Fatty Acids/Kids - Interesting

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Fatty Acids Help DCD Kids to Behave

 

Reprinted with permission from www.NutraIngredients.com, May 3, 2005

 

Supplementation with fatty acids may be a safe and effective way of

dealing with educational and behavioral problems among children with

developmental coordination disorder (DCD), according to an Oxford

University study published in the May issue of Pediatrics. DCD is a

condition affecting around five percent of school-aged children and

is linked to behavioral and learning difficulties, problems with

motor function and psychosocial issues that may continue into

adulthood.

 

According to study authors Alexandra Richardson and Paul Montgomery,

both of Oxford University, there is currently no effective, evidence-

based treatment for the condition. Mainstream therapies consist of

behavioral training and physiotherapy or occupational therapy, but

in the UK not all children affected by the disorder have access to

them.

 

" Although these interventions appear to help many such children, few

of them have been evaluated in controlled trials to provide clear

evidence of their efficacy, " Richardson told NutraIngredients.com.

Recognition of this shortfall led her and Montgomery to investigate

fatty acid supplementation as a potential therapy, in the light of

evidence linking a lack of polyunsaturated fatty acids in the diet

to certain neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders.

 

They carried out a 6-month controlled trial of 117 children with DCD

aged between 5 and 12 years. The children were randomly assigned to

one of two groups, one receiving omega-3 and omega-6 fatty dietary

supplementation and the other receiving an inactive placebo.

 

After the first three months, the placebo group switched over to the

active supplements for the remainder of the study period. The

active supplements consisted of 80 percent fish oil and 20 percent

evening primrose oil. A daily dose of six capsules (two administered

three times a day) delivered 558mg of eicosapentaeoic acid (EPA),

174mg of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and 60mg of y-linolenic acid.

 

The high-EPA marine oil was chosen as evidence to date suggests that

EPA rather than DHA is the omega-3 fatty acid most likely to help in

these kinds of neurodevelopmental and psychiatric conditions, said

Richardson. Age-standardized measures were used to assess the

affects of supplementation on symptoms of the condition: Movement

ABC for motor skills; Conners' Teacher Rating Scales for behavior;

and reading and spelling achievement tests.

 

The researchers noted that the active treatment group

showed " significant improvements " in behavior, reading and spelling

within the first three months, which were paralleled by the placebo

group once they had crossed over to the fatty acid supplements.

Participants in the original active treatment group were seen to

maintain or improve their progress throughout the remainder of the

trial.

 

Neither group showed any detectable improvement in motor

skills. " Additional work is needed to investigate whether our

inability to detect any improvement in motor skills reflects the

measures used and to assess the durability of treatment effects on

behavior and academic progress, " wrote the researchers.

 

Larger studies are planned, said Richardson, some of which will take

place in mainstream schools since her work to date suggests that

many children who have not been formally diagnosed with DCD,

dyslexia or ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) could

benefit from this approach.

 

Funding is yet to be secured for these studies though and, as

Richardson considers it important that research should be

independent of commercial influence, funding for her work to date

has been through charitable sources.

 

Further information on the role of nutrition in behavioral and

learning difficulties is available from Food And Behaviour Research.