Rational dosages of nutrients have a prolonged effect on learning disabilities

Context Reports that administration of nutrients has increased the academic performance of learning-disabled children exist in the literature. Objective To document the effects of nutrients an learning-disabled childre n in a controlled army. Design A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover trial, whic h followed 1 year of open-label nutrients. Children who improved ill the op en-label trial were eligible to enter the controlled phase of the study. Setting Subjects were enrolled from the general community through advertise ments. Patients or other participants Twenty children met the criteria for being l earning disabled. Intervention Each child was tried out on some (but not necessarily all) of the B vitamins and minerals used in this study. These were administered sem iblinded for the first year; double-blinded in crossover rotations during t he second year; and open-label in the ensuing years. Main Outcome Measures At various time points, school-certified psychologist s administered psychoeducational tests. School report cards were evaluated at baseline and for all subsequent periods. Results Twenty learning-disabled children entered the study, but 1 dropped out because of nausea. The remaining 19 children showed significant academi c and behavioral improvements within a few seeks or months of open-label tr eatment with nutrient supplements. Some children gained 3 to 5 years in rea ding comprehension within the first year of treatment; and all children in special education classes became mainstreamed, and their grades rose signif icantly. Twelve of the children completed the 1-year double-blind phase, af ter which approximately half of the children chose to remain on the nutrien ts for at least 2 additional years. For those who discontinued it rook at l east 1 year to begin to see the first indications of decline in academic pe rformance, and another year for their grades to drop significantly. In cont rast,for children who remained on nutrients, the gains continued the upward trend; at the end of year 4, the difference in scores between the 2 groups had reached statistical significance (P < .01). Conclusion The overall results of this study tentatively support the concep t that learning disabilities may in some cases be a nutrient-responsive dis order.