I have been finding odd and ends everywhere concerning research with ADD/ADHD tendencies and various thoughts along those lines.  I'm not sure how much is fleshed out true and what is speculation yet, but it is all very interesting to read, and really, so much of it makes perfect sense from a practical, common sense stand point.  And it's nothing new...it's common sense stuff that has been spoken for years by folks living a more basic life, without the world's packaged stuff filtering in on them daily.

Diet, diet and more diet.  Exercise and activity.  Lighting.  Just so many things -- things we don't often even give a second thought in our day to day lives -- and over time what affects they have on our bodies.

We have moved so far from how we were created, that's for sure.  This ain't no Garden of Eden we're living in.  Everything has an affect on our systems, mostly for bad, very seldom for good, especially in the long term.  Cloistered in our homes, living under tainted air and lighting, drinking tainted treated waters, filling ourselves with processed, heat-treated, preservative-filled foods with a shelf life of mega-years (you know a Twinkie can last for over 100 years if unopened and still be as fresh as the day it was made????  What does that tell you about the garbage in it???  YUCK!).  The Garden of Eden lifestyle is as far removed from our lives as the planet Pluto!  And most folks don't know it...or they do and simply don't care.  They have excuses like it's too hard to cook from scratch...it's too time consuming...why would you want to have a garden these days when you can get canned food so cheaply at the store....
The excuses go on and on...amid the myriad of doctor appointments and the piles of medicines taken daily for the ailments that might have been avoided, or could be helped by simply changing back to a more back-to-basics lifestyle 

::According to Dr. William Campbell Douglass (Second Opinion March 2001), the brain is made mostly of fat. The myelin sheath that insulates every nerve fiber is made of fat. One fatty acid in particular is abundant in human breast milk, deficient in infant formulas, and the lack of it is directly related to ADD and ADHD.  This important fatty acid is called docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), and it is an omega-3 fatty acid. The essential fatty acids, also called Vitamin F or omega 3 fatty acids, are probably the most significant dietary deficiency today...

::Parents and doctors alike now believe that diet and nutrition can play a key role in managing ADD, ADHD and learning disabilities. According to Dr. Gerald Olarsch, N.D., learning disabilities are definitely linked to the fundamental lack of minerals in the body. Dr. Olarsch says this condition commonly appears as an desire for salty and sugary foods. "Unfortunately for us, our body temporarily translates sugar and salt consumption as a fulfillment of the craving for nutritional minerals."

Using iron deficiency as an example he says, "Low iron levels were found to impair judgment, reasoning ability and all aspects of left brain activity, including scientific, mathematical, spoken and written language skills." Iron is only one of the many nutrient deficiencies impacting the health of individuals. Clinically low levels of magnesium in the blood plasma are also associated with conditions of hyper-excitability and inattention in children. It has been estimated that up to 90 percent of children are magnesium deficient.

The behavior problems associated with ADHD have also been linked to a zinc deficiency. A Florida pediatrician claims notable success in treating children with ADHD with liquid supplements of electrolyte trace minerals and additional zinc.

::A fourth reason for mineral deficiency in humans is overuse of prescription drugs. It has been known since the 1950s that antibiotics interfere with uptake of minerals, specifically zinc, chromium, and calcium. (The Plague Makers) Tylenol, Advil, Motrin, and aspirin have the same inhibitive effect on mineral absorption. Moreover, when the body has to try and metabolize these drugs to clear the system, its own mineral stores are heavily drawn upon. Such a waste of energy is used to metabolize laxatives, diuretics, chemotherapy drugs, and NSAIDs, such as Tylenol, Advil, and aspirin out of the body. This is one of the most basic mechanisms in drug-induced immunosuppression: minerals are essential for normal immune function. - Dr. Tim O'Shea

::"Many pesticides contain nerve agents that kill insects by disrupting the nervous system. These agents also affect humans and can cause permanent neurological damage to a child whose nervous system is still developing." - Dr. David Williams

