Cell phone use and attention

Posted by on April 15th, 2008 | Comments off

The September issue of the International Journal of Neuroscience, 2007 published an article entitled, Frequent Mobile Phone Use “Might” Improve Mental Concentration.

The study was performed by researchers from Brainclinics Diagnostics and the Radboud University department of Biological Psychology both from Nijmegen (the Netherlands), the Institute of Psychiatry (London) and the Brain Resource Company (Sydney, Australia).

The researchers based their findings on data from 300 people. This group was segmented into 100 ‘frequent mobile phone users,’ 100 ‘non-mobile phone users,’ and a control group of 100 people. Differences in brain activity on tests of attention, memory, and executive function were measured using QEEG or quantitative EEG. QEEG is more art than science and is a relatively nascent technology.

Curiously, the researchers concluded that frequent mobile phone users demonstrated slowed brain function, but the users also showed better focused attention. The researchers attribute better focused attention as a ‘learning effect’ related to cell phone users filtering out distractions when making phone calls in distractive surroundings.

Wisely, the researchers note that these data are preliminary and need to be replicated. Furthermore, it is difficult to determine whether the healthy or unhealthy.

“The frequent mobile phone user group used their mobile phone – at the time of data collection – only 2.4 years on average which can currently be considered as a short time. Therefore, it is to be expected that the observed effects in this study can be more severe with prolonged mobile phone use” according to Martijn Arns, co-author of the study.

ADHD and Food Additives: European Food Standards Agency calls for ban on six artificial colors

Posted by on April 13th, 2008 | Comments off

For years, parents have complained that certain artificial additives to brightly colored cakes, soft drinks, and candies, had caused their children adverse reactions such as hyperactivity, skin problems, mood volatility, headaches, etc. after consumption.

The Food Standards Agency (“FSA”) recommended ministers call for manufacturers to remove six artificial colors by the end of 2009. The FSA also urged a European Union-wide ban. This reversed the FSA’s decision last month when it dismissed calls for action on the additives.

According to The Independent, “The FSA’s advice to parents will be strengthened to warn them about the dangers of the E-numbers tartrazine (E102), quinoline yellow (E104), sunset yellow (E110), carmoisine (E122), ponceau 4R (E124) and allura red (E129).”

The Independent further reports that, “These colors and the preservative sodium benzoate (E211) were linked to hyperactivity in a £750,000 study by Southampton University, which found they made primary school children become distracted and fail a computer attention test.

The researchers estimated that 30 per cent of cases of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) would be prevented if companies removed the colors used in the £13bn-a-year global additives industry.

If the ministers elect to have the dyes and additives banned, the UK’s biggest producers of confections, soft drinks, ice cream, and others will have to reformulate their products.

The Independent:

The Southampton researchers had warned the seven additives were as harmful as lead in petrol, which was banned after it proved to lower children’s IQ by five points. Their research, in The Lancet in September, was the evidence that artificial additives worsened the behavior of normal children as well as those diagnosed with ADHD.

Dame Deirdre Hutton, who chairs the Food Standards Agency, said: “It is the agency’s duty to put consumers first. These additives give color to foods but nothing else. It would therefore be sensible, in the light of the… study, to remove them.”

The board decided to take no action on sodium benzoate because it was “a preservative” rather than a color. E211, which is linked with other potential health problems, is found in many soft drinks including Diet Coke, Irn-Bru, Lucozade and Fanta, and its removal would pose a significant technological and financial challenge to drinks companies.

The FSA stressed that its decision “does not mean there is an immediate ban”.

Campaigners welcomed the first decisive move in the UK against additives, whose effect on hyperactive children were first identified in 1975. Richard Watts, of the Children’s Food Campaign, said: “This decision is good news for children and parents, who have known for many years that these additives affect children’s behavior.” Anna Glayzer, an Action on Additives campaigner, said the FSA had put the consumer first. “We will be keeping a close eye on the industry to see what effect the voluntary ban has.”

The Food and Drink Federation said the recommendation was “bizarre”, as manufacturers were already removing the additives. “[Most] products don’t contain these colors,” a statement said.

The six colorings facing a ban:

Tartrazine (E102)
Description: Synthetic yellow dye found in sweets, biscuits, mushy peas
Products: Disney Winnie the Pooh Cake Kit, Lidl orange jelly, Bacardi Breezer tropical lime, Asda mushy peas
Health effects: causes hyperactivity, linked to allergic reactions and migraine.

Quinoline Yellow (E104)
Description: Synthetic dye in sweets, pickles, smoked fish
Products: Aero orange, Galaxy Minstrels, M&Ms, Bassett’s Sherbet Lemons
Health effects: Causes hyperactivity and is linked to rashes. Banned in US.

