Carnitine supplements as treatment of autism?

Digestion, Health & Nutrition                    Facebook Dr. Anil

Levo-carnitine treatment improves autistic spectrum disorders

By A. Minocha MD, author: Guide to Alternative Medicine and the Digestive System

Abnormalities of mitochondria are widely prevalent in patients with autistic spectrum disorders. Prevalence of abnormal biomarker values of mitochondrial dysfunction is higher in patients with autism. Biomarkers of mitochondrial dysfunction include carnitine and lactate.

 

Filipek from the University of California in Irvine, Ca have demonstrated that patients with autistic spectrum disorders have higher prevalence of carnitine deficiency. Carnitine deficiency has been attributed to the mitochondrial defects. Such alterations could in turn play in role in pathogenesis of effects on brain as manifested by various behavioral effects.

 

Literature suggests potential role for carnitine supplementation for treatment of autism; however, thus far, there has been lack of good randomized controlled trials to examine the effect of carnitine.

 

Hypothesis: L-carnitine supplementation ameliorates the effects of mitochondrial dysfunction in patients with autistic spectrum disorders.

 

Study: Geier and colleagues from the Institute of Chronic Illness in Silver Springs, MD conducted a double blind, randomized placebo controlled trial to evaluate the effect of levocarnitine in 30 patients with autism spectrum disorders.

 

Intervention: Liquid L-carnitine 50 mg/kg bodyweight per day or placebo for 3 months.

Outcome measures:

• Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS)
• Hand muscle testing
• Modified clinical global impression (CGI)
• Autism Treatment Evaluation Checklist (ATEC)
• Treatment adherence measurement (TAM)
• Frequency and intensity of side effect rating (FISER)
• Global rating of side effect burden (GRSEB)
• Patient report of incidence of side effects (PRISE)

Results: L-carnitine treatment led to significant improvement in: Childhood Autism Rating Scale, hand muscle testing, modified clinical global impression, and Autism Treatment Evaluation Checklist.

Changes in carnitine levels in serum were positively associated with improvements in associated with hand muscle strength, cognitive scores, and Childhood Autism Rating Scale scores.

 

Conclusions: L-carnitine supplementation results in clinical improvement in several clinical parameters in patients with autistic spectrum disorders.

Dr. Minocha’s opinion: The results of the study are dramatic and provocative; however, further substantiation may be in order.

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