Areas › Focus, starting, and ADHD › Exercise, food and other supports
People with ADHD tend to have lower omega-3 in their blood, and bringing low levels up has been linked with some improvement in symptoms. No convincing difference has shown up between DHA and EPA for this.
Omega-3 comes mostly from oily fish and krill, and fish is exactly what many people with texture sensitivity will not eat. Whether the shortfall comes from the plate or from how the body handles these fats is still unresolved. Either way this is one of the more reasonable things on the supplement shelf, which is a modest compliment rather than a glowing one.
Qur’an and Sunnah
So eat of the good and lawful things God has provided for you and be thankful for His blessings (Quran 16:114). Food is the first place to look, before a capsule.
فَكُلُواْ مِمَّا رَزَقَكُمُ ٱللَّهُ حَلَٰلࣰ ا طَيِّبࣰ ا وَٱشۡكُرُواْ نِعۡمَتَ ٱللَّهِ إِن كُنتُمۡ إِيَّاهُ تَعۡبُدُونَ
So eat of the good and lawful things God has provided for you and be thankful for His blessings, if it is Him that you worship
Qur’an 16:114read it in the library
Translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem, The Qur'an, Oxford University Press, 2004.
What the research says
A review of marine omega-3 concluded that most people take in far less long chain omega-3 than is thought good for brain function, and summarised trial evidence in behaviour and mood disorders that is genuinely mixed. So the shortfall is common and plausible, and the treatment results are uneven. Expect something modest rather than a transformation.
DiNicolantonio JJ, O'Keefe JH. (2020). The Importance of Marine Omega-3s for Brain Development and the Prevention and Treatment of Behavior, Mood, and Other Brain Disorders.. Nutrients doi
Strength of evidence: one line of research. A single study, or a theoretical account.
Why it works
These fats are built into the membranes of brain cells, so the supply affects how well signals pass between them.
This one is still a draft. It is waiting on a scholar and a clinician to read it before it is published.
Near this one
Since 1994, supplements have not had to satisfy a regulator before going on sale. Nobody checked the bottle in your hand the way they check a prescription.
When omega levels are low, everything about ADHD tends to get louder: attention, mood swings, holding things in mind. Low omega does not cause ADHD, but it can be sitting on top of it.
Vitamin C cannot really be stockpiled, since the excess leaves in your urine. A, D, E and K are stored in fat, so a large daily dose keeps adding to itself.