Sunset Yellow (E110)
Description: synthetic yellow dye found in sweets, ice cream, fizzy drinks
Products: Cadbury Creme Egg, Haribo Jelly Beans, Irn-Bru
Health effects: causes hyperactivity and linked to stomach upsets and swelling of skin.

Carmoisine (E122)
Description: Synthetic red dye found in ready meals, sweets
Products: Love Hearts, Galaxy Minstrels, Cadbury Mini Eggs, various lollipops
Health effects: causes hyperactivity and is alleged to cause water retention in those allergic to aspirin. Banned in US.

Ponceau 4R (E124)
Description: synthetic red dye found in sweets, biscuits, drinks
Products: Bassett’s Pear Drops, Halls Blackcurrant Soothers, Supercook Alphabet Icing
Health effects: causes hyperactivity and is believed to cause problems for asthmatics. Banned in US.

Allura red (E129)
Description: synthetic red dye found in sweets, soft drinks, Turkish delight
Products: Fry’s Turkish Delight, Cadbury Mini Eggs, Maynards Wine Gums
Health effects: causes hyperactivity and may bring on allergic reactions.

Women with ADHD affected more?

Posted by on April 12th, 2008 | Comments off

In most clinical settings, boys are treated for ADHD at least 4 to 1 over girls. Boys, it is thought, tend to present symptoms outwardly more than girls resulting in physical behaviors that are easily noticeable (hyperactivity).

In an article reported in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, February 2008, author of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City and his colleagues find that the roles are reversed in adults; females seem to be more impacted than men.

“We found that adult women with ADHD frequently have high levels of emotional symptoms as well as the cognitive problems found in ADHD,” Dr. Frederick W. Reimherr told Reuters Health.

Reimherr’s conclusions were drawn from analysis of data from two clinical trials of Strattera. Strattera is a non-stimulant medication for ADHD produced by Eli Lilly, a pharmaceutical giant.

ADHD symptom data were collected ADHD on 515 individuals. Approximately one third of this population were women. Seventy-five percent of the women in this population had a combined-type ADHD as opposed to only 62% of the male population represented in this study.

Women also presented more problems with sleep than did males in the study. Women had higher scores measuring both anxiety and depression than did their male counterparts.

Women presented poor temper control, mood volatility, and emotional over-reactivity than did their male counterparts (37 % in women as opposed to 29 % of males).

In an interview with Reuter’s Health correspondents, Reimherr cites that, “these symptoms – depression, temper control problems, feelings of tension, and over-reacting to life stresses – might cause a doctor to miss the diagnosis of ADHD … We feel that this will lead to problems in treatment for such women.”

Such studies are limited to the initial data collected by the original researchers at Lilly. Therefore, one is not able to draw positive conclusions regarding the origins of the differences cited by Reimherr. For example, do hormones, age differences, economic statuses, education, or marital statuses, affect the data? We cannot know due to the limitations of the data in this study.

ADHD Labeling and Race

Posted by on April 11th, 2008 | Comments off

An article,  Identifying, Evaluating, Diagnosing, and Treating ADHD in Minority Youth,  published online Jan 11, 2008 in the Journal of Attention Disorders, authors Heather Hervey-Jumper, MD (University of Michigan) and others examined childhood ADHD in underrepresented minorities. Research was conducted by searching existing databases for information. 

The authors conclude that minority parents, on average, have less educational attainment than non-minority parents. Education is a factor that influences awareness of healthcare. In light of this, minority children with ADHD often do not receive proper medical intervention. The authors cite that, “Educated majority parents, on the other hand, have less tolerance for ADHD symptoms, have greater access to medical services.”

Furthermore, the authors cite a study indicating that, “African American and Hispanic children have 2 to 4 times more chronic physical and mental conditions than does the general public. There are not only higher levels of physical illnesses, such as diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and asthma, but also many neuropsychiatric conditions (Bazargan et al.,2005; Levitt Katz et al., 2005).”

According to Dr. Hervey-Jumper, “A child of any race can be deeply affected by attention difficulties not only during school years but for a lifetime. It is tragic that many minority children are not provided with culturally sensitive assessments when we have effective treatments that can start these children on a track of progress. Untreated attention disorders can cause devastating results and we believe there are solutions for children of all ethnic backgrounds.”

Much of this study was a compilation of previous data. The authors do cite that all children should be treated and assessed individually to account for cultural differences. They also recognize the paucity of clinicians capable of performing in this capacity.