SerialStateLineXer t1_j6cnwjw wrote on January 29, 2023 at 11:39 AM

Reply to comment by Beginning_Cat_4972 in What makes it difficult to determine whether nutrient deficiencies are implicated in mental-health issues like ADHD? by LinguisticsTurtle

>You're probably not going to get IRB approval for raising kids on any vitamin deficit.

You can't do that, but can't you select a group of children and give some of them supplements? If some of the kids in the control group don't get enough of certain nutrients...well, that was going to happen anyway.

ilovemybrownies t1_j6d76m0 wrote on January 29, 2023 at 2:50 PM

It wouldn't be as airtight of an experiment to show causality, especially since again no evidence points to vitamin deficits being a direct mechanism. You'd probably have to track prenatal health, and you'd have to measure known genetic ADHD markers to account for ADHD being highly genetic when running statistical analyses.

But good luck getting the cash to fund it if there isn't already compelling evidence that vitamin deficit is directly linked to ADHD. Investors usually don't like "taking risks for the sake of exploration" unfortunately