Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a brain condition with symptoms of difficulty concentrating, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. There’s evidence that magnesium supplements can help manage ADHD symptoms, but more research is needed.
Magnesium supports brain cell health and synapse formation, impacting signals and brain activity. It may help with ADHD symptoms by affecting neurotransmitters.
1. Behavior and Emotions
In a 2021 study, 66 children with ADHD took magnesium and vitamin D or a placebo. After eight weeks, those on supplements had fewer challenges, including emotional impact, peer difficulties, and internalizing symptoms..
2. Cognitive (Mental) Function
According to a 2016 study, children with ADHD ages 5-12 who took magnesium supplements had less inattention and hyperactivity, as well as better impulse control. However, more research is needed to fully determine how magnesium affects cognition.
3. Neurotransmitter Activity
Magnesium may affect several brain chemicals, including:
- Dopamine: This is associated with reward and pleasure, motivation, attention, focus, learning, and memory. A low number of dopamine receptors in the brain may be at the root of ADHD. Magnesium helps make and release dopamine.
- Serotonin: This helps with learning, memory, stress responses, and mood regulation, which ADHD can impact. Magnesium is also essential for making and releasing serotonin.
- Norepinephrine: This regulates your body’s fight or flight response, mood, attention, focus, learning, and memory. By acting on calcium channels in the brain, magnesium also slows down the activity of norepinephrine.
- Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA): This affects learning, memory, attention, focus, and emotional regulation. Magnesium can increase GABA receptor activity.
Magnesium for Adults With ADHD
For adults with ADHD, there’s also significant but limited evidence that magnesium can help with symptoms.
In a 2021 study in adults with moderate cases of ADHD, taking magnesium supplements improved scores on tests measuring ADHD severity after 12 weeks for nearly half of the participants.
The exact relationship between magnesium and ADHD is unclear. Tests may not show magnesium levels in the brain, and studies have mixed results. More research is needed.
Magnesium may be able to improve the following ADHD symptoms:
- Inattention: This refers to challenges in concentrating and staying focused. Compared to children taking a placebo, researchers found children taking magnesium to be better able to organize and complete tasks, listen when spoken to, and follow instructions.
- Hyperactivity: This is excessive, uncontrollable energy such as fidgeting, foot or hand tapping, and an inability to stay seated or calm. Supplementing with magnesium eased these symptoms.
- Impulsivity: Often occurring with hyperactivity, impulsivity is the ability to control your behavior. With ADHD, you have a harder time with impulsivity, resulting in interrupting others or talking at inappropriate times. Just as magnesium may help with hyperactivity symptoms, supplements may decrease impulsive behaviors too.
- Cognitive challenges: Magnesium supplements have been shown to improve executive cognitive function—how well you think, plan, and remember—among adults with ADHD. However, more research is needed to explore this relationship.
- Mental health: Children with ADHD often have trouble regulating their emotions, such as low self-esteem or feeling “different” from others. This can lead to rapid mood swings, difficulty controlling emotions, aggressiveness, and outbursts. Magnesium supplementation can be effective in decreasing these symptoms.
- Behavioral problems: Many children with ADHD may have conduct or behavioral challenges, such as issues working with others, following instructions, or accepting authority. Regular supplementation with magnesium may decrease these problems.
The body absorbs 24-76% of the magnesium you consume, but there can be side effects when doses are too high. How much is safe to take per day depends on your age and sex at birth.
- The current safe limits are:
| Age 0-6 months | No more than 30 mg a day should be given to newborns and infants up to six months old. |
| Age 1-3 | 80 mg is the recommended daily limit. |
| Age 4-8 | 130 mg per day is the recommended upper limit for children in this age range. |
| Age 9-13 | Should take no more than 240 mg daily. |
| Age 14-18 | In adolescence, 410 mg for adults born male at birth (AMAB) and 360 mg for adults born female at birth (AFAB) are the safe upper limits. |
| Adults (18+) | In AMAB adults, 400 mg/day for ages 19-30, and 420 mg/day for ages 31 and older. In AFAB adults, 310 mg/day for ages 19-30 and 320 mg/day for ages 31 and older. |
While taking magnesium supplements for ADHD is relatively safe, there can be a few risks.
It’s possible to take too much magnesium. An overdose of magnesium (hypermagnesemia) can cause:
- Diarrhea
- Nausea
- Abdominal pain
Severe cases of magnesium overdose can cause breathing difficulties, irregular heartbeat, and cardiac arrest.
Given these risks, it’s important to be careful and to communicate with a doctor. Talk to them before starting any new supplements.
Most people in the United States do not get enough magnesium from their diet, which is why they may turn to supplements instead. However, it’s present in many different foods.
Foods rich in magnesium include:
- Leafy green vegetables like spinach and kale
- Nuts, especially almonds, cashews, or Brazil nuts
- Legumes, such as chickpeas, beans, lentils, seeds, and soybeans
- Fruit, such as bananas, dried apricots, or avocados
- Soy products, such as tofu or soy flour
- Whole grains like millet or brown rice
- Milk or dairy products
Well-balanced, nutritious diets help with ADHD symptoms. This includes fresh fruit and vegetables, lean proteins, omega-3 fatty acids (found in fish, walnuts, and Brazil nuts), and complex carbohydrates (kiwis, tangerines, apples, and others).
Avoid sugary foods or drinks, caffeine, processed foods, and simple carbohydrates (white bread, corn syrup, and white rice).
