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Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
ADHD is not one condition.
Chapter 2: How do zinc and copper deficiencies affect ADHD?
We'd lump everyone together and say, oh, they've got ADHD, like it's one big amorphous blob, and it isn't. You've got different people, different types of symptoms, and under every symptom, you've got different underlying drivers. We just need to find out what they are.
Chapter 3: What specific foods can help with ADHD-related deficiencies?
Sarah Worley is an Oxford-educated psychologist who discusses evidence-based strategies for managing ADHD.
Chapter 4: What does living with ADHD really feel like?
By examining the scientific literature, she suggests three ways to supercharge an ADHD brain. The Mori reflex.
Chapter 5: What methods can help regulate an ADHD brain?
It's The little baby's survival reflex, any change to a newborn's environment, they throw out their arms and legs and they inhale and they go, and then they cry and they cling on.
Chapter 6: How does the Moro reflex impact ADHD symptoms?
By about three or four months of age, that reflex shouldn't be there anymore. If it gets stuck, it basically means you are locked in that panicky morrow mode for the rest of your life.
What does actually help a brain in a moment of dysregulation? So the moment that it's happening... Can I have just a second of your time? If this podcast has helped you understand your brain or made you feel less alone, can you do me one favor? Can you hit the follow button? And I'll repay the favor by continuing to book the best and most exclusive conversations on this topic.
Please enjoy the episode and always remember, you're not broken, just different, and you have always been enough. I've heard you in the past talk about copper and zinc. And when I heard you say those two, I thought they're not typically two words you would associate with ADHD, but they seem to be really emerging in this conversation. Why are they both emerging now?
Yeah, it's interesting because zinc and copper, I mean, they're nothing new as far as the brain's concerned. Okay, so they've both been there.
Chapter 7: What are the emotional consequences of masking in ADHD?
They're both really important for both synthesis of chemical messengers in the brain and the regulation. So we've always known that. I think what's put it on the map is the work of William Walsh. He's a biochemist living in Chicago, and he runs something called the Walsh Institute. And what he talks about is the balance between the two.
He talks about the ratio between the two and how that can have an impact. Again, for a subset of people with ADHD, that ratio can be what's messing up their biochemistry. And I think it's important to say when we talk about the Walsh Institute, so what he's done basically over the past, 35, 40 years, he's amassed one of the biggest databases anywhere in the world.
So he's analysed loads and loads of biochemistry from people not just with ADHD, ADHD, mental health problems, behavioural issues, and he's analysed it to identify what he calls the main offenders, the repeat offenders. And there seem to be certain biochemical
Chapter 8: What dietary tips can support ADHD during menopause?
imbalances that appear again and again in these things. But his work is based on the database analysis that he's done and also on decades of clinical experience. But what there isn't are the big RCT trials on his work to further corroborate it.
So... If someone works on perhaps the deficiencies in their zinc and copper levels, what traits that we associate with ADHD might see an improvement?
So again, I keep saying it's about the individual, which is a terrible answer to give, but it's true. It is about the individual. Let me explain a little bit about the relationship between the two things. So copper is a really important cofactor in the enzyme that takes your dopamine, which is the thing you need to focus and concentrate, and it turns it into noradrenaline, okay?
So if you up the free copper level in your body, Walsh's theory is that that means you're going to have less dopamine and you're going to probably have more, and most importantly, dysregulated noradrenaline levels. So that's where copper comes into the picture. Now, zinc is a kind of a mitigating force against that because the more zinc you've got, zinc helps you excrete copper, okay?
So zinc is also important in the production of neurotransmitters. But if, therefore, you've got too little zinc and you've got too much copper, Walsh's theory is that's where the dysregulation is coming from. Not for everyone, but for a big subset of people with ADHD.
Is there any particular foods that could help with that deficiency with copper and zinc?
Yes. Well, as I said, it's not everyone that's deficient. And by the way, we're saying too much copper and not enough zinc, weirdly. So sometimes the problem comes from not being able to excrete enough of something. And then with zinc, it might be that you've got a lovely diet, but you can't absorb enough of it. But yeah, in terms of basic sort of dietary advice I'd give to anyone. with ADHD.
I would say protein, really important, because protein breaks down into amino acids, and those are the building blocks you need to make neurotransmitters, so you need protein. I would say have iron-rich foods and zinc-rich foods. iron-rich because iron is a co-factor in the production of dopamine. So we want to up our dopamine.
So make sure you've got, you know, whether it's red meat or pulses, seeds, you know, that sort of thing. Leafy green vegetables, zinc, you're going to be looking at things like shellfish. That's where you're going to look at your seeds and things. Avoiding those, you know, highly processed foods, of course.
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