Nutraceuticals for Autism?
June 22, 2008 by Kristina Chew, PhD
Filed under Health
Greensboro-based Market America has put out a press release announcing plans to develop a line of “nutraceuticals” specifically for autistic children and children with “related neurodevelopmental challenges.” In the wake of a conference at the company’s headquarters (invitees included a “prominent naturopathic physician” and a DAN! practitioner), Dr. Julian Blumenfeld, Chief Medical Officer at Market America, is quoted as saying:
“The consensus among the panel of experts was that children with autism need nutritional supplementation that is complete and easy to take…..Current products on the market are not complete and do not enhance patient compliance. With our advanced Isotonix® delivery system we can offer nutritional supplementation designed for children that is easy to taste and tolerate. Enhancing compliance is critical for the efficacy of children’s supplementation and will make the parents lives so much easier.”
It’s not indicated on what basis—on what scientific studies—-this claim about autistic children needing “nutritional supplementation” is made. As for “patient compliance,” just making something taste better is not the way to get autistic kids to take medicine or supplements (for a start, what I think tastes good and what my son does are not the same thing!). And interesting that the Chief Medical Officer seems particularly concerned about whether or not children are taking the supplements, as if that’s what it takes to make parents’ lives “so much easier”—do autistic kids need to take them at all?
I take a bunch of vitamins and supplements, but so far none of them have made me less autistic — mainly I take them because I know my diet doesn’t necessarily provide certain things (e.g., I rarely eat meat, and I eat no red meat, so I figure supplementing with B vitamins probably won’t hurt). I’ve also been taking omega-3 fatty acids (fish or flax oil) for several years, starting around when my mother died at age 45 of what could have been a heart attack — my cholesterol numbers are stellar, so it might be doing something worthwhile.
But…again, definitely no less autistic for having taken these or other supplements. Eating a balanced diet and learning to drink enough water regularly have helped me a lot with mood regulation and such, but that would probably be true for anyone.
The one thing I’ve never had a problem with is using vitamin supplements for ASD kids, because given what so many don’t like to eat at least when they’re younger – looks the sensible option. However, as you so sapiently pointed out – er …. just because you think this is going to ‘taste good’, maybe that’s a whole other proposition for an ASD kid. 10:1 Kristina, this option was never tested on anybody with an ASD label.
It took quite a bit of trial and error for us to find a vitamin and omega-3 supplement our son would take (he prefers the gummy versions of each). We’re not giving them to him specifically for autism, but because he’s a picky eater and definitely doesn’t get all he needs from food.
I can’t quite tell if this company plans on doing regular vitamins, etc, or if they’ll be tailoring “specifically to autism.” If it’s the former, I doubt they’ll be able to satisfy all kids, plus there are already many varieties available to try. If it’s the latter, I’m not sure what science they’re using for their formulation.
I tried to give Charlie gummy calcium tablets (he eats a good variety of foods but doesn’t drink milk). He’s not wild about them (he’s really good about swallowing pills and I think he thinks he’s supposed to swallow the gummies whole). The press release’s title mentioned “autism vitamins”—somewhat misleadingly.
TH would always swallow his gummi vitamins whole.
And Charlie has no liking for gummy candies either (unlike his parents).
I posted about this on my forum today. Trader Joe’s had drop in tablets that were vitamins and I would put one into the soymilk quart container each day. Then they suddenly stopped them and I was not happy about that. Now Matt can take chewables and Nick likes gummies and sometimes can swallow pills, but usually I get things that are strips or patches for meds. His melatonin is a chewable tablet.
I remember how hard it was to take pills as a child – my asthma meds were chopped into apple sauce and to this day that smell of apple sauce makes me feel ill.
The thing that I could not find out and was most curious about was what is specifically planned to be in this supplement. So far they seem to have a whole line (17 so far) of tailored multi-supplements, including the celebrity endorsed “Beauty Blend”.
The Isotronix delivery system is that it’s a powder that is sweetened with fructose and stated that when mixed with water is pH and isotonically balanced. I am curious as to whether this would taste good, since our experience is that Eleanor is more resistant to anything liquid that has a medicinal flavor.
As is usual for all supplement manufacturers there are the usual disclaimers: The FDA has not evaluated these statements, and the product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.
Sounds to me like one more attempt to part desperate parents and their money.
I had asthma as a child and took regular doses of drugs that contained all kinds of bitter things—-just had to “get used to it.” Charlie always knew when I mixing up something in his food so I finally resorted to giving him meds with an oral syringe (very messy on occasion). Then we did a pill swallowing program and I was thrilled to discover that there are tablet forms of things.
Not that I can ever forget the smell of cherry-flavored cod-liver oil.
I’ve always been impressed by the fact that people often misspell “nutraceutical” as “neutraceutical.”
“The thing that I could not find out and was most curious about was what is specifically planned to be in this supplement. So far they seem to have a whole line (17 so far) of tailored multi-supplements, including the celebrity endorsed ‘Beauty Blend’.”
I can only dignify this whole thing, and particularly this aspect, with one term at the moment…
“Ugh.”
Cliff
I’ve tried in the past but my boys just “knew” when I slipped in the odorless, tasteless calcium supplement into their juice and wouldn’t drink it.
I give my son a careful selection of supplements because he self-restricts his diet. However, when I tried a special type that was supposedly designed for ASD kids, it was a disaster. Some of these have simply huge amounts of certain B vitamins, and can make people (me and my son both!) quite jittery.
We gave Charlie SuperNuthera and Brain Child for awhile with no obvious results. We tried SuperNuthera PHP (I think it has added B vitamins) and it seemed to make him very jittery, so we stopped it immediately.
Out of the horses mouth …
“Current products on the market are not complete and do not enhance patient compliance.”
