Micro-Nutrient Product Effective in Adult ADHD
EMPowerPlus is a nutritional supplement marketed by the company Truehope as a way of correcting nutritional deficiencies that contribute to depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). In 2014 Rucklidge et al. published the first controlled study of EMPowerPlus in the British Journal of Psychiatry showing that the supplement was more effective than placebo in adults with untreated ADHD.
EMPowerplus contains 36 ingredients, including 14 vitamins, 16 minerals, 3 amino acids, and 3 antioxidants. Patients were randomized to receive either 15 EMPowerPlus pills per day or 15 placebos per day for 8 weeks, and those patients receiving the supplement were rated as more improved by the end of the study. Effect sizes were moderately robust and side effects did not differ.
Editor’s Note: Multiple uncontrolled studies have suggested the efficacy of EMPowerPlus in childhood mania and related conditions, but this is the first formal placebo-controlled study of the supplement in adults with ADHD. A study in children with ADHD is planned, but it would also be important to study this micronutrient formulation in childhood bipolar disorder, where there is some anecdotal evidence (from Charles Popper at McLean Hospital in Boston and Mary Fristad at the Ohio State University) of excellent responses in children with highly treatment-resistant bipolar illness.
