NEW YORK — Polluted food and air may help explain why more than 11 percent of U.S. school-age children have diagnoses of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, a rate markedly higher than a decade ago.
A study, published in PLOS One and conducted Columbia University’s Center for Children’s Environmental Health researchers, of 233 nonsmoking pregnant women found that children exposed to high levels of air pollution during pregnancy were five times as likely as others to have ADHD by age 9. Of the 33 with high levels of exposure to the common pollutant polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons as measured by maternal blood, 13 were diagnosed with the hyperactive-impulsive subtype of ADHD, seven the inattentive subtype and 13 both.
“During the fetal period and early childhood years, the brain is rapidly developing and vulnerable to neurotoxic insults that may manifest as adverse outcomes in childhood and adulthood,” researchers wrote.
