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Beginning_Cat_4972 t1_j6can14 wrote

Reply to comment by azuth89 in What makes it difficult to determine whether nutrient deficiencies are implicated in mental-health issues like ADHD? by LinguisticsTurtle

Just to add on here- You're probably not going to get IRB approval for raising kids on any vitamin deficit. You could do this with pregnant rats and then perform behavior tests on them during development. Or you might be able to enroll pregnant women in a study where vitamin levels/diets are tracked but not altered in anyway. Then follow up with the children at different time points.

To answer the original question- I'd probably say that the main issue is that it's hard to get a study funded without having reliable data to back up your hypothesis. I skimmed a few papers and there's not a lot of rational behind the idea that vitamin deficiencies play a role in ADHD pathogenesis. No one is presenting a good reason for thinking vitamin deficiencies are important in ADHD. On top of that it looks like there isn't any compelling data that can be cited.

Another issue you'd run into is that ADHD has such strong genetic links, and none of the genes implicated in ADHD are related to vitamin metabolism. They're all related to neurotransmitter/neuromodulatory molecule signaling and handling and neuronal proliferation. So, it doesn't make a lot of sense to argue a vitamin deficiency involvement when all the observations point elsewhere.

So, sometimes when you read that it's hard to get to the bottom of an issue, with no clear explanation of why, it might just mean it's not a great hypothesis.

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SerialStateLineXer t1_j6cnwjw wrote

>You're probably not going to get IRB approval for raising kids on any vitamin deficit.

You can't do that, but can't you select a group of children and give some of them supplements? If some of the kids in the control group don't get enough of certain nutrients...well, that was going to happen anyway.

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ilovemybrownies t1_j6d76m0 wrote

It wouldn't be as airtight of an experiment to show causality, especially since again no evidence points to vitamin deficits being a direct mechanism. You'd probably have to track prenatal health, and you'd have to measure known genetic ADHD markers to account for ADHD being highly genetic when running statistical analyses.

But good luck getting the cash to fund it if there isn't already compelling evidence that vitamin deficit is directly linked to ADHD. Investors usually don't like "taking risks for the sake of exploration" unfortunately

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squirrious t1_j6ega9e wrote

There was a recent study that found mothers' low levels of vitamin D during pregnancy to increase the risk of adhd. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0890856719322324?via%3Dihub

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squirrious t1_j6etypa wrote

Here's a study that found a potential link between vitamin D deficiency and ASD, unfortunately it's in Finnish but there's a summary in English: https://www.laakarilehti.fi/tieteessa/alkuperaistutkimukset/maahanmuuttajien-lapsilla-on-suomessa-paljon-vaikeita-autismikirjon-hairioita/

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eGregiousLee t1_j6ghg1h wrote

It’s important to remember that many studies are funded by private sources (often companies) whose lines of business create a conflict of interest.

“Here is US $15M to study whether Vitamin D does (x or y).”

“Aren’t you from the supplement industry?”

“Hush! Take the money and do an objective, unbiased investigation. If you find what we want, there’s more funding where that came from…”

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LinguisticsTurtle OP t1_j6iqy4h wrote

>I skimmed a few papers and there's not a lot of rational behind the idea that vitamin deficiencies play a role in ADHD pathogenesis.

Isn't there some data showing correlation (not necessarily causation of course...people with poor self-regulation might have a poor diet for obvious commonsensical reasons) between low nutrient levels and ADHD?

Aren't nutrients implicated in all sorts of brain functions including ones related to mental-health issues, hence the burgeoning field of nutritional psychiatry?

What about the seemingly (to a layperson) straightforward experiment of just giving ADHD patients who are (e.g.) low in iron (or whatever) some iron and seeing if symptoms improve?

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