Mental Health

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)/Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD)

ADHD/ADD | Causes | Diagnosis | Treatments

Causes

What causes ADHD/ADD?

Health professionals are finding more and more evidence that ADHD/ADD does not stem from a troubled home environment, but from biological causes. A single cause of ADHD/ADD has not been identified.

Myths regarding the cause of ADHD/ADD include:

too much TV watching
food allergies
excessive sugar intake
poor home life
poor schools

In years past, other suggested causes of ADHD/ADD have included:

genetic/hereditary connections
brain damage before, after, or during birth
brain damage by toxins (bacterial or viral infections, fetal alcohol syndrome, etc.)
refined sugar and food additives

However, these causes were never conclusively proven, and research continues as new tools and techniques for studying the brain are developed.

What are suggested theories for the cause of ADHD/ADD?

Researchers, now, have been able to test more theories regarding the causes of ADHD/ADD. Among the theories are:

Researchers measured the level of glucose used by the areas of the brain that inhibit impulses and control attention and found important differences between people who have ADHD and those who do not. Because glucose is the brain's main source of energy, measuring it is a good indicator of the brain's activity level. The researchers found that in people with ADHD, the brain areas that control attention used less glucose, indicating that they were less active. From this research, it appears that a lower level of activity in some parts of the brain may cause inattention.

Researchers are searching for other differences between those who have and do not have ADHD by studying how the brain normally develops in the fetus. With a better understanding of how the brain works when the nerve cells are connected correctly and incorrectly, they hope to determine what might prevent nerve cells from forming the proper connections. Some of the factors they are studying include drug use during pregnancy, toxins, and genetics:

a mother's use of cigarettes, alcohol, or other drugs during pregnancy may have damaging effects on the unborn child

drugs such as cocaine, including crack, seem to affect the normal development of brain receptors

toxins in the environment may also disrupt brain development or brain processes

Attention disorders also tend to run in families:

children who have ADHD usually have at least one close relative who also has ADHD

at least one-third of all fathers who had ADHD in their youth bear children who have ADHD

the majority of identical twins share the trait

This page was last updated on: February 5, 2008.

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