Rhodiola for ADHD

Rhodiola for Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD, ADHD-I, ADHD-PI)

Rhodiola is occasionally recommended for the treatment of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder or ADHD.  This herb is also known as Golden Root and Siberian Ginseng though it is not in the Ginseng family at all.   This post discusses the use of  Rhodiola for Sluggish Cognitive Tempo but it does not address the issue of whether Rhodiola can be used for ADHD.

Rhodiola, like Ginseng is an adaptogen. You will remember that adaptogens help our bodies cope and recover from stress. In China and Russia this herb is used to counter the effects of fatigue and to help athletes recover from extreme physical activities. It is also frequently used to help people who work long shifts without sleep such as soldiers and physicians deal with sleep deprivation and to help the ill recover from illness.

It is Rhodiola's anti-fatigue effects that make it especially useful for people with Sluggish Cognitive Tempo but recent studies have found Rhodiola to be very helpful for not only fatigue but also for depression, anxiety and memory.

Rhodiola, in research studies, has been found to act on an area of the brain knows as the hypo-pituitary axis or the HPA to regulate stress hormone levels and to improve the symptoms of anxiety and depression and it has also been found in studies to regulate neurotransmitter levels which is why it might prove helpful in improving the symptoms of ADHD-PI.

A review article published in the Journal Phytomedicine last year reported that Rhodiola had been found in studies to help anxiety, depression, fatigue, stress and cognition and that it did so through various brain enhancing mechanisms. I have included the abstract below.

The specific benefits that can be had from the use of Rhodiola in people with ADHD have not been studied. Like the Indian herbs Bacaopa Monieri, Ashwagandha and Shankhapushpi (Evolvulus alsinoides), Rhodiola has been used to treat ADHD symptoms in other countries but studies that establish the dose and benefits of these herbs have not been performed by doctors or scientist in the U.S.

As with all herbs and supplements, these products should not be taken if you are pregant or nursing and should only be used under the supervision of a licensed physician. Andrew Weil, MD, the well known Harvard trained physician and herbal specialist reports on his website that, "Studies of its medicinal applications have appeared in the scientific literature of Sweden, Norway, France, Germany, the Soviet Union and Iceland. Today in Russia, rhodiola is used as a tonic and remedy for fatigue, poor attention span, and decreased memory; it is also believed to make workers more productive. In Sweden and other Scandinavian countries it is used to increase the capacity for mental work and as a general strengthener."

The bottom line is that Rhodiola may prove useful for the treatment of  ADHD but no studies have confirmed this.  The usual dose of Rhodiola is between 100mg and 200mg per day. The active ingredients are Salidroside and Rosavin and herb specialist report that unless the herb has 1% salidroside it is not worth taking.


Phytomedicine. 2010 Jun;17(7):481-93. Epub 2010 Apr 7.
Rosenroot (Rhodiola rosea): traditional use, chemical composition, pharmacology and clinical efficacy.
Panossian A, Wikman G, Sarris J.

Ginseng may help ADHD

Ginseng may help ADHD

I would now like to write about some of the ADHD vitamins and supplements that may help ADHD.

Ginseng may help ADHD.  Ginseng is a supplement that has long been used in Asia to treat everything from viruses to impotence. It has been studied extensively in the U.S. and is Asia. Ginseng’s active ingredients work together to provide many brain benefits but this supplement has, to date, mostly been used by medical experts as an adaptogen. An adaptogen is a substance that helps the body adapt to stress and keeps the body from becoming ill in the face of stressors.

The benefits that can be derived from taking Ginseng may be far greater than what it is most currently used for and I will outline why some researchers believe that Ginseng may be helpful for the treatment of ADHD and for the learning problems that frequently co-occur in people with the symptoms of ADHD.

Studies on Ginseng have found benefits from taking this substance in many areas of the brain. Ginseng has been found in several studies to improve memory, learning and sleep. Studies in the elderly have found that Ginseng protects the aging brain by decreasing the inflammatory processes and cell death that inevitably occurs with aging.

Few studies have been performed looking at the benefits of Ginseng for the treatment of ADHD but there is good reason to believe that Ginseng might help treat ADHD. The most compelling reason to find Ginseng potentially helpful is the fact that Ginseng, in animal studies, has been found to improve the functioning of brain neurotransmitters such as dopamine and norepinephrine.

