Charity announces the first Smart Kids Conference on April 24th
The charity, Food for the Brain, is hosting the first Smart Kids Conference. Taking place on 24th April 2025, the theme of the conference is ‘Neurodivergence – don’t just normalise it. Optimise it.’
Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) and other neurodevelopmental disorders, all classifying children as ‘neurodivergent’, have rocketed in both the UK and USA.
In the UK one in seven children are classified as neurodivergent and one in seven are in need of special education . In the US one in 36 are classified as autistic – a fourfold increase in 20 years. In the UK one in 62 are classified as autistic and numbers have increased 8-fold in 20 years. This cannot all be explained away by genetics or better diagnosis.
On April 24th a multi-disciplinary team of global experts is coming together for a virtual conference in London to explore what optimum nutrition and lifestyle is needed for smart, happy, healthy children and teens and what is driving this escalation of cognitive and behavioural problems.
The conference starts at the beginning – in pregnancy. Professor Michelle Murphy from the Universitat Rovira i Virgili in Spain, has found that low levels of B vitamins, measured with a homocysteine blood test around the time of conception, strongly predicts neurodivergent problems in their children at 4 months and again at 6 years of age, including an increased risk of autism, with children more likely to suffer from anxiety, depression, social problems and aggressive behaviour. Folate is one of these vital B vitamins and nine in ten obese women in the EU fail to achieve basic guidelines for folic acid supplementation to prevent neurodevelopmental problems.
At the Chelsea and Westminster campus of Imperial College London, Professor Michael Crawford’s team at the Institute of Brain Chemistry and Human Nutrition, has identified which mothers are likely to have neurodevelopmentally impaired infants based on their blood level of fats, with omega-3 DHA, found in oily fish, being a critical brain-building nutrient. Professor Crawford will be sharing his findings at the conference and talking on the important of marine food in the maternal diet.
Director of New Zealand’s Mental Health and Nutrition Research Lab at the University of Canterbury, Professor Julia Rucklidge will be presenting evidence for the essential role of multivitamins and minerals during pregnancy and their effects on children’s mental health.
This kind of research is also helping to identify what the optimal intake of nutrients is to optimise children’s potential. Dr Alex Richardson from Oxford University is presenting her evidence for helping children with ADHD type symptoms, and paediatric endocrinologist Professor Robert Lustig from the University of California San Francisco is sharing his pioneering research showing the dangers of high fructose diets. “Teenagers with blood sugar problems are showing early signs of the same kind of cognitive decline and shrinkage of the hippocampus that are seen in Alzheimer’s.” The youngest non-genetic Alzheimer’s diagnosis is age 19.
Two clinicians, assistant professor Dr Chris D’Adamo from the University of Maryland in the US and Dr Lorene Amet from France, will be presenting cases of children diagnosed with autism who are no longer diagnosable as such, and discussing nutritional and other interventions that are helping autistic children lessen troubling symptoms. “We have over 200 cases of autistic children who have benefitted. The majority have shown significant improvements, but not all respond.” Says Dr Amet.
Dr Tommy Wood, Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Neuroscience at the University of Washington, will address the role of an active lifestyle. This is supported by a presentation on the dangers of early smartphone use by Dr Jonathan Haidt, author the New York Times best-seller The Anxious Generation.
“The changes in diet, less active lifestyles and early smart phone use has created a perfect storm for a child’s healthy brain development. These are issues we have to address urgently for the sake of our children”, says Dr Tommy Wood who heads research at the foodforthebrain.org, the charity hosting the conference.
The conference is opened by Dr Rona Tutt, OBE, Past President of the National Association of Head Teachers, an expert in special needs. “People come in assorted shapes and sizes with brains that are unique. A significant minority who are neurodivergent, need to be recognised, valued and supported, so they can maximise their strengths and overcome their challenges. We need to understand what is driving this increase in neurodivergence and how best to support and optimise a child’s potential,” she says.
The conference, which is tailored for nutritionists, doctors, teachers and health professionals, is also open to interested parents but will be followed by a public webinar to help guide parents on how to best nourish their children’s optimal development.
The conference coincides with the launch of COGNITION for Smart Kids & Teens, which offers a free online assessment to all parents and teenagers as part of a global research project to learn how to optimise children’s intellectual and emotional development.
Please visit foodforthebrain.org/smartkids to find out more.
Food for the Brain Foundation is a registered charity dedicated to brain health, with a mission to create a future where the importance of nutrition in optimising mental well-being and brain health, as a means of both prevention and treatment, is understood by all and implemented by many. The Food for the Brain Foundation aims to educate and provide important information to all throughout their lives, thereby promoting mental wellbeing and brain health through optimum nutrition. i.e. children, parents, teachers, schools, universities, the public, health professionals, workplace wellbeing teams, food service operators, caterers and the government. See foodforthebrain.org