ADHD: how is diet involved?

With rates rising faster than the speed of a diagnosis, it's an urgent question

The BBC recently reported that people in the UK are waiting up to eight years to get a diagnosis of ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). They desperately need a diagnosis because they desperately need treatment.

The UK’s National Health Service (NHS) cannot meet the overwhelming demand for diagnosis and treatment. Since 2019 there has been a 51% increase in prescriptions issued for ADHD medication; they can’t be written fast enough. According to the health think tank, the Nuffield Trust, it is "frankly impossible to imagine how the system can grow fast enough to fulfil this demand".

That’s the current situation for adults. ADHD is a condition normally associated with children.

ADHD is a neurodevelopmental disorder that affects behaviour (hyperactivity) and concentration (poor focus). Impulsive behaviour and risk taking may also be issues. It is usually diagnosed in children under the age of 12, but if the symptoms go unrecognised, diagnosis may be delayed until adulthood.

Rates of ADHD are rising exponentially, everywhere, but especially in high-income countries. An estimated 11.4% of children in the US and 5% – 7.2% of children across the globe are affected. Between 2000 and 2018 rates in the UK doubled in boys and trebled in girls.

But in adults, the rate of new ADHD diagnoses increased nearly 20-fold.

I remember when nobody had heard of ADHD, because it hadn’t been defined. Fifty years ago, it was referred to as “hyperkinetic disorder” and affected just a small percentage of children.

Awareness of the condition is certainly much greater than ever, making it easier to recognise. Even so, the rising figures are alarming.

Either diagnostic methods have improved enormously, or the disorder is vastly over diagnosed, or something else is going on that is affecting people’s brains.  Possibly a combination of all three.

It is believed that ADHD is the result of a combination of genetic, neurobiological and environmental factors. But a gene for a condition does not signify a foregone conclusion. Genes must be switched on, and there is no better way to switch on a gene than through what you eat.