The Role of Diet and the Gut Microbiota in Reactive Aggression and Adult ADHD—An Exploratory Analysis

Abstract

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a common neurodevelopmental condition, of-ten persistent into adulthood and accompanied by reactive aggression. Associations of diet and the gut-microbiome with ADHD as well as emotional behaviors suggest potential clinical rele-vance of both. However, studies on diet and the gut-microbiome in human reactive aggression are lacking, and should investigate the interaction between diet and the gut-microbiome leading to behavioral changes to assess their potential clinical relevance. In this study, we investigated the interaction of diet and gut-microbiota with adult ADHD and reactive aggression in 77 adults with ADHD and 76 neurotypical individuals. We studied the relationships of ADHD and reactive ag-gression with dietary patterns, bacterial community and taxonomic differences of 16S-sequenced fecal microbiome samples, and potential mediating effects of bacterial genus abundance on signifi-cant diet-behavior associations. The key findings include: (1) An association of high-energy intake with reactive aggeression scores (pFDR = 4.01 × 10−02); (2) Significant associations of several genera with either reactive aggression or ADHD diagnosis with no overlap; and (3) No significant mediation effects of the selected genera on the association of reactive aggression with the high-energy diet. Our results suggest that diet and the microbiome are linked to reactive aggression and/or ADHD individually, and highlight the need to further study the way diet and the gut-microbiome inter-act.