Those of you who follow me know that I’m not a big fan of Truehope/EMPowerplus, in spite of having tried EMPowerplus myself. And one of the things I complained about is the lack of double-blind, controlled studies of the supplement. Well, one scientific study has now been published and I figured I should mention it to be fair. This new study indicates preliminary evidence for Truehope/EMPowerplus (a micronutrient formula) in the treatment of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
Double-Blind Rendomised Controlled Trial of Truehope/EMPowerplus
The British Journal of Psychiatry recently published a double-blind, randomised controlled trial of 80 adults with ADHD. There were 42 adults given a micronutrient formula (EMPowerplus) and 38 given a placebo for eight weeks.
The outcome of the study was the following:
Intent-to-treat analyses showed significant between-group differences favouring active treatment on self- and observer- but not clinician-ADHD rating scales. However, clinicians rated those receiving micronutrients as more improved than those on placebo both globally and on ADHD symptoms. Post hoc analyses showed that for those with moderate/severe depression at baseline, there was a greater change in mood favouring active treatment over placebo. There were no group differences in adverse events.
The researchers concluded that this constituted good preliminary evidence of the effectiveness of using a mironutrient formula to treat ADHD.
What Does This Trial of Truehope/EMPowerplus Mean?
Well, like with most studies, it doesn’t mean anything definitive. In other words, it doesn’t mean that Truehope/EMPowerplus does work to treat ADHD – it’s just too early and there isn’t enough evidence to say that. But it does mean that it might work. So take that for what it is – preliminary, yet promising, in the ADHD population.
Link to the study in The British Journal of Psychiatry.
Natasha, thanks for being fair and posting a link to this study. Here is a link to the full text.
http://bjp.rcpsych.org/content/bjprcpsych/early/2014/01/27/bjp.bp.113.132126.full.pdf
I liked this statement toward the end of the study.
“There is often scepticism associated with using vitamins and
minerals for the treatment of psychiatric symptoms, despite a long
history of their use. The field is plagued with poorly designed
and controlled studies, often leading to erroneous conclusions.
However, with a growing number of well-controlled studies
supporting their use across a wide variety of psychiatric
symptoms, perceptions are changing and some are publicly
calling for investigations of dietary treatments for ADHD.”
Truehope, I don’t believe, claims that EMPowerplus will cure everyone and I believe the same. The chemistry in every individual is very different and what we add to it by what we choose to eat and put into our bodies changes everything again. In addition, the experiences that we have had over our lifetime affects us and changes our brain chemistry patterns. It is way too complicated for anyone thing to help everyone. Fixing the brain is one thing, reshaping our self-narrative is much harder and cannot be done with meds or vitamins. Meds definitely help some people and alternative methods like EMPowerplus or other supplements or oils help others and others have to use a combination, but all of this will only help get the brain working better. Once the physical brain has what it needs, the work on the mind and body needs to start and if an individual is not willing to work on both, I don’t believe either alternative will work sufficiently. So thanks again for posting this as a reminder that there may be something to nutritional therapy as an alternative, not as a cure all. I wish you well Natasha with your pursuit to finding what will work for you and your brain so that you can start on your path to wellness.
I find it interesting that those who non-stop trash big-pharma decide to cite one insignificant virtually if not totally statistically insignificant study (if only by the number in the study) made by money from same big- pharma money. Please, consistency. True-hope is a scam. If you are vitamin deficient Wal-mart has 200 muli-vitamins for $3 and change including tax. I take one every day. Have for years.
True-Hope is a scam. True-hope is a scam. It’s owners are scammers.
WN
Yup, n=80. I’m not impressed.
RAYMOND, Alta. – A relative of an Alberta couple charged after a toddler died of meningitis thinks the family’s belief in nutritional supplements is behind an “overzealous” prosecution.
David and Collet Stephan have been charged with failing to provide the necessities of life for their 19-month-old son, Ezekiel.
The child died nearly a year ago and RCMP charged the couple this week. The 29-year-old man and 32-year-old woman, from the town of Glenwood, are to appear in Lethbridge court in May.
How tru-deaths founder taught his son to treat his grandson with tru-death-2 years ago-more to come. WN
Agree Walt. I’ll be looking into this VERY closely. The funding, the methods, the publisher, the statistics (must brush up on that, a lot, it’s been a while) and much, much, more. I hope you do the same. It’s going to take a while. Please keep me updated as far as you trust me and I’ll do the same if you remain interested.
gotta go thru the university to see under the hood, see how they did the math (did they sin with application of gaussian dynamics to interval data?), to see what was “significant” tp them.( positive findings bias of publishings?) prelim thought is that the whole 38-42 samplings are on shaky ground, or worse.