Relationship of zinc nutrition to the severity of attention-deficit/hyperactivit

November 17, 2005

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J Child Adolesc Psychopharmacol. 2005 Aug;15(4):628-36. Related

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Serum zinc correlates with parent- and teacher- rated inattention

in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

Arnold LE, Bozzolo H, Hollway J, Cook A, DiSilvestro RA, Bozzolo

DR, Crowl L, Ramadan Y, Williams C.

Department of Psychiatry, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio

43074, USA. arnold.6

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to explore the relationship

of zinc nutrition to the severity of attention-deficit/hyperactivity

disorder (ADHD) symptoms in a middle-class American sample with

well-diagnosed ADHD. Previous reports of zinc in ADHD, including two

positive clinical trials of supplementation, have come mainly from

countries and cultures with different diets and/or socioeconomic

realities. METHOD: Children 5-10 years of age with DISC- and

clinician-diagnosed ADHD had serum zinc determinations and parent and

teacher ratings of ADHD symptoms. Zinc levels were correlated

(Pearson's and multiple regression) with ADHD symptom ratings.

RESULTS: Forty-eight children (37 boys, 11 girls; 33 combined type, 15

inattentive) had serum zinc levels with a median/mode at the lowest

30% of the laboratory reference range; 44 children also had

parent/teacher ratings. Serum magnesium levels were normal.

Nutritional intake by a parent-answered food frequency questionnaire

was unremarkable. Serum zinc correlated at r = -0.45 (p = 0.004) with

parent-teacher-rated inattention, even after controlling for gender,

age, income, and diagnostic subtype, but only at r = -0.20 (p = 0.22)

with CPT omission errors. In contrast, correlation with

parent-teacher-rated hyperactivity-impulsivity was nonsignificant in

the opposite direction. CONCLUSION: These findings add to accumulating

evidence for a possible role of zinc in ADHD, even for middle-class

Americans, and, for the first time, suggest a special relationship to

inattentive symptoms. They do not establish either that zinc

deficiency causes ADHD nor that ADHD should be treated with zinc.

Hypothesis-testing clinical trials are needed.

PMID: 16190794 [PubMed - in process]

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