BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article
Front. Nutr.
Sec. Nutrition, Psychology and Brain Health
This article is part of the Research TopicImpact of nutrition on brain healthView all 18 articles
Food environment with high plant-based fat supply is associated with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) protection: A global study with more than 150 countries
Provisionally accepted
- Charles Perkins Centre, The University of Sydney, Camperdown, Australia
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Background Diets and nutrients are emerging key players in neurological disorders. Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a major neurodevelopmental disorder on a global scale, affecting children and increasingly being recognized and diagnosed in adult populations. While its aetiology is unclear, it appears to involve a combination of genetic and environmental factors, particularly food environments including diets and nutrients. However, most studies have focused on the impacts of individual nutrients or dietary patterns on clinically established ADHD. In contrast, the interactive effects of diets and nutrients and their complex interplay with other factors like socioeconomic status on ADHD prevalence and incidence are overlooked. Methods ADHD disease burden data (incidence and prevalence), macronutrient supply and gross domestic product (GDP) were collated from more than 150 countries from 1990 to 2018 and analyzed with nutritional geometric framework generalized additive mixed models. Results Modelling results suggested the interactive effects of food environment and socioeconomic status on ADHD. Fat supply, especially plant-based fat supply, is associated with decreased ADHD prevalence and incidence. These associations were conserved across sexes and ages. They were not confounded by the total energy supply. Conclusions Globally, fat, particularly plant-based fat supply in food environment correlated with the reduction of ADHD prevalence and incidence, implying its potential protective effects. This is supported by previous reports about the amelioration of ADHD with ketogenic diets. Further in-depth studies are needed to elucidate the underlying mechanistic. This might potentially provide some evidence for future targeted dietary interventions for ADHD prevention.
Keywords: Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), fat, plant-based fat, nutrient, Diet, Food Environment
Received: 02 Jul 2025; Accepted: 28 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Ni, Senior, Raubenheimer, Simpson and Nanan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Duan Ni, duan.ni@sydney.edu.au
Ralph Kay Heinrich Nanan, ralph.nanan@sydney.edu.au
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