Heya, happy Friday! For those celebrating Thanksgiving, I hope you had a peaceful and gratitude-filled one. I know holidays can be hard for some people, so if that’s your case, I hope you’re able to recover well over the weekend ☺️ I also want us to recognize that Thanksgiving in the traditional Eurocentric lens is built upon the lives of those native to the States, and there is a lot of heartbreak associated with it. If you haven’t ever looked into the true history of thanksgiving, here are two resources I’d recommend reading through:

1. Decolonizing your Thanksgiving + Embracing Indigenous Thanksgiving practices

2. Thanksgiving from the voices of Native Americans

Anyway, THE LONG WAIT IS FINALLY DONE! The ADHD nutrition hub is FINALLY LIVE! 😄 Get pumped: the Nutrimind Community - your one-stop shop for my exclusive content, community chat, and monthly lives - has arrived. EEEEEEK!

For the cost of 1-2 coffees a month, you’ll get:

• A safe space for ADHD struggles: Connect with others who understand what it's like when your throat closes up around food or when you've gone hours without eating because you forgot. No judgment, just understanding and practical support.

• Beyond surface-level content: Skip the generic 'eat healthy' advice and dive into what really matters - like how specific nutrients interact with your ADHD brain, backed by research you can trust but explained in language that makes sense.

• First access to research: Get a 5-day head start on this newsletter. No more waiting when your ADHD brain is excited and ready to learn - dive in while your motivation is hot!

Basically - it’s my entire private collection of nutrition research info, ADHD worksheets, recipes, and more: all in one convenient space where you can also connect with fellow ADHDers (oh, also me! I’ll be there moderating!). I can’t wait to get to know you more. ❤️ 

Here’s some teasers for what you’ll find:

Magnesium + B6

Alrighty. So before we really get into the study, I want to make one thing clear since I’ve been getting a lot of questions on TikTok on what magnesium supplements I recommend: y’all - it is not ethical for me to recommend a person try random supplements online. This is a hill I will pretty much die on. I’m more than happy to provide you research or talk about what I personally do, but recommending any form of medication or providing personal medical advice is way beyond my scope of practice and it opens me up to liability. For example, if I were to recommend a person take magnesium glycinate, they take it, and then they experience magnesium toxicity or an adverse reaction, that's on me.

That being said, any research I provide can be helpful to bring to your physician to discuss supplementation more! While I will always preach food-first interventions, I completely understand that it’s not always possible (especially for all of us ADHDers). Again, though, that’s where getting direction from a physician is important regarding supplementation and a dietitian regarding improving your intake! That being said,

ADHDers tend to be magnesium deficient

When we think about magnesium, there’s two main ways of measuring it: serum magnesium and intraerythrocyte (ERC) magnesium. Typically we run serum magnesium tests, but honestly it doesn’t measure magnesium deficiency well. In fact, many people with a magnesium deficiency may not know it since their blood test came back normal.

Magnesium is one nutrient estimated that most people in the States are deficient in - and that makes sense since the average American diet is extremely lacking in magnesium-rich foods (i.e. plants). This estimation rings true for people with ADHD, with ADHDers being even more likely than the general population to be deficient in magnesium. Thankfully, we see that targeted dietary intervention works quite well in improving magnesium levels. This is just one reason why I encourage dietary interventions: it’s often cheaper, and you need to consume less mg than you’d need to with supplementation (which means you’re at no risk for magnesium toxicity).

Another reason why dietary magnesium is superior to supplementation in the majority of cases is that when consumed, the body is able to utilize the magnesium in the exact way it needs. For example, if the body needs magnesium glycinate, it would simply bind to glycine! When we provide it with the nutrients it desires, the body is incredible.

Why magnesium with B6?

Magnesium and B6 work together synergystically. B6 facilitates the cellular uptake of magnesium (essentially meaning that it makes the magnesium more available and effective), and magnesium in turn also enhances the utilization and absorption of B6 in the body.

Basically, they’re a power couple.

So does magnesium+B6 combo help ADHD? . . . Potentially! Here’s one study breakdown. The theory behind this is that people with ADHD may have deficits in the intercellular distribution of magnesium. Unfortunately, we’re not positive yet on if this is due to actual metabolism differences between those with ADHD and without or if people with ADHD simply don’t eat enough magnesium and B6 rich foods. The most likely answer is the former, since people with ADHD tend to have many difficulties with eating a balanced and magnesium/B6 rich diet. Again - another reason to focus on diet with ADHD!

This all being said, the big unfortunate drawback of these studies is that there wasn’t a placebo. Even so, there is some good preliminary evidence that a compound supplement could aid in ADHD symptom management. This would again be something to discuss with your physician!

Even so, supplements continue to be less effective in the majority of cases compared to dietary interventions.

Based on countless research studies, dietary intervention is superior to supplementation. It’s not as exciting, but it’s definitely both safer and more effective in the majority of cases. This is where focusing on increasing your plant diversity is incredibly important! Some good sources of magnesium are pumpkin seeds, quinoa, and spinach. Some good sources of B6 are chickpeas, salmon, and potatoes.

Thanks for reading!

If you have any thoughts, questions, or comments, be sure to shoot me a DM on Instagram @Nutrimindcoach or simply reply to this email. I LOVE hearing from you!

This week didn’t have an episode of the podcast - honestly I’ve been so busy with the holiday and finishing up the research hub that I didn’t have time to edit one of the interviews! That being said, feel free to take a listen to the latest episode: How protein Impacts ADHD. (P.S. My POTS was acting up that day of recording, so if you hear me being a bit breathless, that’s why haha)

And don’t forget to sign up for the ADHD Nutrition Research Hub!! ❤️