EMPowerplus continues to get attention from researchers in the mental health field.
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Nicholas Lofthouse, Ph.D.
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L. Eugene Arnold, M.D., M.Ed.
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A group of researchers at Ohio State University Medical School recently featured EMPowerplus in a Psychiatric Annals article for medical professionals entitled “Complementary and Alternative Biomedical Treatments for ADHD”. The article has the unique status of counting toward continuing medical education credit for doctors.
The researchers state, “Open trials of micronutrient supplementation (eg, EMPowerplus, which contains 36 vitamins and minerals) suggest this treatment is effective in reducing ADHD symptoms, mood problems, and disruptive behavior in 8 weeks of treatment for children and adults.”
The authors cite two studies published by Canadian and New Zealand researchers showing positive effects of EMPowerplus in ADHD and other disorders.
The first is a study in children carried out by scientists at three Alberta universities and the Alberta Children’s Hospital. Researchers documented impressive clinical effects of EMPowerplus on children with mood and behavior problems. The diagnoses of the children included attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), bipolar disorder, oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), Asperger syndrome, generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), and Prader-Willi syndrome. All effect sizes were large. Learn more.
The second study was conducted by researchers at the University of Canterbury. They investigated the effect of EMPowerplus on fourteen medication-free adults with both attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and severe mood dysregulation (SMD). Seven adults were diagnosed with major depressive disorder (MDD), three with bipolar disorder II (BDII), six with social phobia, and three with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). All participants took EMPowerplus for 8 weeks, and the majority of participants chose to continue taking EMPowerplus during a 2-6 month follow-up thereafter. Researchers reported significant differences in inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity, mood, quality of life, anxiety, and stress scores - all with medium to very large effect sizes. Mood and hyperactivity/impulsivity scores were normalized. Those who continued to take EMPowerplus after 8 weeks maintained or further improved their results. Learn more.
The Ohio State researchers conclude that “Micronutrient supplementation may be an acceptable choice for patients with comorbid mood problems/disruptive behavior who prefer non-medication treatments.” They also appropriately caution doctors that “Close monitoring will be required for patients discontinuing mood stabilizers as the micronutrient supplementation is titrated.”
For more details or full text, please see the Psychiatric Annals webpage for the article.
