Essential fatty acids and maladjusted behaviour in children.

It has been suggested that hyperactivity may be produced by a deficiency in essential fatty acids (EFA) leading to a deficit in prostaglandin (PG) formation. The red blood cells EFAs levels were examined in 23 maladjusted children and in 20 normal children. Although no individual EFA showed statistically significant differences between the normal and maladjusted children, multivariate analysis showed that the levels of EFA series 2 PG precursors in maladjusted children were significantly lower than in controls as predicted (P = 0.0001).