Often those with ADHD eat poor quality diets, with multiple deficiencies. I ask parents to feed their children how their great-grandmothers did, with food made from fresh ingredients. One course meals are enough, without a sweet course. Provide nuts and cashew nut butter for snacks. Minimise sugars. Have hard cheese not milk. Have vegetables not fruit. Have only sourdough bread.

The children need to learn that, if they don't eat what is provided, there won't be anything else. Parents need to be reassured that their children won't starve.

In particular, I'd suspect deficiency in magnesium, zinc, and omega three fatty acids. Ideally test their fatty acids, vitamins and minerals, but if there is no money for tests, check the old diet for adequacy, and look for deficiency signs and symptoms in the child. Supplement with good quality supplements without harmful additives. The children are probably poor at making sulphate from cysteine. So use a half cup of Epsom salts (magnesium sulphate) in the bath every night, and ask them to stay in it at least 20 minutes. If they have had antibiotics, use good quality probiotics, but not rhamnosus, which has been linked with heart disease. Use coconut, butter, and mushrooms for a likely leaky gut.

I have assumed these are children, but the same principles apply to adults.

Hello Margaret 

Nice  hearing  from  you  and   , Thanks once  again  for  great  input !

The  most  frequent  deficiencies  I encountered  during  my  observations  here  are those  in   zinc , iron ,  and  will  try  to  follow  up  especially  on  these .  

Another  interesting  fact  that  I  came  across  with  is  that  those  observed  as  having  zinc  deficiency  are  always  as  well  kids  giving  headaches  to  the  teachers  in  terms  of  behavior (  so , I  really  want  to  follow  up  on  this too  hahahehe  ) .  The  main focus  of  the  study  will  still remain  the  academic  performance ...  and ,  definitely  my  biggest  and  hardest  challenge  in  will  be  the  health  education  of  both  students and  families ,  in  order  to make  them  shift  towards  healthy  dietary  patterns !    Really  hard !  

Thanks  once  again !

All  the  best  in  your  research  work  too !     

Defeciences such as magnesium, iron, zin, calcium and phosphorus have been documented in children with ADHD. But there is no evidence that the use of mineral supplementation in children with ADHD will be helpful for all of them.

Lower levels of omega-3 fatty acids have been reported to children with ADHD than children who don't hane ADHD. It is interesting that the lower their omega-3 levels, the more learning and behavioral problems children with ADHD seem to have. (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16962757)

Several studies suggested that ADHD development is related with consumption of preservatives in processed food and artiicial colors. (http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140673607613063/abstract)

Moreover, a reent study published in the journal Pediatrics suggested that ADHD is associated with lower adherence to the Mediterranean diet. (http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/pediatrics/139/2/e20162027.full.pdf)

You may also find these papers useful:

http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download;jsessionid=9DE67ED9AB3A2D448BE618AC8E386B50?doi=10.1.1.690.8517&rep=rep1&type=pdf

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3133757/pdf/nrp-5-236.pdf

https://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijpedi/2010/767318/

http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/full/10.1108/BFJ-12-2013-0345

Mineral defeciences are hard to find because our body is hungry for them in non-specific way. You could try by taking a nutrition diary (2 school days, 1 day weekend) and analyse trough nutrition tables. After that you could compare it with new dietary guidelines.

Children around the world consume a lot of sweets without practicing physical activity, and spend their time on computer...result is too much empty calories.

Thank you  very  much  for  the  input ,  Vesna ! 

You  are  very  right ... Their  diet  is  mostly  empty  calories  (  here , noodles ,chips  and  sort  of  colored sweet  drinks   are favorites ) ... However ,  I  could  see  a  lot  of  mineral  deficiencies .

The over consumption of table sugar makes it toxic.  Do not add sugar to anything.  Likewise for the overcompensation of flour.  In other words, refined carbohydrate is to be avoided.   What I teach is sometimes called The Garden of Eden Diet.  If God made it, eat it.. If not, do not eat it..  There are many other ways this has been presented to a patient or parent.  If not followed however, they will not achieve the desired results.

Please have a look at this link and PDF attachments.

https://www.researchgate.net/project/ADHD-and-Nutrition

Please have a look at thease useful PDF attachments also.

Lower levels of omega-3 fatty acids have been reported to children with ADHD than children who don't hane ADHD.

http://www.ohsu.edu/xd/education/schools/school-of-medicine/departments/clinical-departments/psychiatry/research/adhd-attention-disorders-study/current-research/nutrition_and_adhd.cfm