Children whose ADHD symptoms had drastically decreased after following a few foods diet were found to have increased activity in one part of the brain. The greater the behavioral improvement, the more activity could be seen in this part of the brain. This has been shown in research by Wageningen University & Research. The outcome of the study has been published in the scientific journal Scientific Reports.
A brain scan was made at the beginning and at the end of the study of the children examined. After the first scan, the children followed the few foods diet: for five weeks they were only allowed to eat a limited number of safe products. Then the second scan was made.
In the end, good scans of 53 children were available for analysis. In more than 60% of these children, the parents saw a large decrease in ADHD symptoms after the few foods diet. In the second scan, these children were also found to have a clearly increased precuneus activity. Previous research has shown that children with ADHD have a lower activity in this part of the brain and that the activity of the precuneus increases after treatment with Ritalin.
About 6% of children in the Netherlands have ADHD, an attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. The symptoms can be greatly reduced if these children follow the few foods diet. Previous research has shown that 60% of children no longer meet the criteria for ADHD after following this diet.
The few foods diet is heavy and cannot be standardized. Therefore, it is important to better understand the mechanism of action of diet and ADHD. Wageningen University & Research is now also investigating the role of the microbiota in the gut in order to further unravel the effect of the diet.
More information can be found in the publication ‘Correlation between brain function and ADHD symptom changes in children with ADHD following a few-foods diet: an open-label intervention trial‘ in Scientific Reports.
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