Rosette Gatt’s article (‘The Sunday Times of Malta, March 6) on childhood attention deficit disorder (ADD) – also known as attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) – and whether we’re experiencing an epidemic of it, is very useful for parents and teachers.

Several years ago the American Food and Drug Administration (FDA) noted that it had seen a huge increase (around 2,000 per cent, within a few decades) in prescribing levels of the pharmaceutical drugs being used to treat ADHD. Other countries then seem to have followed suit and, apparently, also in Malta.

Although the cause or causes are debatable, it has been suspected for a long time that the apparent increase in this condition might somehow, at least partly, be related to dietary changes in the second half of the 20th century. The walls of all our body cells are made up of specific types of fat. The type of fat present may influence the workings of our cells, and the types of dietary fat may determine the fat characteristics in our cell membranes, including those of the brain.

The diet may therefore have some bearing on brain function.  It has been proposed that abnormal fats in margarine (and other fats and oils used in manufactured foods) might end up in brain cell membranes, thus altering their function and expressed as ADHD or aggressive behaviour. Sugars, colourings and preservatives in manufactured foods and toxic substances produced in frying vegetable oils have also been blamed.

Supplementation with omega-3 has been known to improve symptoms of ADHD for some decades.  Our London institution does not recommend pharmaceutical drugs for ADHD, and our lead therapist for this condition is Basant Puri, the editor of the British bible of psychiatry. The Dutch ministry responsible for prisons recently reported (also on BBC World Service) that inmates’ diet supplemented by omega-3 has resulted in about a third less aggressive behaviour, quoting similar results achievable in ADHD.

Some children have poor diets, refusing to eat much besides bread, pasta, pizza and chips. It doesn’t help that some health workers may still believe that nobody needs food supplements. Omega-3 may be of fish or plant origin – omega-3 in flax seed capsules is probably the cheapest source.