Magnesium Supplements and Vitamin B6 for Treating Autism

4 August, 2009 No Comment

What is Autism?
Autism is a deficiency, which is related to human psychology, which causes the patients to be self-absorbed, and is marked, by communication disorders and attention span. It is the complex development disability, which commonly appears during the first 3 years in life. It is a neurological disorder, which affects the functioning of the brain.

Study on Vitamin B6 AND Magnesium Supplements:
The study of effects of Vitamin B6 on schizophrenia during the 1950’s caused the analysis on magnesium supplements and its effects on autism. Vitamin B6 is a vital component for more than 60 biological processes and the chemical name is pyridoxine.

High doses of Vitamin B6 have negative impacts such as nervous problems, oversensitivity to sound, higher irritability and fears, bedwetting and some other psychological effects. The addition of magnesium supplements was to reduce such adverse effects caused due to high doses of Vitamin B6.

Many studies have been made on the effect of Vitamin B6 and magnesium supplements on autistic children and half of the infected children showed remarkable improvements within just a few days.

In a study held during 1968 on 16 children with behavioral problems, 75% of them showed dramatic improvements and 3 of them were actually speaking for the first time, including making good eye contact after the intake of a high dose of Vitamin B6 along with magnesium supplements.

The Process:
Vitamin B6 is broken into pyroxidal-5-phosphate (PLP) on digestion and the enzyme, which does this process, does not work well with autistic children.

This PLP is also needed to produce Dopamine, which is a brain chemical important for many behaviors. So, for autistic children who are not able to produce enough PLP with existing Vitamin B6 from their diet can be given additional Vitamin B6 and magnesium supplements is added with it to avoid side effects caused by a high dose of Vitamin B6.

Actually, autistic children are known to have less levels of magnesium in their hair and blood than normal children. There is also evidence for calming effect on some children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder by magnesium supplements.

So, based on studies it is generally stated that high doses of Vitamin B6 if given along with normal doses of magnesium supplements are effective on autistic children and can control their behavior.

Side Effects:
There are also some side effects on taking large doses of Vitamin B6 (more than 2g/day for adults) which includes nerve problems, nausea, hyperactivity, and diarrhea.

But taking Vitamin B6 along with magnesium supplements has no reported side effects in children and it has been tested in children with epilepsy. Also, magnesium can be toxic if it is taken more than 600mg a day. Magnesium supplements taken at moderate doses have no reported side effects.

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