Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41286799›Full record

Trial reportBMC psychiatry2025

Effects of kefir on symptoms, sleep, and gut microbiota in children with ADHD: a randomised controlled trial.

Kate Lawrence, Philippa Fibert, Miguel Toribio-Mateas, Alice M Gregory, Jemima Hobbs, Frits Quadt, Stephen Wright, Paul D Cotter, Shriram Patel, Kyriaki Myrissa

Registry-linked trialAbstract readRandomized Controlled Trial
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Trial report in BMC psychiatry, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT05155696 (A Randomised Controlled Trial of the Effects of a Probiotic Drink on Behaviour, Sleep and the Microbiome in Children With ADHD), which is not on this map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

NCT05155696 nacompletednot on this map

A Randomised Controlled Trial of the Effects of a Probiotic Drink on Behaviour, Sleep and the Microbiome in Children With ADHD

TypeinterventionalSponsorSt. Mary's University, TwickenhamRan2022 to 2023Enrolled81ConditionsADHDArmsExperimental: Kefir probiotic drink (supplied by Nourish), Placebo comparator
3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Review
  2. Review
  3. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

10 authors.

Kate LawrenceFaculty of Sport, Technology and Health Sciences, St Mary's University, Twickenham, London, UK. Kate.Lawrence@stmarys.ac.uk.
Philippa FibertFaculty of Sport, Technology and Health Sciences, St Mary's University, Twickenham, London, UK.
Miguel Toribio-MateasSchool of Psychology, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK.
Alice M GregoryDepartment of Psychology, Royal Holloway, University of London, London, UK.
Jemima HobbsDepartment of Psychology, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, USA.
Frits QuadtQuadt Statistics, Oostvoorne, The Netherlands.
Stephen WrightFaculty of Sport, Technology and Health Sciences, St Mary's University, Twickenham, London, UK.
Paul D CotterSeqBiome Ltd, Cork, Ireland.
Shriram PatelSeqBiome Ltd, Cork, Ireland.
Kyriaki MyrissaFaculty of Sport, Technology and Health Sciences, St Mary's University, Twickenham, London, UK.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundEvidence indicates the gut microbiome may be altered in ADHD, suggesting that targeting gut bacteria could alleviate symptoms. This study examined the effects of kefir supplementation on ADHD symptoms, sleep, attention, and gut microbiome composition in children diagnosed with ADHD.

methodsA six-week, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial was conducted in UK children aged 8-13 years with ADHD. Participants were assigned either to a daily kefir or placebo drink group. The primary outcome was ADHD symptom severity measured by the Strengths and Weaknesses of ADHD Symptoms and Normal Behaviour (SWAN) scale. Secondary outcomes included gut microbiota composition (analysed using shotgun metagenomic sequencing), gastrointestinal symptoms, sleep (actigraphy, parent/self-report), attention and impulsivity.

resultsFifty-three participants (mean age = 10.2 years, SD = 1.7) completed the study. Kefir had no significant overall effect on parent or teacher-rated ADHD symptom severity. A non-significant interaction was observed between baseline symptom severity and group for teacher-rated SWAN scores, with children in the kefir group who had the highest baseline ADHD symptoms showing lower scores at week six (M = 2.03, SE = 0.33 vs. 2.86, SE = 0.34), p = 0.088. Actigraphy revealed the kefir group spent fewer minutes awake during the down period at week six (M = 70.10, SE = 0.09) than the placebo group (M = 89.72, SE = 0.07), p = 0.04. However, the kefir group self-reported more sleep problems post-intervention (M = 39.81, SE = 0.75 vs. 37.40, SE = 0.65), p = 0.02. For Go/NoGo RT variance, a non-significant interaction (p = 0.052) between baseline and post intervention scores was found. No other significant group differences were observed. Kefir supplementation did not significantly affect gut microbiota alpha or beta diversity. However, relative abundance of several species including bifidobacterium adolescentis, B. infantis, and B. longum and Alistipes sp021204515 and A. timonensi increased significantly in the kefir group.

conclusionsKefir supplementation may support modest improvements in sleep quality, in children with ADHD. These findings contribute to our understanding of the potential role of nutrition in ADHD management and may inform clinical guidance for practitioners working with neurodivergent individuals. ETHICS: Ethical approval for the study was granted by St Mary's University Ethics Committee.

trial registrationThe trial protocol has been prospectively registered with ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT05155696. Registered on 13 December 2021.

Indexed as

Attention Deficit Disorder with HyperactivityGastrointestinal MicrobiomeKefirSleepAdolescentAttentionChildDouble-Blind MethodFemaleHumansMaleSeverity of Illness IndexActigraphyADHDAttention Deficit Hyperactivity DisorderChildrenFermented foodsGut-brain axisKefirMicrobiomeMicrobiotaNeurodevelopmental disordersProbioticsRandomised controlled trialSleep

Identifiers

PMID41286799
PMCPMC12642372

What Socratic holds

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LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
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Registered trials

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.