Attention deficits often persist and may be exacerbated by hormone shifts and rapid growth as children with ADHD reach adolescence. Getting through teen years is difficult enough for young people who must juggle school and extracurricular activities, all while dealing with hormone-induced changes in mood, sleep, and attitude. It's no wonder that approximately 80 percent of adolescents with ADHD experience academic performance problems resulting in a high degree of failure. Nearly one-third have been held back a grade; close to one-half have been suspended from school; one-fourth to one-half have had special education services, and ten percent drop out of school.¹

    

Young adults with ADHD are more prone to risky driving, accidents, and risky sexual behavior.^2,3,4  Adolescent girls with ADHD are prone to eating disorders. A five-year longitudinal study showed more eating problems among ADHD adolescent girls than their normal counterparts. Is there a specific region of the brain that is affected in ADHD?

   

Sophisticated testing methods such as functional magnetic resonance imaging have revealed that working memory is impaired in the pre-frontal cortex of adolescent and adult ADHD brains. Normal individuals had greater memory speed and retrieval of information than those with ADHD.⁵ This helps explain why stimulant drugs are used to reduce hyperactivity and improve memory. They jump start the working memory and improve performance. Nutrition is a better way to jump start working memory as I will explain below. 

 

Frequently Misplaced Keys?

 

Adolescents and adults with ADHD have difficulty keeping track of personal items such as keys, schedules and to do's. Those whose life they share are baffled and frustrated by the constant forgetfulness, lack of organization, and inability to remember important details. In the process of having a child diagnosed with ADHD, parents sometimes discover the reason for their troubling absent mindedness, risky behavior, and impulsiveness. It has been widely accepted that ADHD runs in families.⁶  Analysis of genetic variants associated with ADHD has revealed gender specificity in genetic expression and that of coexisting conditions, such as anxiety, depression, and aggression.⁷

    

Adult ADHD has a significant impact on worldwide productivity. A ten-nation World Mental Health Organization survey of 7,000 workers, between the ages of 18 and 44, found that 3.5 percent of the workers had ADHD. The inability to concentrate was estimated to have cost ADHD adults twenty or more work days a year.⁸  Furthermore, the condition takes a different pathway in women than in men. A higher proportion of women receive treatment for mental or substance-abuse problems.⁹  Both men and women may have co-existing conditions, primarily mood, anxiety and substance abuse disorders.¹⁰

The Non-Drug Approach

 

 

Pioneering work published between 1977 and 1990 by MITs team of Dr's. Judith and Richard Wurtman and colleagues showed that working memory can be slowed or activated by eating certain foods.¹¹ Moreover, the time of day a particular food is eaten has a profound effect on brain performance.¹² Did you ever wonder why you get sleepy after eating a high carbohydrate meal but are more mentally sharp after consuming protein?

Protein Meals  The Wurtmans and their colleagues showed that eating a meal high in protein lessens the amount of tryptophan that crosses into the brain. There is competition with other amino acids such as tyrosine and phenylalanine for intestinal absorption. The smaller molecule tryptophan loses out to its larger amino acid cousins tyrosine and phenylalanine. This has an important effect on mood, behavior and performance.  Tyrosine and phenylalanine can be converted into the active adrenaline-like neurotransmitters norepinephrine, epinephrine and dopamine. On the opposite front, tryptophan is converted into the calming, sleep enhancing neurotransmitter serotonin. Brain uptake of tyrosine and phenylalanine boosts

attention-activating neurotransmitters.

Carbohydrate Meals  Eating a high carbohydrate, low protein meal triggers insulin response and this shuttles all amino acids except tryptophan into muscle. In this scenario, a brain influx of tryptophan occurs. Selective uptake of amino acid neurotransmitter precursors is enhanced after an overnight fast. Someone skipping breakfast and then eating a high carbo lunch will quite likely get drowsy as brain tryptophan levels increase. To help overcome this, eat a protein breakfast and moderate carbohydrate intake at lunchtime. In our culture, most people eat their largest protein-containing meal in the evening. For many, especially those getting older, eating a heavy, protein-laden meal late in the day is a recipe for sleep problems. Switching the composition and timing of protein and carbohydrate intake is crucial to optimizing brain performance.