::Poisoning the Well: Neurotoxic Metals, Water Treatment, and Human Behavior
by Roger D. Masters

Summary: Heavy metals compromise normal brain development and neurotransmitter function, leading to long-term deficits in learning and social behavior. At the individual level, earlier studies revealed that hyperactive children and criminal offenders have significantly elevated levels of lead, manganese, or cadmium compared to controls; high blood lead at age seven predicts juvenile delinquency and adult crime. At the environmental level, our research has found that environmental factors associated with toxicity are correlated with higher rates of anti-social behavior. For the period 1977 to 1997, levels of violent crime and teenage homicide were significantly correlated with the probability of prenatal and infant exposure to leaded gasoline years earlier. Across all U.S. counties for both 1985 and 1991, industrial releases of heavy metals were -- controlling for over 20 socio-economic and demographic factors -- also a risk-factor for higher rates of crime. Surveys of children's blood lead in Massachusetts, New York, and other states as well as NHANES III and an NIJ study of 24 cities point to another environmental factor: where silicofluorides are used as water treatment agents, risk-ratios for blood lead over 10µg/dL are from 1.25 to 2.5, with significant interactions between the silicofluorides and other factors associated with lead uptake. Communities using silicofluorides also report higher rates of learning disabilities, ADHD, violent crime, and criminals who were using cocaine at the time of arrest.

Research conducted with Myron J. Coplan (Intellequity, Natick, MA) and Brian Hone under grants from the Office of Criminal Enforcement, Forensics and Training, Environmental Protection Agency, the Earhart Foundation, and the Rockefeller Center for the Social Sciences, Dartmouth College. Read more.

::Mycotoxins are toxic chemicals produced by fungus. The top ten foods contaminated with mycotoxins are: alcoholic beverages, corn, wheat, barley, sugar, sorghum, peanuts, rye, cottonseed, and hard cheeses. Mycotoxins are associated with hyperactivity.

::The cameras recording the activity of the children exposed to full-spectrum light recorded a marked decrease in hyperactivity among the children, with a definite calming effect and an increase in their attention span compared to those exposed to the "cool white," non-full-spectrum lights. In particular, several extremely hyperactive children with "confirmed learning disabilities" calmed down completely and rapidly overcame their "learning disabilities" under the full-spectrum light.

The overall academic achievement level of those exposed to full-spectrum light was superior to those under the deficient lights, and, perhaps the most incredible finding of all, dentists found that those children exposed to full-spectrum light developed only one-third the number of cavities as those under the "cool white" fluorescent lighting.

 - Dr. William Campbell Douglass, Into the Light, page 189.

::"Children with sleep apnea will often exhibit behavioral problems during the day." - Dr. David Williams Alternatives January 2007.

Many children and adults have disturbed sleep due to obesity. Excess fatty tissue can partially block the airway, disturbing sleep and causing oxygen deprivation to the brain (resulting in lower intelligence, poor memory and impaired functioning). A similar situation is caused by swollen tonsils and adenoids due to poor diet, allergies and congestion.

Dr. Williams highly recommends kefir milk. Kefir milk helps prevent allergic responses by inhibiting the production of immunoglobulin E (IgE) that triggers the release of histamine that in turn stimulates inflammation and airway constriction. Kefir milk also helps prevent a "leaky gut" that allows undigested materials to enter the blood stream. (Chem Ind 06;Oct 16 and J Sci Food Agric doi:10.1002/jsfa2469.

"Test your servants for ten days; let us be given vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then let our appearance and the appearance of the youths who eat the king's rich food be observed by you, and according to what you see deal with your servants." So he hearkened to them in this matter, and tested them for ten days. At the end of ten days it was seen that they were better in appearance and fatter in flesh than all the youths who ate the king's rich food. So the steward took away their rich food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables.  - Daniel 1: 12 - 16.