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Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2022 Oct 13;22(1):590.
doi: 10.1186/s12887-022-03628-0.

Vitamin/mineral/micronutrient supplement for autism spectrum disorders: a research survey

James B Adams  1 , Jasmine Kirby  2 , Tapan Audhya  3 , Paul Whiteley  4 , Jaclyn Bain  5
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Vitamin/mineral/micronutrient supplement for autism spectrum disorders: a research survey

James B Adams et al. BMC Pediatr. .

Abstract

Background: Vitamin and mineral supplements are widely used by children and adults diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Several studies have reported benefits of such supplements in resolving nutritional deficiencies, treating various metabolic problems and improving symptoms and overall quality of life.

Methods: This research survey collected evaluations from 161 people about the effectiveness of ANRC-Essentials Plus (ANRC-EP), a vitamin/mineral/micronutrient supplement designed for children and adults with autism. Although this was an open-label survey, results were compared with a three-month randomized double-blind placebo-controlled study of an earlier version of the supplement. Evaluations included the Parent Global Impressions of Autism (PGIA) and the Overall Benefit/Adverse Effect scale of the National Survey on Treatment Effectiveness for Autism (NSTEA).

Results: The participants reported substantially higher Average PGIA Scores than the placebo group in a similar previous study, with an estimated effect size of 0.66. Based on the NSTEA questionnaire, 73% of participants rated the Overall Benefit as Moderate, Good, or Great, with scores that were substantially higher than the NSTEA study found for multi-vitamins, the average of 58 nutraceuticals, and the average of 28 psychiatric and seizure medications. The Overall Adverse Effect score was low (0.25/3.0), similar or slightly higher than other nutraceuticals, and much lower than the average of 28 psychiatric and seizure medications (0.9/3.0). Sub-analysis found that the Overall Benefit of ANRC-EP was not significantly affected by gender, age, autism severity, diet quality, self-limited diet, use of psychiatric or seizure medications, dosage, developmental history, intellectual disability, or seizures. This indicates that ANRC-EP may be beneficial for a wide range of children and adults with ASD. A limitation of this study is the retrospective nature of the survey, and that participants who had good benefits were more likely to respond.

Conclusions: This study found that ANRC-EP had significant benefits for a wide range of symptoms, and low adverse effects.

Keywords: Autism; Autism spectrum disorder (ASD); Micronutrients; Minerals; Vitamins.

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Conflict of interest statement

JBA is the President of the non-profit ANRC, serving as a volunteer without any salary or royalties to minimize conflict of interest. He has received research grants from ANRC. The other authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
PGIA scores for the present study and the 2011 study (treatment and placebo groups), with symptoms sorted from highest to least improvement, followed by the Average Score of all symptoms. Only the symptoms scored in the 2011 version of the PGIA are shown
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
PGIA scores for the present study and the treatment arm of the 2018 study at 3 months, with symptoms sorted from highest to least improvement, followed by the Average score of all symptoms. Only the symptoms scored in the 2018 version of the PGIA are shown
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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