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Updated: Jun 16, 2025

Event Related Potentials ERPs and other EEG Based Methods for Extracting Biomarkers of Brain Dysfunction: Examples from Pediatric Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder ADHD
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Effect of probiotics as an adjunctive therapy with Ritalin among ADHD children and adolescents: a triple-blind

Zahra Sadat Sangsefidi1, Zohreh Sadat Sangsefidi2, Fatemeh Moharreri1

  • 1Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Research Center, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.

Nutritional Neuroscience
|August 20, 2024
PubMed

Insights

Probiotics supplementation may offer benefits for children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) when used alongside Ritalin. This adjunctive therapy showed improvements in auditory response control and some ADHD symptom scores.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Psychiatry
  • Microbiome Research
  • Pharmacology

Background:

  • Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a prevalent childhood mental health condition.
  • Existing research on probiotic supplementation for ADHD is limited and yields conflicting results.
  • Investigating adjunctive therapies like probiotics alongside standard ADHD medication is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To evaluate the efficacy of probiotics as an add-on treatment to Ritalin in children and adolescents diagnosed with ADHD.
  • To determine if specific probiotic strains can modulate ADHD symptoms.

Main Methods:

  • A triple-blind, randomized controlled trial involving 60 Iranian pediatric ADHD patients (ages 4-16).
  • Participants received either a probiotic combination (Lactobacillus plantarum PTCC 1896 and Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. Lactis BB-12) or a placebo for 8 weeks.
  • ADHD symptoms were assessed using the Conners' Parent Rating Scale (CPRS) and Integrated Visual and Auditory Continuous Performance Test (IVA/CPT) at baseline and follow-up.

Main Results:

  • A significant reduction in CPRS total scores was observed after 4 weeks in the probiotic group (p=0.01).
  • No significant difference in CPRS total scores was found after 8 weeks.
  • The probiotic group showed a significant increase in auditory response control scores compared to placebo at study's end (p=0.02).

Conclusions:

  • Probiotic supplementation, when combined with Ritalin, may offer some benefits for ADHD patients, including improved auditory response control.
  • Further clinical trials are necessary to definitively establish the role of probiotics in managing ADHD.
Abstract

Keywords:
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorderchildrenprobiotics

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