I've been a fan of your blog for a while, which I came across while reading Art De Vany and Mark Sisson's blogs. I have adult ADHD and have been struggling with it my entire life and therefore actually sought out Paleo dieting as a way to help mitigate it (there are much better medications than ritalin out there, but I never liked the side-effects and I'm truly terrified of the long term health effects.
One thing I've taken note of is that the talk about ADHD usually has to do with kids who are hyper and don't want to do their homework, which has always eluded me a bit because it's honestly such a vague behavior. I see little on adult ADHD, which in my own personal experience has been (to sum it up in a very very rough manner) that if I'm not on medications I have a very fragile mental sketchpad and therefore have trouble doing anything like a math problem or reading through a complicated set of syllogisms. This seems to be the more clearly definable and scarier problem, living in the real world and having one's attempts to carry out a task drowned out by noise.
I seemed to have a much different take on the paleo diet though; though I don't take mine too seriously as I'm not a scientist and understand the uncertainty of it. I was not thinking about inflammation but rather the use of the IGF-1 pathway; you probably have seen the article in Science about the insulin pathway as a possible culprit for a slew of mental disorders. I also took note of the studies on IF in rats, which had both improved insulin sensitivity and an increase in cognitive function (and of course better body composition, but no surprises there.)
I also have recently been wondering if a lack of antioxidants could be a factor. I've been planning to acquire Glutathione supplements for a while due to the effect of glutathione on asthma (my asthma has been mostly cured since I've taken on this diet but I'm moving to a place of worse air quality.) That said, there are some theories that glutathione may also address major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. I also imagine that better antioxidant intake is in the same vein as your theory on inflammation.
A lot to be learned about these things, it's great to have this blog to read. If you have any questions about firsthand experiences with adult ADHD, I'm around; I'm always happy to share what I've learned from a life of coping with (and overcoming) it with those who have a stake in it.
Interesting posts, particularly the one about multivitamin use and synergistic effects. It takes me back to the work of Prof. David Kennedy and colleagues at the University of Northumbria here in the bracing North-East of England and their work on vitamin supplementation with healthy adults: http://www.northumbria.ac.uk/browse/ne/uninews/multivitamin
kind of off topic, but i have been reading up on some brain stuff and depression and have a question.
Quote: "People eat oily fish to get the long-chain omega-3s. They only need to do that if they are deficient in copper, which activates the desaturase enzymes needed to make long-chain omega-3s from short-chain ones. "
To my knowledge, short chain omega 3's act differently than the long ones. problem, short chains are abundant in whole grains, germ, people like the Hunza diet.
i think the root of many of my problems is a deficiency in omega 3 or getting enough to be stable in it(as in, it aint enough eating salmon and sardines and i am not popping a pill...)
Malpaz - even those with the most efficient desaturase enzyme can only convert a percentage... there is such a combnation of everything needed to make the brain work correctly - and we need time. Eat the organ meats, get the exercise and sleep, and a few grams of o3 and some carbs - eventually it will settle out.
Hi,
ReplyDeleteI've been a fan of your blog for a while, which I came across while reading Art De Vany and Mark Sisson's blogs. I have adult ADHD and have been struggling with it my entire life and therefore actually sought out Paleo dieting as a way to help mitigate it (there are much better medications than ritalin out there, but I never liked the side-effects and I'm truly terrified of the long term health effects.
One thing I've taken note of is that the talk about ADHD usually has to do with kids who are hyper and don't want to do their homework, which has always eluded me a bit because it's honestly such a vague behavior. I see little on adult ADHD, which in my own personal experience has been (to sum it up in a very very rough manner) that if I'm not on medications I have a very fragile mental sketchpad and therefore have trouble doing anything like a math problem or reading through a complicated set of syllogisms. This seems to be the more clearly definable and scarier problem, living in the real world and having one's attempts to carry out a task drowned out by noise.
I seemed to have a much different take on the paleo diet though; though I don't take mine too seriously as I'm not a scientist and understand the uncertainty of it. I was not thinking about inflammation but rather the use of the IGF-1 pathway; you probably have seen the article in Science about the insulin pathway as a possible culprit for a slew of mental disorders. I also took note of the studies on IF in rats, which had both improved insulin sensitivity and an increase in cognitive function (and of course better body composition, but no surprises there.)
I also have recently been wondering if a lack of antioxidants could be a factor. I've been planning to acquire Glutathione supplements for a while due to the effect of glutathione on asthma (my asthma has been mostly cured since I've taken on this diet but I'm moving to a place of worse air quality.) That said, there are some theories that glutathione may also address major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. I also imagine that better antioxidant intake is in the same vein as your theory on inflammation.
A lot to be learned about these things, it's great to have this blog to read. If you have any questions about firsthand experiences with adult ADHD, I'm around; I'm always happy to share what I've learned from a life of coping with (and overcoming) it with those who have a stake in it.
Interesting posts, particularly the one about multivitamin use and synergistic effects. It takes me back to the work of Prof. David Kennedy and colleagues at the University of Northumbria here in the bracing North-East of England and their work on vitamin supplementation with healthy adults: http://www.northumbria.ac.uk/browse/ne/uninews/multivitamin
ReplyDeletekind of off topic, but i have been reading up on some brain stuff and depression and have a question.
ReplyDeleteQuote: "People eat oily fish to get the long-chain omega-3s. They only need to do that if they are deficient in copper, which activates the desaturase enzymes needed to make long-chain omega-3s from short-chain ones. "
To my knowledge, short chain omega 3's act differently than the long ones. problem, short chains are abundant in whole grains, germ, people like the Hunza diet.
i think the root of many of my problems is a deficiency in omega 3 or getting enough to be stable in it(as in, it aint enough eating salmon and sardines and i am not popping a pill...)
do you have any suggestions, ideas??
Malpaz - even those with the most efficient desaturase enzyme can only convert a percentage... there is such a combnation of everything needed to make the brain work correctly - and we need time. Eat the organ meats, get the exercise and sleep, and a few grams of o3 and some carbs - eventually it will settle out.
ReplyDelete