Zinc 'helps hyperactive children' - a Ritalin + Zinc cohort - Ritalin & learned helplessness

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Zinc 'helps hyperactive children'

Doctors have found evidence to suggest that hyperactive children may

benefit from taking zinc supplements.

Many parents whose children have attention deficit hyperactivity

(ADHD)disorder give them extra zinc.

However, doctors are split on whether it actually works and few actually

advocate it.

But a study in Iran on 44 children with the condition has found that

those on zinc fared much better than those who were not given supplements.

Vitamin deficiency

Previous studies have shown that many children with ADHD have vitamin

and mineral deficiencies.

The 44 children in this study were divided into two groups. Those in the

first group were given 55mg of zinc each day for six weeks. Those in the

second group were given a dummy pill.

All of the children were also given Ritalin, which is routinely

prescribed to treat ADHD. [see 1 below]

The researchers, who are based at Roozbeh Psychiatric Hospital in

Tehran, said the behaviour of all of the children improved over the

course of the study period.

However, they said those who had taken zinc had shown a more marked

improvement.

The researchers suggested that zinc may play a role in regulating the

production of dopamine in the brain.

This chemical is associated with feelings of pleasure and reward and has

been linked to ADHD by other scientists.

The researchers said further study is needed to confirm the findings and

examine if children with the condition should be given zinc.

" This study demonstrated that zinc as a supplementary medication might

be beneficial in the treatment of children with ADHD.

" However, further investigations and different doses of zinc are

required to replicate these findings in children with ADHD. "

Professor Hill of the Royal College of Psychiatrists said much

more research is needed.

" I advised parents to give their children extra zinc in the 1970s. I

don't do it now, " he told BBC News Online.

" While it worked for some children, it did not work for others.

" There is a danger that children could be given too much zinc. I

wouldn't advise parents to start giving their children zinc now. "

The study is published in BMC Psychiatry.

Story from BBC NEWS:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/health/3608439.stm

Published: 2004/04/08 07:10:05 GMT

© BBC MMIV

1. A recent news release described Harvard researchers' findings: drugs

like and including Ritalin induce depresssion-like traits and

learned helplessness (A-.

A. Attention Deficit Drugs May Have Long-Term Effects

http://www.abcnews.go.com/wire/US/reuters20031208_12.html

Dec. 8 -- WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Drugs given to children to treat

attention deficit hyperactivity disorder could have long-term effects

on their growing brains, studies on rats suggest.

Several studies published on Monday show that rats given a popular

ADHD drug were less likely to want to use cocaine later in life, but

also often acted clinically depressed and behaved differently from

rats give dummy injections.

While rats are different from humans, the studies suggest that

doctors should watch children for long-term effects, too.

In the United States between 3 percent and 5 percent of children are

diagnosed with attention deficit disorder, marked by reduced ability

to concentrate, difficulty in organizing and impulsive behavior.

Patients are commonly prescribed stimulants but the practice is

sometimes controversial.

Carlezon of McLean Hospital and Harvard Medical School in

Boston and colleagues raised two groups of rats. One was given

Ritalin, known generically as methylphenidate, during the rat

equivalent of pre-adolescence, while the other was given a salt water

injection.

When they matured, the rats were tested for " learned helplessness " --

how quickly they gave up on behavioral tasks under stress.

" Rats exposed to Ritalin as juveniles showed large increases in

learned-helplessness behavior during adulthood, suggesting a tendency

toward depression, " Carlezon said in a statement.

But rats, which generally like cocaine, were less likely to eat it if

they had been give Ritalin.

Carlezon said he did not believe the effects were specific to

Ritalin, made by Swiss drug giant Novartis. It could instead be a

general effect of stimulant drugs, many of which act by increasing

the activity of a key message-carrying chemical called dopamine.

Higher dopamine levels could affect the way brain cells cement their

connections during development, Carlezon wrote in the Dec. 15 issue

of the journal Biological Psychiatry.

A team at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at

Dallas found that adult rats were less responsive to rewarding

stimuli and reacted more to stress if they had been given

methylphenidate as youngsters.

A third study done by a team at Finch University of Health

Sciences/The Chicago Medical School found changes in how dopamine

neurons responded to methylphenidate.

" These three studies remind us how limited our knowledge is of the

neurochemical and functional characteristics of the human brain

during childhood and adolescence and on the effects of psychotropic

drugs on brain development, " Dr. Insel, Director of the

National Institute of Mental Health, wrote in a commentary.

B. Biol Psychiatry. 2003 Dec 15;54(12):1330-7.

Enduring behavioral effects of early exposure to methylphenidate in rats.

Carlezon WA Jr, Mague SD, Andersen SL.

Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, McLean Hospital, Belmont,

Massachusetts 02478, USA.

BACKGROUND: Methylphenidate (MPH) is a stimulant prescribed for the

treatment of

attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Stimulant drugs can cause

enduring behavioral adaptations, including altered drug sensitivity, in

laboratory animals. We examined how early developmental exposure to

stimulants

affects behavior in several rodent models. METHODS: Rats received MPH or

cocaine

during preadolescence (P20-35). Behavioral studies began during

adulthood (P60).

We compared how early exposure to MPH and cocaine affects sensitivity to

the

rewarding and aversive properties of cocaine using place conditioning.

We also

examined the effects of early exposure to MPH on depressive-like signs

using the

forced swim test, and habituation of spontaneous locomotion, within

activity

chambers. RESULTS: In place-conditioning tests, early exposure to MPH or

cocaine

each made moderate doses of cocaine aversive and high doses less rewarding.

Early MPH exposure also caused depressive-like effects in the forced

swim test,

and it attenuated habituation to the activity chambers.CONCLUSIONS: Early

exposure to MPH causes behavioral changes in rats that endure into

adulthood.

Some changes (reduced sensitivity to cocaine reward) may be beneficial,

whereas

others (increases in depressive-like signs, reduced habituation) may be

detrimental...

*

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