Casting for the Cure

Food may not be the major cause of hyperactivity in children. Genetics, brain function and parental actions such as smoking may be just as important.

A review of scientific evidence found only a minority of children were actually affected by what they eat. A combination of food, genetics and environmental toxins are more likely to be involved, with no single factor to blame.

Foods which might affect behaviour, in particular table sugar were studied. No adverse effects were seen in children who had a sugary drink versus a drink with artificial sweetener. Parents often believe their children’s diet is making them hyperactive and think changes in the food provided is the answer to the problem. However changing your child’s diet is not likely to settle their over active behaviour.

ADHD (attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder) has a strong genetic link, with half the children born of parents with diagnosed ADHD likely to develop the disorder themselves. Chemical imbalances in the brain are also involved and studies have found that children with the condition have on average 4% smaller brains. Genes may interact with environmental toxins such as alcohol in the womb, lead, and parental smoking to cause later problems with attention span.

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Video games that energize players and induce a positive mood could also enhance creativity, according to media researchers. However, the study also finds that players who were not highly energized and had a negative mood, registered the highest creativity.

“You need defocused attention for being creative,” said S. Shyam Sundar, professor of film, video and media studies at Penn State. “When you have low arousal and are negative, you tend to focus on detail and become more analytical.”

Sundar and Elizabeth Hutton, a Penn State graduate student, are trying to understand the value of video games as a vehicle for sparking positive social traits, such as creativity. Fun and games aside, video games are viewed as a serious communication technology. Schools, corporations and even the government are increasingly employing it as a tool in enhancing learning and decision-making.

“Video games are not just for entertainment alone,” says Sundar. “We are trying to figure out how they can aid in education as well.”

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High levels of low-density lipoproteins (LDL), the “bad” cholesterol, have long been associated with memory problems experienced by the elderly but new research on the effects of the high-density lipoproteins (HDL), shows that high levels of the “good” cholesterol in middle age are beneficial in maintaining good memory well into the twilight years and may reduce the chances of developing age-related dementia.

HDL and memory lossThe British Whitehall II study, a long-term study of the health of more than 10,000 British civil servants, isolated 3,673 study participants, of whom 26.8% were women, during phases 5 and 7 of the study, which began in 1985, to analyze the effect of HDL on memory function as the study participants reached middle age.

The presence of memory impairment in middle age is a strong indicator of dementia developing later in life. People who are 65 years and older are the fastest growing age group in the world’s industrialized countries and are at the most risk of developing dementia.

For the sake of the study, a low level of HDL was considered to be 40 mg/dL while 60 mg/dL or higher was considered high. Performance on memory tests and blood-fat content were compared from phase 5 of the study, conducted in 1995, when study participants were of the average age of 55, to the same study participants when their average age was 61, during phase 7 of the study in 2002.

The memory tests involved a participant’s ability to recall 20 short words read to them one word at a time at an interval of two seconds per word. After hearing all 20 words, consisting of only one or two syllables, the participant was given two minutes to write down as many words as he or she could remember.

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