Minerals & iron
The glycine half is the interesting half — it is the part with a route to homocysteine. The autism claim is weaker than it sounds.
Not yet investigated
The glycine half is the interesting half — it is the part with a route to homocysteine. The autism claim is weaker than it sounds.
This star is on the map because the show intends to take the question apart properly — the trials, how it is actually tested, whether the thing sold is the thing studied. That work is not done yet, and nothing here should be read as a conclusion. When the investigation is published it will appear on this page.
What we are reading
Gathered for the investigation and not yet written up. Each note says what the paper does and does not show.
THE AUTISM PREMISE DOES NOT SURVIVE THIS. Cochrane found three randomised studies, 33 people in TOTAL. One gave no usable data. One found no difference from placebo on social interaction, communication, compulsivity, impulsivity or hyperactivity. The third, eight children selected for features resembling pyridoxine-dependent epilepsy, found an IQ gain of 5.2 points (CI 0.2–10.3) — a confidence interval that nearly touches zero, in eight children. Cochrane's verdict: 'no recommendation can be advanced'. Note also this is B6 PLUS magnesium, where magnesium was added to blunt B6's side effects — not magnesium glycinate, and not magnesium alone. The honest episode says the idea has been tested and the tests were too small to conclude anything, which is different from saying it failed. The homocysteine half of this node is the stronger half: glycine deficiency raises homocysteine (see the glycine node), and glycinate is a glycine salt.
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Also in Minerals & iron
The letter
The full citation list for each investigation, the studies that didn't make the episode, and any corrections — sent the morning it publishes.
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