Most researchers believe that the stimulants used to treat ADHD work by improving neurotransmitter function and for this reason it is possible that Ginseng may provide benefits as well. Ginseng has also been shown to improve the functioning of a substance called brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). Some researchers believe that genetic difference seen in people with ADHD cause them to have faulty neurotransmitter and BDNF functioning.

Ginseng has been found to regulate and improve the way the brain utilizes and metabolizes glucose. Some researchers believe that the brains of people with ADHD improperly metabolize glucose and that this leads to problems in the areas of the brain that cause most ADHD problems. Ginseng may help ADHD by assuring that the glucose needed to energize certain ADHD brain problem areas is available.

The learning and memory problems frequently seen in people with ADHD, especially people with the Inattentive type of ADHD is thought, by some researchers, to be the result of the failure of proper cell communication and proper cell development in the ADHD brain. Ginseng has been found in studies to improve the way that brain cells communicate with each other which, in turn, is thought to help memory and learning.

Problems with ADHD often improve with age and this is thought to be the result of brain cell development. Ginseng, is some studies, has been found to help nerve growth and brain cell growth, especially early in life. These benefits to cell development may also be the reason why Ginseng has been found to help with memory and learning and is one more reason why Ginseng may be useful for the treatment of ADHD.

Several studies have found increased levels of toxins such as pesticides and heavy metals in children with ADHD. Animal studies report that Ginseng can alleviate the brain damage caused by these toxins and there is reason to believe that Ginseng, acting as an adaptogen, can remedy the brain damage caused by other environmental toxins as well.

Few studies have been performed looking at the benefits of Ginseng for ADHD but there is reason to believe that Ginseng may be useful for treating ADHD by acting on the ADHD brains as:

1. An adaptogen
2. A neurotransmitter booster
3. A brain cell communication enhancer
4. A brain glucose moderator
5. A brain development tool
6. A brain toxin remover
7. An aging brain repairer

Ginseng can be found in pills and liquid form at most health food stores. The dose of Ginseng that is typically used to treat memory and learning problems is 200mg of Ginseng twice a day.

ADHD Vitamins that do not help ADHD Symptoms

Some vitamins and supplements do not help ADHD symptoms

I would like you to not waste money on vitamins for ADHD  and supplements for ADHD that do not help the symptoms of ADHD so
before I move on to the ADHD Vitamins that perhaps are helpful for ADHD but that need more study I would like to mention some ADHD vitamins and supplements that simply do not help ADHD symptoms. This is the group of vitamins and supplements that has been studied extensively and has been found wanting

According to a survey performed by the National Institutes of Health, the drug that is used by parents and patients the most to treat the symptoms of ADHD Inattentive, Hyperactive, and Combined type is St. John's Word or hypericum. This herb has been found very useful in the treatment of depression but study after study has found it useless in the treatment of the symptoms of ADHD.

Forty percent of patients diagnosed with ADHD also have a co-diagnosis of Major Depressive Disorder, the St. John's Wort will only help your ADHD symptoms if these symptoms co-exist with depression. For the sixty percent of people with ADHD symptoms without depression, the St. John's Wort is goint to be a waste of money because it does NOTHING for ADHD symptoms.

Valerian root is used by a great deal of people with ADHD. This is an herb that works fairly well to alleviate the symptoms of anxiety. Some people report that valerian is as good as Valium for anxiety but unless you have ADHD and anxiety symptoms, about 25% percent of patients with ADHD have a co-diagnosis of anxiety disorder, you should stop taking the Valerian. Valerian has been studied extensively and has been found to NOT help the symptoms of ADHD without anxiety.

Homeopathic remedies are not ADHD vitamins but they are ADHD supplements that rarely if ever help ADHD symptoms There are many on the market that are supposed to help ADHD. Homeopathic remedies are supposed to help attention, hyperactivity and to improve cognition but repeated studies have not shown any benefits in treating the symptoms of ADHD. Some badly performed studies have been done where they first determine if a person will benefit from the homeopathic remedy and then include only those subjects in the study of homeopathic remedies and these studies have shown positive results but if you only include people in your study who say the remedy helps them before hand, you are always going to get a positive result.

