I'm a complete neuroscience novice so please bear with me.One of the more interesting theories of the etiology of ADHD that I've read posits that the disorder may be one of neuroenergetics - the result of insufficient and variable neuronal energy production due to insufficient formation and supply of lactate in astrocytes. As the theory goes, this impairs immediate response to cognitive demands due to a lack of sufficient ATP for rapidly firing neurons, and also affects development of the brain by impairing myelination on longer time scales. Abstract here: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/16925830/I'm quite interested in how ketosis can be therapeutic for neurological/cognitive issues in general, and how it might ameliorate ADHD symptoms in particular - there appears to be some experimental evidence (at least in rat models) that it might do the latter. There also appears to be experimental evidence that ketosis increases levels of lactate in the brain: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/11043913/My question: if the theory proposed in the first link above is correct, would it be reasonable to think that a ketogenic diet might eliminate ADHD symptoms by addressing the lactate supply issue? Obviously the effects of years of impaired myelination would still be present, but could ketosis resolve the more immediate energy-supply issue and also possibly improve myelination going forward?
Could ketosis be therapeutic for ADHD based on the neuro-energetic theory of attention?
neurobiology;adhd