Free fatty acid supplementation produced small but significant reductions in ADHD symptoms even with probably blinded assessment s , although the clinical significance of these effects remains to be determined .
Artificial food color exclusion produced larger effects but often in individuals selected for food sensitivities .
OBJECTIVE Nonpharmacological treatments are available for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder ( ADHD ) , although their efficacy remains uncertain .
The authors undertook meta-analyses of the efficacy of dietary ( restricted elimination diets , artificial food color exclusions , and free fatty acid supplementation ) and psychological ( cognitive training , neurofeedback , and behavioral interventions ) ADHD treatments .
Lack of Behavioral Effects from Feingold Diet Violations
Children were included in this challenge study if according to parental report ( 1 ) the child 's hyperactive behavior had been noticeably improved for at least 3 mo . as a result of adherence to the Feingold diet and ( 2 ) dietary violations such as those used in the study were reported to have a noticeable negative effect . Evaluations of 14 objective measures in a double-blind , cross-over design yielded no significant differences between diet infraction and noninfraction conditions . In addition to question ing the stated efficacy of the diet , findings suggest that one should not depend solely on parental report when evaluating a dietary effect and should also weigh potential negative effect of adherence to the diet
Free fatty acid supplementation produced small but significant reductions in ADHD symptoms even with probably blinded assessment s , although the clinical significance of these effects remains to be determined .
Artificial food color exclusion produced larger effects but often in individuals selected for food sensitivities .
OBJECTIVE Nonpharmacological treatments are available for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder ( ADHD ) , although their efficacy remains uncertain .
The authors undertook meta-analyses of the efficacy of dietary ( restricted elimination diets , artificial food color exclusions , and free fatty acid supplementation ) and psychological ( cognitive training , neurofeedback , and behavioral interventions ) ADHD treatments .