Vitamin/Mineral Supplements for Children and Adults with Autism

Vitamins and minerals are the most widely used medical treatment for autism. Many research studies have demonstrated that children and adults with autism often have nutritional and metabolic problems, including problems with methylation, glutathione, oxidative stress, sulfation, lithium, and more. This review summarizes the results of several vitamin/mineral treatment studies conducted by our group, which demonstrate that vitamin/mineral supplements are highly effective in improving many nutritional and metabolic problems, and result in significant improvements in symptoms based on a large, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study. We recommend that all children and adults with autism consider a 2-3 month trial of a vitamin/mineral supplement designed for individuals with autism that is similar to the one used in our studies. By starting at a low dose, and gradually increasing it, there is minimal risk of adverse effects, and many children and adults are likely to benefit, sometimes substantially. *Corresponding author: James B Adams, Ph.D, Director, Autism/Asperger’s Research Program, President’s Professor, Arizona State University, PO Box: 876106, Temple, AZ, USA, Tel: 480-965-3316; E-mail: [email protected] Received February 11, 2015; Accepted February 18, 2015; Published February 28, 2015 Citation: Adams JB (2015) Vitamin/Mineral Supplements for Children and Adults with Autism. Vitam Miner 3: 127. doi:10.4172/2376-1318.1000127 Copyright: © 2015 Adams JB. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Introduction Autism is a developmental disability that involves major problems in communication, social understanding/interaction, and sterotyped behaviors/restricted interests. It is usually a lifelong disorder, and very difficult to treat. Vitamin/mineral supplements are one of the most widely used treatments for autism. The definition of a “vitamin” or “essential mineral” is that the lack of that vitamin or mineral results in disease or even death. The Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) is the minimum amount required to prevent disease, but may be less than the amount needed for optimal mental and physical health. Most people in the US consume less than the RDA of one or more vitamins and minerals. For example, many women lack enough calcium and iron, leading to osteoporosis and anemia, respectively. Vitamins and minerals are available in vegetables, fruits, meat, and other sources. However, the typical U.S. diet is lacking in key vitamins and minerals, so many people need to take a supplement. Children with autism seem to have an increased need for certain vitamins and minerals. The primary role of vitamins and minerals is to act as enzymatic co-factors for many important reactions in the body. For example, the production of serotonin (an important neurotransmitter) requires the conversion of 5-HTP to serotonin, and vitamin B6 is the co-factor for the enzyme for that reaction, meaning that it greatly accelerates the rate of the reaction. If you have too little vitamin B6, then the reaction is slow, and less serotonin is produced. Vitamin B6 is involved in over 100 enzymatic reactions in the body, including the production of several neurotransmitters. Some vitamins and minerals are involved in hundreds of enzymatic reactions, affecting most of the major metabolic pathways in the body. To put it simply, vitamins and minerals are essential for a healthy life. Research on Individual Vitamin/Mineral Supplements for Children and Adults with Autism Surveys of 539 physicians found that vitamin/mineral supplements are among the most widely recommended medical interventions for autism, and are recommended by 49% of physicians for children with autism [1]. However, there have been relatively few treatment studies of vitamin/mineral supplements for children with autism. Vitamins and minerals are important anti-oxidants, and there are over 26 studies reporting on biomarkers of increased oxidative stress in children with autism Frustaci et al. [2] suggesting that children with autism may have decreased levels of vitamins/minerals and/or increased need for them. Three studies demonstrated that children with autism have increased oxidative stress, impaired methylation (decreased SAM), and decreased glutathione, [3-5] compared to neurotypical children. Two open-label studies found that nutritional supplementation with vitamin methyl-B12, folinic acid (a special type of folic acid), and (in one of the studies) trimethylglycine resulted in significant improvements in oxidative stress, methylation, and glutathione [3,4]. A 30-week, double-blind, placebo-controlled study [6] with high-dose vitamin C (110 mg / kg), an important antioxidant, found a reduction in autism severity as measured by the RitvoFreeman scale. One small open-label study [7] with NADH (the active form of vitamin B3) found that two weeks of treatment was effective at improving methylation, glutathione, NADH, and ribose. Very high dose vitamin B6 with magnesium has been studied in eleven doubleblind, placebo-controlled studies, with almost all showing positive behavioral improvements. The studies were somewhat limited by methodological problems including small sample size and the use of assessment tools of limited validity, but overall the studies strongly suggest that it is beneficial for about 30% of children and adults with autism [8]. Overall, these studies demonstrate that most children with autism have problems with increased oxidative stress, methylation, and glutathione, and that certain vitamins and minerals can be helpful to them. Research on Multi-Vitamin/Mineral Supplements for Children and Adults with Autism 2004 study In 2004 we published a small pilot study of a multi-vitamin/mineral supplement for children with ASD [9], which used a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled design. None of the children in the Citation: Adams JB (2015) Vitamin/Mineral Supplements for Children and Adults with Autism. Vitam Miner 3: 127. doi:10.4172/2376-1318.1000127