University of Calgary researchers say a nutritional supplement has significant benefits for some people with bipolar disorder, a psychiatric condition.
The results of the small-scale study by mental health researchers Bonnie Kaplan, Dr. J. Simpson and colleagues were published in the December issue of the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.
“Our preliminary results are very encouraging,” says Kaplan. “Our findings are that on average, people taking the supplements find their symptoms are reduced by more than 50 per cent compared with the symptoms they experienced while taking their usual medications.”
The open label trial was comprised of 11 people with bipolar disorder aged 19-46 years who were given a broad-based nutritional supplement for an average of more than six months.
The supplement has 36 ingredients including vitamins A, C, D, E, various B vitamins, calcium, iron, magnesium, zinc, copper, potassium and several antioxidants.
The study found that people who previously needed an average of 2.7 psychotropic medications are now taking only 1.0 medications along with the supplement. “In some cases, the supplement replaced psychotropic medications altogether, with those people remaining well,” says Kaplan. “We infer from (the) findings that nutritional factors may play a role in mental illness. Likely, research on nutritional deficiencies will be the next phase of work done on this by scientists,” she says.
“Taking the supplement is not a trivial matter,” says Simpson. “Therefore, it should be done only under medical supervision.”
This preliminary study was funded by the Alberta Children’s Hospital Foundation. It was initiated by the research team after scientists were presented with anecdotal reports of people whose symptoms subsided when taking nutritional supplements. The supplement used in the research was donated by an Alberta-based organization exploring solutions for overcoming disorders of the central nervous system.
As a result of these small-scale findings, Kaplan’s team is conducting a randomized, placebo-controlled trial funded by the Alberta Science and Research Authority.