 

In September 2008, thousands of natural food and grocery stores in the U.S. will institute a new food quality index that was developed by Yale University's Griffin Preventive Research Center. Known as the Overall Nutritional Quality Index, ONQI, the system will rate foods on a scale of 1 to 100 to help shoppers select the most nutritious foods.  Click here to get more information on how this is being implemented.¹³

    

For more detailed information on dealing with ADHD, read my classic work, The A.D.D. Nutrition Solution: A Drug-Free 30-Day Plan.¹⁴  My latest book, 7-Color Cuisine: Cookbook and Nutrition Guide offers a step-by-step shopping, cooking, and dining 30-day plan for healthier eating.  Click here to read more about 7-Color Cuisine, now available as a NOW University course for retailers and consumers.¹⁵

   

This article is the second in a series on ADHD in children, adolescents and adults. Click here to read the first article, Move to the Head of the Class. 

References:

 

¹  Mikami, A.Y.; et al.; Eating Pathology Among Adolescent Girls with Attention Deficit /Hyperactivity Disorder J Abnorm Psychol 2008;117:225-35

 

²  Thompson, A.L.; et. al.; Risky Driving in Adolescents and Young Adults with Childhood ADHD J Pediatr Psychol 2007; 32:745-59

 

³  Barkley, R.A.; et al.; Driving in Young Adults with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: Knowledge, Performance, Adverse Outcomes, and the Role of Executive Functioning J Int Neuropsychol Soc. 2002;8:655-72

 

⁴  Flory, K.; et. al.; Childhood ADHD Predicts Risky Sexual Behavior in Young Adulthood J Clin Child Adolesc Psychol 2006;35:571-7

 

⁵  Sheridan, M.A.; et al.; Efficiency of the Prefrontal Cortex During Working Memory in Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 2007;46:1357-66

 

⁶  Retz, W.; et al.; Norepinephrine Transporter and Catecholamine-O-Methyltransfrase Gene Variants and Attention-deficit/hyperactivity Disorder Symptoms in Adults J Neural Transm 2008;115:323-9. [Epub 2007 Nov 12.]

 

⁷  Qian, Q.; et al.; Family-Based and Case-Conrol Association Studies of Catechol-O-Methyltransferase in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Suggest Genetic Sexual Dimorphism Am J Med Genet B Neuropsychiatr Genet 2003;118B:103-9

 

⁸ de Graaf R, Kessler RC, et. al.; The prevalence and effects of Adult Attention-Deficit/hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) on the performance of workers: Results from the WHO World Mental Health Survey Initiative Occup Environ Med. 2008 May 27. [Epub ahead of print]

 

⁹ Kessler, R.C.; Adler, L.; et. al. The Prevalence and Correlates of Adult ADHD in the United States: Results From the National Comorbidity Survey Replication Am J Psychiatry 2006; 163:716-723

 

¹⁰  Fayyad, J.; et al; Cross-National Prevalence and Correlates of Adult Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Br J Psychiatry 2007;190:402-09

 

¹¹  Wurtman, J. J.; Wurtman, R.J.; Nutrition and the Brain Series New York, Raven Press, 1977-1990. Vols. 1  8

 

¹²  Spring, B.; Wurtman & Wurtman, ed.; Effects of Foods and Nutrients on the Behavior of Normal Individuals Nutrition and the Brain Vol. 7, New York, Raven Press, 1986. p.3

 

¹³  www.griffinhealth.org/research/onqi.aspx

 

¹⁴  Zimmerman, M.; The A.D.D. Nutrition Solution: A Drug-Free 30-Day Plan. Henry Holt, New York 1999

 

¹⁵  http://www.nowfoods.com/index.php?action=itemdetail&item_id=83837#IV