|  | Conditions Treatments | ADHD

ADHD & Enzyme Therapy

Enzymes are essential substances that your body cannot function without. Their job is to join vitamins and minerals, creating what are called coenzymes, so your body can absorb them properly. They also aid in digestion, strengthen your immune system and promote proper cellular functioning. Enzyme deficiency can cause a multitude of health problems, including mental health problems like ADHD. If you suffer from ADHD, try the following suggestions to use enzymes to alleviate your symptoms.

  1. Write Down What You Eat

    • When determining whether enzyme supplementation would help ease your ADHD symptoms, it's important to first analyze your current nutritional habits because enzymes are best consumed from food sources. Write down what you eat for at least a week to determine what kind of enzymes your diet is supplying you with.

    Analyze Your Diet

    • According to an article written by Dr. Stephen Barrett, "The American diet is generally enzyme-deficient because most of the food we consume has been cooked or processed." So the best food sources of enzymes are uncooked, non-processed foods such as fruits and vegetables. The most enzyme-rich food choices are sprouted seeds, grains and legumes. Check what you ate the past week (what you've been writing down) to see how many foods that you consume contain natural enzymes. Check the "Super enzyme food list" in the Resources section of this article.

    Alter Your Diet

    • If you found after analyzing your diet that you aren't consuming many enzyme-rich foods, try to change it up. Attempt to incorporate more foods from the "Super enzyme food list" into your daily consumption. This could very well help alleviate symptoms of ADHD on its own because, according to an article on ADHD and enzymes, "Studies show a significant improvement (in ADHD) when certain food additives or environmental chemicals are avoided ... around 50-80% of participants showed improvement." Since foods with additives do not contain many enzymes, by replacing processed foods with enzyme-rich foods, you may help calm your ADHD symptoms naturally.

    Take a Supplement

    • If you've tried altering your diet, or if your diet contains plenty of enzyme-rich foods and you're still suffering from intense ADHD symptoms, you may be naturally enzyme-deficient. Fortunately, if you fit into this category, you can take an enzyme supplement. According to the article, "ADHD - Attention Deficit Conditions and Enzymes," a number of individuals see improvement when taking a broad-spectrum enzyme product, or those targeting various compounds (like Peptizyde for dairy and grains, lactase for milk sugar or amylases for carbohydrate foods)." Enzyme supplements can be found at most health food stores or can be ordered online.

ADHD - Related Articles