ADD Defective Genes?

A recent study (and you know how you should NEVER read too much into that) suggests that there MAY be a genetic basis for attention deficit disorder.

British researchers compared the genomes of 366 white British children with ADHD to 1,000 similar children without ADD. The idea is that if there are enough consistent differences among the children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder versus those who do not have ADD, then there is a chance that those genetic differences are either the cause of ADD or are indicators of a higher probability of developing ADHD.

Remember that genetic has proven to be incredibly complicated and even the simplest things like what color your eyes are turn out to be influenced by multiple genes in various locations. These genes often interact with other genes in order to actually affect the development of a human being.

In other words, you might not be able to have blond hair without a certain gene, but just because you have it, does not mean that you will get blond hair. It may depend on whether or not you have other genes and whether or not those genes are influenced by even more genes.

That being said, researchers determined that the “normal” population of children had “deleted or doubled chromosomes” 7 percent of the time, while in the children with ADD population, they detected the same thing 14 percent of the time. Additionally, researchers determined that children with learning disabilities had the same anomaly 36 percent of the time, although it does not say how many of those kids came from which set.

Obviously, this study in now way “proves” anything, although the numbers are certainly disparate enough that scientists will be looking at this line of thinking in future research studies.

Until then, this is just another of many possibilities, although it does make at least some sense considering that the prevailing wisdom current suggests that ADHD is inherited or at least influenced by heredity. In order for that to be the case, there would eventually need to be a biological or genetic determiner.