Counselor Notes 24 September 25, 2014 Follow Up on 2013 – 2014 emails
I have a lot of interesting information to send along this year. The focus is going to be on parenting issues. Before getting into that, I want to follow up on some things that came up in the last school year’s notes: Counselor Notes 18 talked about the possible role of inflammation in ADHD. Here is a relatively short article postulating environmental toxins producing inflammation and thus leading to ADHD: http://unritalinsolution.com/adhd_immune_imbalance Counselor Notes 16 looked at the role of omega 3 fatty acids in attention problems. Dr. David Rabiner of Duke University noted in a September 2, 2014 issue of his Attention Research Updates that: ….
Dietary supplementation of long-chain fatty acids as an intervention for ADHD
has generated considerable interest in recent years. Certain highly
poly-unsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) are known to play an important role in many
aspects of physical health, and may also play a role in a wide range of
neuro-developmental and psychiatric conditions. For example, children with ADHD
have been shown in several studies to have low blood levels of PUFAs. Because
PUFAs are important for healthy brain development and functioning, some
researchers have suggested that increasing PUFA levels via dietary supplements
could enhance brain functioning and reduce ADHD symptoms. …. In this randomized trial, Omega-3/6 supplementation was associated with reductions in children's ADHD symptoms over one-year that were roughly comparable to those seen in children treated with medication. There was also evidence of better treatment adherence for children receiving combined treatment and that children receiving combined treatment required lower medication doses than those receiving medication alone. Overall, therefore, study results suggest that Omega-3/6 supplementation may be a viable alternative to medication for some children and/or that it can have value when combined with stimulant medication. Addressing the more widespread diet issues (which were covered last year in Counselor Notes 11 through 21), Rabiner noted in a June 17, 2014 issue of Attention Research Update that: …. Results from a study published in 2011, however, suggests that dietary interventions for ADHD may be more powerful than previously thought [Pelsser et al., (2011)…. …. What is
especially noteworthy is that the majority of children with ADHD who were placed
on the few foods diet showed a 40% reduction in ADHD symptom ratings; their
oppositional behavior improved as well. In fact, the magnitude of the benefits
obtained were larger, on average, than what is commonly found with medication.
These results suggest that a restricted elimination diet can have substantial
benefits for many children with ADHD, and not just for a small minority of
diagnosed children. Although results from this study indicate a potentially
larger effect of a restricted elimination diet on ADHD symptoms than has been
reported in previous work, the results are largely consistent with other studies
that have examined this issue in a similar way. The newsletter has much more information and discussion of the results than I am reporting here. For parents of a child with attention issues, I highly recommend signing up for it. Attention Research Updates is a free email newsletter devoted solely to attention issues. It is written by Dr. David Rabiner of Duke University. You can sign up for it at http://www.helpforadd.com/ . Parents who are interested in seeing the older issues of Counselor Notes mentioned here or want to be forwarded the full Attention Research Update that the above quotes were taken from should email me at muhad@hcss.org. I will also be available during the Parent – Teacher conferences next Monday 9/29 and Tuesday 9/30. (You can call me at the school too! 931-296-2371) Doug Muha
Ed.S. |