I was flipping through Deborah Gray's excellent book, Attaching in Adoption the other day (I was actually wondering if Little J telling me I'm a stupid baby mommy in response to me telling him he couldn't have juice before dinner was a sign of an attachment problem...no, it isn't, and no I don't really think Little J has attachment issues I just have too many books lying around) and I found this fascinating passage about ADHD and malnutrition:

Children with Attention Deficit Disorder, or Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity are estimated to be in the range of 3 to 7 percent of the school-aged population (Barkley, 1997). With a history that includes one birthparent with ADHD the rate of ADHD in children rises to 57 percent (Barkley, 1997, p. 37). The rate of Attention Deficit Disorder rose to 65 percent after any history of malnutrition in a large study from Barbados (Galler, Ross, 1998). In the Barbados study, the total population showed an Attention Deficit Disorder rate of fifteen percent, which is high. Nevertheless, the fifty percent difference was shocking.

Shocking. No kidding. Especially shocking since the majority of children adopted from orphanages have experienced some form of malnutrition.

Let me remind you of Little J's statistics. Entered the orphanage at 8 mos: 90th percentile height/weight. Left the orphanage, at 15 mos: 5th percentile. Severely anemic. Diarrhea for 8 months after we brought him home due to poor absorption of nutrients (his gut wasn't used to high quality food therefore couldn't digest it).

And he was one of the best referrals our International Adoption Specialist had ever seen.

So - I am not a doctor (nor do I play one on TV), but I do think it makes sense that a problem that could've been caused by malnutrition can only be helped by the opposite of malnutrition: superlative nutrition. I am NOT SAYING that ADHD is cured by diet. I KNOW that medication helps many, many children. Believe me, I know. But at the same time, good nutrition can't hurt, can it?

Here is an excellent article on dietary treatments for ADHD. I found it fascinating! I also feel compelled to run out and buy some multivitamins, amino acids, and omega 3s and 6s for Little J (not that he's been diagnosed with ADHD, but he sure was malnourished and I worry that the mostly-healthy diet I feed him isn't enough to overcome those original deficits).

Salmon for everyone! We are what we eat...or what we don't.