Mike: Hello, I'm Mike Clarke, podcast editor for the Cochrane Library. The Cochrane Developmental, Psychosocial and Learning Problems Group has produced approximately 200 reviews, with several relevant to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD. One of these reviews, on the effects of polyunsaturated fatty acids, was updated in April 2023. Here's lead author, Donna Gillies from the University of Sydney in Australia to tell us more.

Donna: Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, ADHD for short, is a common problem in children and adolescents. Those affected may struggle to concentrate, or may feel restless, or act on impulse. As a result of these difficulties, ADHD can cause long‐term social, academic, and mental health problems. Medicines are the most frequently used treatments for ADHD, but they are not always effective and can cause unwanted side effects.
Polyunsaturated fatty acids, or PUFA, might be an alternative. These are fats found in foods such as fish (omega‐3 PUFA) and vegetable oils (omega‐6 PUFA). As PUFAs are necessary for normal brain development, and there is some evidence that low levels of PUFA could be related to ADHD, it has been suggested that PUFA supplements may improve ADHD symptoms.
This is an update of a review published in July 2012 which aimed to find whether PUFA supplements improve ADHD symptoms in children and adolescents. The original review had provided limited data that suggested PUFA did improve ADHD symptoms. However, it was important to incorporate any new studies to identify any important changes in the evidence base.
In this update, we searched for all trials that compared PUFA to placebo, medicines, or psychological or medical therapies. We searched 13 databases and two trials registers up to October 2021 and found 24 new studies. This brought the total number of studies in  the updated review to 37 with nearly 2400 children and adolescents with ADHD as participants.
In total, thirty‐six studies compared PUFA to placebo, with the treatment lasting between two weeks and six months. These studies provided little evidence that PUFA could improve ADHD symptoms such as inattention or hyperactivity‐impulsivity. However, PUFA also did not appear to increase overall side effects.
In conclusion, on the basis of this substantial update to our original review, we are confident that the effects of PUFA on ADHD symptoms in children and adolescents are no different to those of placebo.

Mike: Thanks Donna. If you would like to read more about the trials included in the review and its overall findings, it's available online. If you go to Cochrane Library dot com and search ‘'.