The effect of phosphatidylserine administration on cognition and symptoms of reactive attachment
disorder - a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial in adolescents
1122
34Ralf Jäger* , Martin Purpura , Takuma Hirayama , Toshitada Inoue , Yasuhisa Tatsumi , Keno Ishihara
1 Increnovo LLC, 2138 E Lafayette Pl, Milwaukee, WI 53202, USA, 2 Healthy Navi Co., Ltd., Kawana Bldg 4F, 5-33-4, Kamata, Ota-ku, Tokyo, 144-0052, Japan,3 DKSH Japan K.K., 3-4-19, Mita, Minato-ku, Tokyo, 108-8360, Japan, 4 BHN Co., Ltd., 1-16 Kanda Nishiki-cho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, 101-0054, Japan

Background

Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD) occurs in 1% of the general
population and is caused by a disregard for a child’s emotional or
physical needs, or a repeated change in caregivers. Children with RAD
display persistent social and emotional disturbances resulting inunderperforming at school. Phosphatidylserine (PS) is a naturally
occurring phospholipid that is most concentrated in the brain and has
unique regulatory and structural functions. Supplementation with PS
beneficially influences numerous neurotransmitter systems such asacetylcholine, dopamine, serotonin and norepinephrine. PS improves
the cognitive response to physical or mental stress, and has beenshown to improve memory and cognition in healthy individuals. In
addition, PS has previously been shown to improve symptoms ofattention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and short-term
auditory memory in children with ADHD.

(Digit Spin Forward), working memory (Digit Span Backward), attention
and working memory (Serial Subtraction Test: Serial Sevens),
visual-motor integration skills (Beery-Buktenica Developmental Test),
processing speed, mental flexibility and language skills. Subjects wererandomized into groups based on their baseline working memory
scores. Statistical analysis was performed using STATCEL 2 (OmsPublishing, Saitama, Japan). A p-value of <0.05 was considered
statistically significant.

Results

PS administration resulted in a statistically significant decrease in RAD
symptoms (-65%) and an increases in sort-term auditory memory(+26%), working memory (+30%), calculus performance (+48%), VisualMotor Integration (+32%), and processing speed (+32%), p<0.01, aswell as language skills (+28%, p<0.05), compared to baseline, while theplacebo group showed an improvement in processing speed (+24%,p<0.05).

Table 1. Mean scores at baseline and post-supplementation.

Conclusion

PS supplementation can be an important nutritional strategy toimprove RAD symptoms and cognition in adolescents.

Methods

Acknowledgements

We hypothesized that PS supplementation results in favorable changes
in cognition and RAD symptoms in adolescents. METHODS: Thirty
male and female adolescents (PS: n=14 (11 male, 3 female), 17.7±3.3
years; PLA n=16 (13 male, 3 female), 19.4±2.4 years) from Showa
Gakuen school (Tokyo, Japan) ingested 200mg of PS (LIPAMINE-PS,Healthy Navi Co., Ltd., Japan) in form of a cocoa flavored chewable
tablet or a matching placebo for two months in a randomized, doubleblind, parallel design in accordance with the Basic Principles of theDeclaration of Helsinki. Main outcome measures included: (i) RAD
symptoms based on DSM-IV-TR; (ii) cognitive tests to evaluate
memory, attention and concentration: short-term auditory memory

The authors would like to thank Healthy Navi Co, Japan, for funding
this research.

References

Figure 1. Individual Changes in RAD in the Phosphatidylserine group.

[1] Hardy LT: Attachment theory and reactive attachment disorder: theoreticalperspectives and treatment implications. J Child Adolesc Psychiatr Nurs 2007, 20(1):27-39.
[2] Glade MJ, Smith K: Phosphatidylserine and the human brain. Nutrition 2015,31(6):781-6.
[3] Hirayama S, Terasawa K, Rabeler R, Hirayama T, Inoue T, Tatsumi Y, Purpura M, Jäger R:
The effect of phosphatidylserine administration on memory and symptoms of attentiondeficit hyperactivity disorder: a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical
trial. J Human Nutr Diet 2014, Suppl 2:284-291.