A direct admission that even their own existing current product line is more about making you think you need these additives (buy buy buy) without providing a speck of credible evidence to support that the new product will help do anything more than attract dollars to their salespeople.
I am furious about what happened to that poor boy in Quebec with the weighted blanket. I do not believe in the blankets and have had no success, thats just my boy. We have haresr time with him eating, so we give him vitamin supplements. We have at times given him Adderall 10mg once a day and found it really helped him focus at school but he never had any appetitie until 8 pm at night which was negative. Our most successful treatment so far: attention positive reinforcement, reading and having him read back, drawing, horseplaying, just smothering him with love. Yes we’ve had some awful times as well, but I would just loose it if he died in the same manner the boy in Quebec died, just unnecessary, totally!! Our boy is high functioning autism but socially inept. We need more study on Autism, please we need to find something out about it. I for one do not subscribe to the American theory of vaccination leads to autism, way to convenient people!!!We have sacrificed just about everything from income to time with others, you name it. Our other children also suffer from lack of attention at times, but we wouldn’t trade our autistic aspergers son for the world, he has such a sweet side that sneaks out right out of the clear blue. Time spent with them alternated with small doses of education with expectations works best for us.
Kristina: It was SuperNuThera PHP that we had the trouble with, too. We now use a regular children’s vitamin, a cod liver oil pill, and benefiber tablets.
Might want to consider liquid vitamins and even fluvic acid which is a natural detoxifier as well as liquid vitamin drink. Their is also a probiotic paste on the market that can be added without detection that works wonders on improving digestion and elimination.
BTW, most pills are not bioavailable. They pass through the gut undigested. Just a heads up. Liquid is the way to go.
There are a pile of companies “out there” offering vitamins and supplements aimed towards children with autism. There is no doubt that restricted diets often result in children with various deficiencies. Compliance in taking meds is the number one thing, and while taste has been given the headline, these supplement companies need to work on TEXTURE too. So many children with autism have sensory issues that include texture issues with food (especially my 6 year old). We’ve tried a lot of different supplements, and have finally found a liquid multi-vite supplement that I can bury in V8 Fusion Strawberry Banana juice. I think it’s called lyflo. We still have horrible issues with getting enough calcium into my little guy. Any suggestions parents/caretakers?
I don’t see how a vitamin supplement could be made specifically for autistic children – surely for those who have vitamin deficiencies, these would be different based upon what foods they wouldn’t eat? At this point I’m hardly at all picky, though when I was little I went through times of not eating anything green, then eating only green things, refusing mustard or pickles, then every Thanksgiving I would switch from loving the stuffing to not being able to tolerate it at all. Fortunately I got stuck with liking it.
I was given some vitamin pills when I was in first grade that were supposed to help with concentration (I called them “memory pills”, which my dad didn’t like). We didn’t notice anything; in fact what was perceived as inattentiveness and lack of focus were me staring at the wall and not responding to my name, autistic things like that. Not that we’d know that for a few years.
But yeah, as a specific treatment for autism, that I would not trust, though of course if the individual actually is deficient in vitamins, I can well see how a vitamin supplement could improve concentration and learning in addition to general well-being. I feel better nowadays that I have learned to gauge the right amount of water to drink (particularly in summer).
@Shay West, yes, texture is something that isn’t thought about at all—-and the size of vitamin capsules. Charlie learned to swallow pills when he was around 5 and that’s made a big difference—-though big ones are not so easy.
@Melody, learning enough water to drink in the summer: something we’re still working on here!
I never meant we give our son autistic multivitamins. Theres no such thing at least that works as far as I know. We put him on Flinstones tupes of chewable multivitamin at the pediatricians response because hes so skinny, as a lot are. The Adderall (amphetamine salts) we agonized over, but we have good luck with them when hes in school and holidays he dosent take him. This is just works for us. I respect all your thughts for your own situations.
We use Flintstones vitamins for a while but (that texture thing again) my son was wary of the chalkiness and the flavors (and the characters) were not interesting to him. Fortunately, he has a pretty balanced diet.
My Ped has read numerous studies that say high doses of vitamins etc are not good for anyone.
We tried the “cod liver oil”, a teaspoon a day has been fed to generations forever. It didn’t do anything extra.. except help with adding a little more to poor diets.
The ped recommended a good children’s multi-vitamin plus minerals. Eldest will chew them, little boy won’t so he gets a liquid herbal format (b/c that’s all I could find – w/out minerals – b/c that’s how it comes).
Legislation is in the works here that could really mess the herbal/vitamin industry, they will become “drugs” and some will have to be prescribed to get access too. There is a lot of screaming going on… but IMO.. it’s about time.
Mine will take meds from one of those cups… I get looks and quickly hand over cups of juice to wash it down… I know it tastes bad but they are now agreeable.
S.
We still have horrible issues with getting enough calcium into my little guy. Any suggestions parents/caretakers?
——————–
Eleanor has lactose intolerance so milk is out generally, but she loves the commercial Ca-fortified orange juice (so do I for that matter). Have you tried that?
We did a little experimenting on those chewables–there’s a particular brand that’s really popular but Eleanor started out “hmmm” and then became kind of “yuck” about it. Since she would eat her sister’s Neccos and SweetTarts, I wasn’t sure it was having to chew or texture, so I tried one myself. Yeah, yuck.
Interestingly enough, the dinosaur vitamins from Costco smell good, and taste better than the national brand. That one is working, although we are transitioning to swallowed multivitamins.
This is all just for basic coverage–not as treatment.
Speaking as someone who grew up in Greensboro, I can’t say I’m surprised that this was created there.
Hmmmm……..
Vitamins and Minerals do help autism but the effect is very mild. it would only help alot for those autistic people with mineral or nutrient difficiency