Michigan State University (MSU) psychology Professor Joel
Nigg and his team of researchers will see their ADHD research efforts published
in the Feb. 15 issue of the national publication, Biological Psychiatry.
The new research shows that very low levels of lead in blood can contribute to attention deficit hyperactively disorder (ADHD) in
children. Nigg and his researchers studied 150 kids in the Lansing area. some with ADHD and some without.
They discovered that the kids with ADHD had higher levels of lead in their
blood.
The researchers concluded that exposure to lead, which
may have come from lead dust in old houses and schools, increases a child’s
risk to having ADHD because it can interfere with stages of brain growth.
Niggs says tightening lead regulations could help reduce
exposure to lead.
“We’ve got to re-examine the rules by which we release
new materials into children’s environments, the way other countries like Canada and Sweden have begun to do,” Nigg
says.
Source: Joel Nigg, Michigan State
University
Ivy Hughes, development news editor, can be reached here.
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