Lastly, the combined type is when a person experiences equal amounts of symptoms from Predominantly Inattentive and Predominantly Hyperactive-Impulsive. Impairment is classified for adults as" (ADD Association n.p) all in which negatively interferes in academic and occupational functioning, social settings, relationships, and in any other activities". .
Not only does ADHD typically begin in childhood, it will often lasts into adulthood. According to WebMD, "When one person is diagnosed with ADHD, there is a 25%-35% chance that another family member will also have the condition, compared to 4%-6% of the general public". (Web MD n.p.) The fact that it's affecting so many people, is the reason why it's very important to find alternatives to help ease these symptoms other than standard pharmaceutical drugs and psychosocial interventions. One medical doctor stated, "Eliminating certain foods from the diet can significantly help some children with ADHD" (Newmark, n.d.). I will provide some research comparing past case studies, to not only show the connection with dieting and improving ADHD symptoms but also provide some of those specific diets that have been proposed to help. There were three types of diets that have shown alternatives to standard treatments. The restricted elimination diet (RED), artificial food color elimination (AFCE), and saturated free fatty acids (SFFA). (Stevenson 2014).
The first diet I will talk about is the "elimination diet" or "few foods diet", also known as (RED). There was a study that talked about having two groups being tested and having three measurements of criteria. The first was the entrance of the study (week 0), after the first assessment all children had started with a 2 week baseline diet, which also followed their normal diet, having no foods eliminated yet. After the baseline diet (week 3), and after the elimination diet consisting of rice, turkey, lamb, vegetables, fruits, margarine, vegetable oil, tea, pear juice (week 9).
