Autism and Vitamin B6 and Magnesium

It has been suggested that combining magnesium with vitamin B6 could offer additional benefits, such as reducing side effects or allowing a reduced dose of the vitamin.

Read more details about Vitamin B6 and Magnesium.

A double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover study found indications that very high doses of vitamin B6 may produce beneficial effects in the treatment of autism spectrum disorder.¹⁰ Again, however, this study was small and poorly designed; furthermore, it used a dose of vitamin B 6 so high that it could cause toxicity.However, the two reasonably well-designed studies using combined vitamin B 6 and magnesium have failed to find benefits.^11–13 Therefore, it isn’t possible at present to recommend vitamin B 6 with or without magnesium as a treatment for autism spectrum disorder.

10. Rimland B, Callaway E, Dreyfus P. The effect of high doses of vitamin B 6 on autistic children: a double-blind crossover study. Am J Psychiatry. 1978;135:472–475.

11. Nye C, Brice A. Combined vitamin B 6 -magnesium treatment in autism spectrum disorder (Cochrane Review). Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2002:CD003497.

12. Findling RL, Maxwell K, Scotese-Wojtila L, et al. High-dose pyridoxine and magnesium administration in children with autistic disorder: an absence of salutary effects in a double-blind, placebo-controlled study. J Autism Dev Disord. 1997;27:467–478.

13. Tolbert L, Haigler T, Waits MM, et al. Brief report: lack of response in an autistic population to a low dose clinical trial of pyridoxine plus magnesium. J Autism Dev Disord. 1993;23:193–199.