Tyrosine and all the other amino acid supplements have very mixed results for ADHD. I have posted about amino acids and ADHD in a previous post but the crux of the problem is that these amino acids need to go through a very complicated process that involves a million other connections and unless everything is in place in just the correct amount and order, these amino acids will not help. Many studies have looked at the amino acids and they have mostly shown that they may help in the short term but that they do not seem to provide any lasting benefit.

There are vitamins that seem to help ADHD, vitamins that may help ADHD symptoms and vitamins that have been thoroughly studied and do not help ADHD symptoms. There are probably many other vitamins and supplements that do not help ADHD but many of those have not been included here because they have not been thoroughly studied.

Amino Acid 'Vitamins' for ADHD Vitamins vs High Protein Diet

Amino Acid Vitamins or high protein diet for ADHD?

High protein diets are high in amino acids 'vitamins' such as tyrosine which have long been used to treat ADHD. The use of amino acids vitamins for ADHD has not been sanctioned by any “official” ADHD expert or expert body by many psychiatrist and physicians prescribe tyrosine supplement to their ADHD patients to use alone of in conjunction with their prescription medicine.

 I have posted about tyrosine for ADHD in other posts but to summarize here the thinking is that because tyrosine is a precursor to dopamine and norepinephrine and because these neurotransmitters are at the root of ADHD symptoms, then tyrosine should help ADHD.

The issues surrounding the use of tyrosine for ADHD are complicated. Though tyrosine does cross the blood brain barrier, for it to be effective in alleviating ADHD symptoms, many other metabolic and biological obstacles have to be eliminated. Amino acids look similar to the brain and compete with each other for entry into the brain. If you supplement too much with tyrosine, it may be at the expense of other amino brain amino acids that are also important for the elimination of ADHD symptoms.

These obstacles are no small matter but there are still other obstacles. If tyrosine is to work, cofactors such as vitamins and minerals must be in optimal states. If tyrosine is improve dopamine and norepinephrine levels (norepinephrine may be the main problems in ADHD Inattentive, ADHD-I), specific enzymes most be in optimal states. This means that for tyrosine to work, other vitamins and minerals must be given with it.

Studies have not shown tyrosine to consistently improve ADHD symptoms and some researchers believe that tyrosine does not work for ADHD and at best will do nothing and worse can be harmful. Studies have reported that if cofactors such as vitamins, minerals and enzymes are sub-optimal than tyrosine will not work. Other researchers report that since tyrosine does not address the issues of dopamine and norepinephrine transport within the brain, even if tyrosine improves dopamine levels that no improvement in symptoms will be seen. Other researchers report that too much tyrosine is dangerous and can lead to a build up of a product called homocysteine. Having high homocysteine levels is a medically terrible thing because elevated levels of this particular amino acid can cause strokes, heart attacks, and cancer.

So can high protein diets help brain function in ADHD or ADHD PI? Nutritionist have long suggested that the best way to get an adequate amount of vitamins, minerals and amino acids is by eating a diet that is rich in vitamins, minerals and amino acids. Diet sources of these key elements are more bio-available, are better absorbed by our bodies and often contain the cofactors that are necessary for our body to best use them. So if this is the case than high protein diets might help cognition and brain function because our brains would be receiving supplemental amino acids packaged in an optimal form.

A recent study published in the May edition of the Journal of Neural Transmission has, in fact, found that high protein diets improve cognition. The researchers of this study fed healthy volunteers a 30% protein diet and fed the controls a 15% (normal) protein diet for three weeks. The researchers then tested the subjects for levels of cognition and for blood levels of harmful brain products such as platelet MaoB, a product thought to cause dementia, and homocysteine. The subjects on the high protein diets not only had better cognitive functioning, they also had protective levels of MaoB and homocysteine.

It appears that diet may improve ADHD symptoms, it is better to eat a high protein diet than it is to supplement with tyrosine. The processes and pathways required for ADHD to work are complicated and dietary amino acids are more bioavailable. I still believe that acetyl L-carnitine, also an amino acids, is helpful for ADHD Inattentive, but the pathways of this amino acid are somewhat different than the brain pathways of tyrosine.


A proteomics study reveals a predominant change in MaoB expression in
 platelets of healthy volunteers after high protein meat diet:
relationship to the methylation cycle.
Zellner M, Babeluk R, Jakobsen LH, Gerner C, Umlauf E, Volf I, Roth E,
Kondrup J. Journal of Neural Transmission. 2011 May