Study: Are Omega-3 fatty acids the answer to behavioral problems in children?

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Referenz Raine A, Portnoy J, Liu J, Mahoomed T, Hibbeln J. Reduzierung von Verhaltensproblemen durch Omega-3-Supplementierung bei Kindern im Alter von 8 bis 16 Jahren: eine randomisierte, doppelblinde, placebokontrollierte, geschichtete Parallelgruppenstudie. J Kinderpsychiatrie. 22. August 2014. [Epub ahead of print] Design Randomisierte, doppelblinde, placebokontrollierte, stratifizierte Parallelgruppenstudie: Eine Gemeinschaftsstichprobe von Kindern im Alter von 8 bis 16 Jahren wurde randomisiert einer Behandlungsgruppe (n=100) oder einer Placebo-Kontrollgruppe (n=100) zugeteilt. . Die Kinder erhielten täglich ein Fruchtgetränk mit 1 g Omega-3-Fettsäuren (Behandlungsgruppe) oder ohne Zusatz von Omega-3-Fettsäuren (Placebo). Die Omega-3-Fettsäuren im Getränk bestanden aus 300 mg Docosahexaensäure, 200 mg Eicosapentaensäure, 400 mg Alpha-Linolensäure …
Reference Raine A, Portnoy J, Liu J, Mahoomed T, Hibby J. Reduction of behavioral problems by omega-3 supplementation in children aged 8 to 16 years: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, layered parallel group study. J child psychiatry. August 22, 2014. [Epub Ahead of Print] Design randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, stratified parallel group study: A community sample of children between the ages of 8 and 16 was randomized of a treatment group (n = 100) or a placebo control group (n = 100). . The children received a fruit drink with 1 g omega-3 fatty acids (treatment group) or without the addition of omega-3 fatty acids (placebo). The omega-3 fatty acids in the drink consisted of 300 mg docosahexaenic acid, 200 mg eicosapentaenic acid, 400 mg alpha-linolenic acid ... (Symbolbild/natur.wiki)

Reference

raine A, Portnoy J, Liu J, Mahoomed T, Hibblelen J. Reduction of behavioral problems due to omega-3 supplementation in children aged 8 to 16 years: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, layered parallel group study. J child psychiatry. August 2014. Print]

Design

randomized, double blind, placebo-controlled, stratified parallel group study: A community sample of children between the ages of 8 and 16 was randomized of a treatment group (n = 100) or a placebo control group (n = 100). . The children received a fruit drink with 1 g omega-3 fatty acids (treatment group) or without the addition of omega-3 fatty acids (placebo). The omega-3 fatty acids in the drink consisted of 300 mg docosahexaenoic acid, 200 mg eicosapentaenic acid, 400 mg alpha-linolenic acid and 100 mg docosapentaenic acid. The treatment lasted 6 months and the participants were observed for another 6 months after the treatment was stopped.
Primary results were externalizing behavioral problems, including aggressive behavior, and secondary results, the parental aggressive and psychopathic behavior as well as internalizing behavioral problems. The behavior of children was evaluated using two parent reports-a checklist for the behavior of children and a device for screening the anti-social personality-as well as a self-report and a questionnaire completed by the children to reactive-proactive aggression. The parents carried out a self -assessment of the psychopathic personality. All psychometric instruments used were validated in previous studies.

most important knowledge

While the children's self -reports showed no improvements in the treatment group, with the exception of the reactive ( p <0.0001), proactive ( p = 0.02) and total aggression ( p <0.001), the parents reported on a significant improvement in the behavior of the children in the treatment group for all evaluated Internalizing and externalizing subscales, with the exception of somatic complaints.
A omega-3 supplementation over a period of 6 months led to a 41.6 %reduction in the child's externalization behavior assessed by the parents, measured 6 months after the end of the treatment period. A similar reduction (68.4 %) was observed in the same time frame for internalization behavior. The importance of these results remains even if the researchers controlled the parents' faith in the treatment allocation, which they did to eliminate any influence of placebo effects.
Interestingly, parents, whose children omega-3 fatty acids, showed a significant reduction in their own anti-social and aggressive behavior after treatment. Further analyzes showed that the improvement of child behavior after treatment with omega-3 fatty acids made 38.7 % of the improvement in the anti-social behavior of the parents and that the improvement in parental behavior was 60.9 % of improving child behavior. The behavior of the parents can therefore partially be responsible for the child's behavior.

Restrictions and effects on practice

This study is interesting for several reasons. First, the effect of omega-3 fatty acids was examined on behavior, but above all on internalization behavior such as depression. There are only a few studies on the effects of omega-3 fatty acids on young people or children and to the externalizing behavior that have led to mixed results. 1.2 A restriction of these studies is that they have been carried out with a short treatment and evaluation period of 15 and 16 weeks. This is the first study in which a longer treatment period was used and in which the test subjects were monitored over longer periods after treatment. It seems as if this longer period was necessary to assess the full effect of the nutritional supplement. While both the treatment and the placebo group reported on a certain benefit during the treatment period (due to the placebo effect or possibly due to additional vitamin D and antioxidants in the drinks base), only the active treatment group maintained this improvement six months after treatment.
Although it appears that a nutritional supplement with omega-3 fatty acids had a clinical effect on the externalization behavior of children and adolescents, the majority of the clinical improvement (as calculated by the study authors) could be attributed to the reaction of a child to changes in parental behavior.
Another interesting aspect of this study is the lack of self -reported improvements in children in comparison. This phenomenon has been observed in other studies, for example in a study with young adult prisoners, in which no behavioral improvements reported by observers were found in the self -reports. 3 Although this is the biggest restriction of this study, most of the clinic visits to the treatment of behavioral problems in children or others are supervised, so that these results are still clinically relevant are.
The most fascinating aspect of this study is for me the interesting influence of parents on the behavior of the child and the child on the behavior of the parents. This reinforces clinical observation from my own experience, as I realized when assessing a child with behavioral difficulties that the parent-child dynamics may contribute to this. This study clearly shows that the answer is to tackle behavioral problems for each child as an individual and as part of a family unit. Although it seems that a nutritional supplement with omega-3 fatty acids had a clinical effect on the externalization behavior of children and adolescents, the majority of the clinical improvement (as calculated by the study authors) could be attributed to the reaction of a child to changes in parental behavior. This change of behavior of the parents was largely due to a reaction in the behavior of the child, which indicates that the clinical benefit associated with the omega-3 supplementation is only the tip of the iceberg: a positive feedback loop was clearly initiated, in which the "treatment" was the relationship between caregiver and child. This study lets me think of the views of the co -founder of Bastyr University, Bill Mitchell, ND, "to let people be medicine" for each other, and I am deeply amazed that in this case his idea could be proven within the boundaries of a random doppelganger -blind, placebo -controlled study.

  1. Gustafsson Pa, Birberg-Thornberg U, Duchen K, et al. EPA supplementation improves the behavior rated by teachers and the opposition symptoms in children with ADHD. Acta Paediatr. 2010; 99 (10): 1540-1549.
  2. milte cm, parletta n, Buckley JD, Coates Am, Young RM, Howe Pr. EICOSPENTAENONE and DOCOSHEXAENCE, Cognition and behavior in children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder: a randomized controlled study. nutrition. 2012 (6): 670-677.
  3. Gesch CB, Hammond SM, Hampson SE, Eve A, Crowder MJ. Influence of additional vitamins, minerals and essential fatty acids on the anti -social behavior of young adult prisoners. Randomized, placebo -controlled study. br j psychiatry. 2002 Jul; 181: 22-28.