About 1 out of 2,000 children has
infantile autism, a severe brain disorder whose victims are unable to
socialize normally and often exhibit bizarre behaviors. Despite the
severity of the disorder, nutritional medicine may be of some assistance
in its treatment.
Particularly exciting are the results of studies
in which autistic patients were supplemented with vitamin B6. For example,
in one study, autistic children who appeared to benefit from supplementation
either continued to receive the supplement or were switched to placebo
under double-blind conditions. Only those children who were withdrawn
from the supplement showed significant behavioral deterioration.1
Moreover, vitamin B6 supplementation changes the
abnormal electrophysiological and biochemical measures of autistic children
to more normal ones.2 Homovanillic acid is the principal derivative
of the neurotransmitter dopamine. While the supplement normally increases
urinary homovanillic acid excretion, it has been shown to decrease its
excretion in autistic children.3
Magnesium is usually added to vitamin B6 to prevent
the vitamin from causing magnesium depletion while also preventing the
irritability, sound hypersensitivity and enuresis that sometimes follows
B6 supplementation.4 While dosages vary, 500 mg of vitamin B6 is often
given along with 250 mg magnesium. (Be aware that this large a dose
of the vitamin can, over time, cause a peripheral neuropathy.) One crossed-sequential
double-blind study found that a behavioral improvement was only noted
when the two nutrients were given together; then urinary homovanillic
acid excretion decreased and the EEG cortical evoked potential normalized.5
The combination of vitamin B6 and magnesium does
not cure autism, but improvements are sometimes dramatic. Moreover,
all of the more than a dozen research studies, some of them double-blind,
have reported positive outcomes. When roughly 4,000 parents of autistic
children were asked to rate the various treatments, the nutrient combination
received the highest rating of any biomedical treatment, with 8.5 parents
reporting behavioral improvement for every parent who reported worsening
on the regimen. By contrast, thioridazine, the most commonly used drug
on the list, had an improvement to worsening ratio of only 1.4 to 1.6
Supplementation with another B complex vitamin has
also proven to be beneficial in autism, although only for a specific
sub-group of autistic patients. Folic acid plays an important role in
DNA synthesis, repair and methylation.7 Tissue folate deficiency may
provoke chromosomal breakage at a fragile site, while folate supplementation
may interfere with the detection of constitutive fragile sites.8
Behaviors from the autistic spectrum are often seen
in males with the fragile X syndrome, the most common known familial
form of mental retardation and developmental disability. Can folate
supplementation aid patients with this syndrome by reducing breakage
at the fragile site on the chrornosome? The results of studies have
been mixed, possibly because the earlier in life folate supplementation
is started, the more likely it is to be effective. In one study, for
example, boys with fragile X syndrome showed improvement in their behavior
as well as in their motor ability after receiving folate supplements
while adult males showed no change. Concurrently, the fragile X positive
cells of the autistic boys became rarer or disappeared.9 Ten milligrams
of folate daily for at least a few months appears to be necessary to
achieve changes.
Finally, some autistic patients are food-sensitive.10,11
Try removing common foods from their diets for at least a week and see
if their behavior improves. If so, try to identify the inciting food(s)
by returning individual foods every two or three days and observing
for signs of regression.Doctor Werbach cautions that the nutritional
treatment of illness should be supervised by physicians or practitioners
whose training prepares them to recognize serious illness and to integrate
nutritional interventions safely into the treatment plan.
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References
1. Rimland, B et al. The effect of high doses of vitamin
B6 on autistic children: A double-blind crossover study. Am J Psychiatry
135:472-5, 1978.
2. Lelord G et al. Electrophysiological and biochemical
studies in autistic children treated with vitamin B6, in D Lehmann,
E Callaway, Eds. Human Evoked Potentials; Applications and Problems.
New York, Plenum Press, 1979.
3. Lelord G et al. [Modifications in urinary homovanillic
acid after ingestion of vitamin B6: Functional study in autistic children.]
Rev Neurol (Paris) 134(12):797-801, 1978.
4. Rimland B. An orthomolecular study of psychotic children.
J Orthomol Psychiatry. 3:371-7, 1974.
5. Martineau J et al. Vitamin B6, magnesium, and combined
B6-Mg: Therapeutic effects in childhood autism. Biol Psychiatry 20:467-78,
1985.
6. Rimland B. Controversies in the treatment of autistic
children: vitamin and drug therapy. J Child Neurol 3 Suppl:S68-72, 1988.
7. Heimburger DC. Localized deficiencies of folic acid
in aerodigestive tissues. Ann NY Acad Sci 669:87-96, 1992.
8. Yunis JJ, Soreng AL. Constitutive fragile sites and
cancer. Science 226:1199-204, 1984.
9. Gustavson KH et al. Effect of folic acid treatment
in the fragile X syndrome. Clin Genet 27(5):463-67, 1985.
10. Torisky DM, Torisky CV, Kaplan S, Speicher C. The
NAC pilot project: a model for nutrition screening and intervention
for developmentally disabled children with behavior disorders. J Orthomol
Med 8(1):25-42, 1993.
11. Reichelt KL et al. Gluten, milk proteins and autism:
Dietary intervention effects on behavior and peptide secretion. J Appl
Nutr 432(1):1-111, 1990.