What Was That B?
Dear Tough Nuts and Old Timers, below is a Vitamin B study summary from the Safeminds site. ...due to the risk of peripheral neuropathy at high doses, medical supervision is essential... That sentence made me laugh. Can you imagine asking your (non-organic) garden variety pediatrician about vitamin doses and getting anything other than, a blank stare followed by "buy a multivitamin?"
Vitamin B was a rock star back in the prehistoric autism treatment days (early 2000s.) My daughter used Dr. Derrick Lonsdale's TTFD - high dose Vitamin B1 Thiamine - in his first clinical trials. It came in a suppository and made my beautiful 6 year old daughter smell like a skunk. There was a multi-B supplement we all used from a company whose name I can not recall. Anyone remember? I can't. Guess I too need vitamins. It smelled and tasted.... like B vitamins. Awful. I'm sure I have the brand in a notebook buried in my autism "Save this forever in case someday..." but I just don't have it in me to go look.
Vitamin B is back in the news for autism. Much like gut issues. And we roll our eyes knowing that the Defeat Autism Now! structure had all of this in its sights for so many years. Until.... defeating autism became a sin. I will always be pissed about this. Feel free to join me.
From Safeminds.
A new British study has found that high-dose Vitamin B6 supplementation may improve sensory hyperreactivity and motor control issues in individuals with sensory over-responsivity by altering the brain’s excitation-inhibition (E-I) balance. This improvement is achieved by increasing the inhibitory GABA levels and reducing excitatory glutamate levels, as demonstrated in both animal models and human participants. In contrast, the study discovered that Vitamin B12 showed no such benefits, suggesting that the effects are specific to Vitamin B6. This research also highlighted potential improvements in postural control and coordination, indicating that Vitamin B6 could be particularly beneficial for addressing motor issues often accompanying sensory hyperreactivity. Given that sensory over-responsivity is common in conditions such as autism, ADHD, and anxiety, these findings suggest a wide potential application. However, due to the risk of peripheral neuropathy at high doses, medical supervision is essential, and further studies are necessary to determine the optimal dose and ensure long-term safety.