Correlation of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder with gut microbiota according to the dietary intake of Korean elementary school students.

Abstract

We investigated the impact of dietary patterns on the gut microbiota and concentration of short-chain fatty acids in the feces of Korean elementary school students. The dietary intake and ADHD assessment of 40 Korean elementary school students were analyzed using a dish-based semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire. Analysis of gut microbiota and short-chain fatty acids composition were performed using the real-time polymerase chain reaction, metagenomics, and gas chromatography methods. The dietary patterns of participants were divided into four groups: healthy, processed food, fish and shellfish, and meat. The participants were also divided into two groups according to their ADHD scores: 0–30, control group; over 30, ADHD group. The ADHD score of the processed food group was significantly higher than that of the healthy group. The processed food and ADHD groups showed significantly higher abundance of harmful bacteria, such as the Enterobacter, Escherichia coli, and Clostridium strains, and markedly lower abundance of beneficial bacteria, such as the Bifidobacterium and Ruminococcus strains, than the control group. The heat maps of metagenomics indicated that each group was separated into distinct clusters, and the processed food and ADHD groups showed significantly lower α-diversity of gut microbiota than the control group. In these groups, the concentration of acetate or butyrate in the feces was significantly lower than that in the control group. These results may indicate that imbalanced diets can disturb the colonic microbial balance and are likely to become a potential risk factor for the prevalence of ADHD.