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Updated: May 11, 2026

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Published on: December 2, 2015
Omega-3 fatty acids are related to abnormal emotion processing in adolescent boys with attention deficit
Rachel V Gow1, Alexander Sumich, Frederic Vallee-Tourangeau
1Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, United Kingdom. rachel.gow@kcl.ac.uk
Background:
In addition to the core symptoms, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is associated with poor emotion regulation. There is some evidence that children and young adults with ADHD have lower omega-3 levels and that supplementation with omega-3 can improve both ADHD and affective symptoms. We therefore investigated differences between ADHD and non-ADHD children in omega-3/6 fatty acid plasma levels and the relationship between those indices and emotion-elicited event-related potentials (ERPs).
Methods:
Children/adolescents with (n=31) and without ADHD (n=32) were compared in their plasma omega-3/6 indices and corresponding ERPs during an emotion processing task.
Results:
Children with ADHD had lower mean omega-3/6 and ERP abnormalities in emotion processing, independent of emotional valence relative to control children. ERP abnormalities were significantly associated with lower omega-3 levels in the ADHD group.
Conclusions:
The findings reveal for the first time that lower omega-3 fatty acids are associated with impaired emotion processing in ADHD children.
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