Sunday Feb 7, 2016 (foodconsumer.org) -- The study published Feb. 4 in the journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings found among girls a link between attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and obesity.

Mayo Clinic researchers compared 336 people diagnosed with ADHD in childhood with more than 600 people without the illness and found girls with ADHD in childhood or early adulthood were twice as likely as those who did not have the illness to develop obesity later in life.

Early studies showed that ADHD symptoms were twice as likely found in overweight girls compared with average girls without the condition.

Researchers do not know how to explain why girls with ADHD are more likely to develop obesity.  But one thing is certain:  These girls could eat more calories than those who were not diagnosed with ADHD.

Why is ADHD linked to obesity?

One Australian study published recently in Journal of Attention Disorders found ADHD associated with a Western dietary pattern in adolescents.  The study did not look at the link between dietary patterns and risk for obesity.

In the 14-year study, 115 out of 1799 adolescents were diagnosed with ADHD.  The authors found adolescents whose diets were highly close to the Western Dietary Pattern were twice as likely to be diagnosed with ADHD as those whose diet is least close to the Western diet.

A Western diet consists of high amounts of calorie-dense foods such as fat, sugar and protein and low amounts of plant-based foods.  Western diet in other studies has already been associated with elevated risk for obesity.  

This study suggests that eating a Western diet may increase risk for ADHD.  So evidence from these two and other studies suggests that the Western diet is a risk factor for both ADHD and obesity. (Not all components in a Western diet promotes ADHD.  Some like sugar are known to boost ADHD risk) (David Liu) 

Journal of Attention Disorders July 2011 vol. 15 no. 5 403-411