Loading practices
Loading practices
Areas › Focus, starting, and ADHD › Exercise, food and other supports
Group differences do exist, including in the theta to beta balance, but a difference that appears when you average hundreds of people cannot identify the person sitting in front of you, and the same reading arises for several reasons. Diagnosis is still built from history, accounts from more than one setting and evidence of real difficulty in daily life. That is less impressive than a printout, and it is more accurate.
has given him great knowledge and stature (Quran 2:247). The people in that passage were judging by one visible measure and were pointed towards the fuller picture.
البقرة
وَقَالَ لَهُمۡ نَبِيُّهُمۡ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ قَدۡ بَعَثَ لَكُمۡ طَالُوتَ مَلِكࣰ اۚ قَالُوٓاْ أَنَّىٰ يَكُونُ لَهُ ٱلۡمُلۡكُ عَلَيۡنَا وَنَحۡنُ أَحَقُّ بِٱلۡمُلۡكِ مِنۡهُ وَلَمۡ يُؤۡتَ سَعَةࣰ مِّنَ ٱلۡمَالِۚ قَالَ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ ٱصۡطَفَىٰهُ عَلَيۡكُمۡ وَزَادَهُۥ بَسۡطَةࣰ فِي ٱلۡعِلۡمِ وَٱلۡجِسۡمِۖ وَٱللَّهُ يُؤۡتِي مُلۡكَهُۥ مَن يَشَآءُۚ وَٱللَّهُ وَٰسِعٌ عَلِيمࣱ
Their prophet said to them, ‘God has now appointed Talut to be your king,’ but they said, ‘How can he be king over us when we have a greater right to rule than he? He does not even have great wealth.’ He said, ‘God has chosen him over you, and has given him great knowledge and stature. God grants His authority to whoever He pleases: God is magnanimous, all knowing.’
Qur’an 2:247read it in the library
Translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem, The Qur'an, Oxford University Press, 2004.
Biological markers linked to attention behave the same way. Children with lower omega-3 levels measured from cheek cells did show poorer learning and behaviour in one observational study, an association only, with no way of saying which came first. A marker that travels alongside a condition is a long way from a test for it.
Kirby A, Woodward A, Jackson S, Wang Y, Crawford MA. (2010). Childrens' learning and behaviour and the association with cheek cell polyunsaturated fatty acid levels.. Research in developmental disabilities doi
Strength of evidence: one line of research. A single study, or a theoretical account.
A pattern that shows up on average across a group cannot tell you which individual it belongs to.
If a clinician does order scans or bloods, that is usually to rule something else out, which is a different question from diagnosing ADHD.
The restrictive elimination diet has real methodological problems, and it is expensive and exhausting to run. If a family still wants to try it, they can, because unproven and dangerous are different words.
Omega supplementation for ADHD began with encouraging results, including a Swedish study where about a quarter of inattentive children seemed to improve. Blinded, placebo controlled work did not reproduce it, and a Cochrane meta-analysis found no effect.
One woman's ADHD symptoms climbed and her thinking slowed as each B12 injection wore off, then settled again after the next one. The deficiency came down one side of her family and the ADHD down the other.