{
  "id": 889527,
  "title": "Could a simple supplement combo help adolescents with ADHD stay on task?",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/14/could-a-simple-supplement-combo-help-adolescents-with-adhd-stay-on",
  "topic": "health",
  "section": "Health & Medicine",
  "published": "2026-08-14T16:00:50.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "PsyPost",
    "slug": "psypost",
    "url": "https://www.psypost.org/could-a-simple-supplement-combo-help-adolescents-with-adhd-stay-on-task/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "A recent study published in Nutritional Neuroscience explored the potential benefits of combining L-theanine and caffeine for adolescents with ADHD. The researchers discovered that a single dose of this supplement combination improved selective attention in the participants. Selective attention is the cognitive process of focusing on relevant information while ignoring distractions, a particular challenge for individuals with ADHD.\n\nThe study involved 21 adolescents aged 10 to 19 who were already taking methylphenidate, the most common medication prescribed for ADHD. The participants were randomly assigned to receive one of three treatments: a combination of L-theanine and caffeine, a placebo, or their regular methylphenidate dose. The treatments were administered in a double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover design, ensuring that neither the participants nor the researchers knew which treatment they received on a given day.\n\nThe participants completed a 12-minute visual attention task on a computer, during which they were required to quickly press a button when they saw a downward-pointing triangle among a series of upward-pointing triangles. This task measures selective attention, as participants needed to focus on the target stimulus while ignoring the majority of irrelevant stimuli. Brain activity was also monitored using electroencephalography (EEG) to measure P3b amplitude and latency, which are indicators of neural resource allocation and stimulus evaluation speed in response to the task.\n\nThe researchers found that the L-theanine-caffeine combination led to improvements in selective attention compared to both the placebo and the participants' regular methylphenidate dose. The findings suggest that this combination may offer a safe and effective supplementary approach to managing ADHD symptoms alongside standard treatments.",
  "summary": "A single dose of caffeine and L-theanine may help teens with ADHD ignore distractions. Recent brainwave data indicates this nutritional combination enhances the brain's ability to process visual information and prevents attention from fading over time.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}