were significantly lower for the group treated with HUFA than for the placebo group; there were significant improvements from baseline on 7 out of 14 scales for active treatment, compared with none for placebo.”

The study concluded that “HUFA supplementation appears to reduce ADHD-related symptoms in children with specific learning difficulties.”

So this is another study supporting the positive effect that the omega 3 fatty acids have on ADHD symptoms in children.

It’s still unknown exactly how this occurs, but it is known that the omega 3’s are a significant component of the brain.

In terms of blood levels of omega 3s, here's a study looking at how much omega 3 is present in the bloodstreams of children with ADHD symptoms versus those without

And it 's also known that the omega 3 oils have other benefits on mental functioning in children and adults.

Reference:

Richardso AJ, Puri BK. A randomized double-blind, placebo-controlled study of the effects of supplementation with highly unsaturated fatty acids on ADHD-related symptoms in children with specific learning difficulties. Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry. 2002 Feb;26(2):233-9.