True Hope For Bi-Polar Sufferers?

[Guest guest]

http://www.naturalnews.com/023071.html

(NaturalNews) A new supplement from Truehope Nutritional Support, Ltd.

may hold promise for people suffering from bipolar and other mood

disorders. EMPowerplus is a supplement sporting a blend of 36

vitamins, minerals and amino acids, and it's making waves in the

Canadian and American psychiatric communities. To its critics it is an

unproven treatment that could prove dangerous, but to those who claim

to have been helped by the supplement it is nothing short of a

scientific breakthrough in the treatment of mood disorders.

Bipolar disorder is characterized by distinct periods of elevated mood

and euphoria (known as mania) followed by periods of sometimes

agonizing depression. In mania, extreme creativity is not uncommon,

and it is believed that many brilliant people in history may have

suffered from the illness. In times of depression, victims often

suffer through intense sorrow, hallucinations, disembodied voices,

disconnect with reality, and uncontrollable fixations on death.

Because of the debilitating nature of the disease, voices of support

are loud and passionate in support of a potentially new way to treat it.

The theory behind EMPowerplus is that bipolar and other mental

disorders stem from massive nutritional deficiencies resulting from

genetic abnormalities or environmental weaknesses and can be treated

by addressing that deficiency.

The Story

After losing his wife in 1994 to suicide resulting from Bipolar

Affective Disorder, Stephan watched helplessly as the disorder

revealed itself in two of his ten children. After setting out to find

a way to help them he would soon cross fates with Hardy, a man

with 20 years experience controlling rage and behavioral disturbances

in animals through nutritional intervention. mentioned a feed

supplement that deterred aggressive behavior in pigs. Seeing the

potential relationship between animal and human behavioral disorders,

the pair adapted the regimen to human grade standards and administered

it to Mr. Stephan's affected children. Amazingly, both of the children

showed significant improvement, and the two men set out to begin

manufacturing the blend as a nutritional supplement.

The next few years were spent refining the product and arranging for

research to be performed on it. Opposition, however, was already mounting.

Health Canada is the Canadian government agency that performs most of

the tasks that the FDA performs in the U.S. After completing two very

promising clinical trials in 2001 and receiving a massive grant from

the Alberta Science and Research Authority, a third trial was shut

down by Health Canada in 2002. The claim was that EMPowerplus was an

unregistered drug that needed to obtain a Drug Identification Number

(DIN). Truehope was faced with a problem that is all too familiar in

the supplement industry. Due to high cost and inherent

incompatibilities between supplement and drug testing procedures,

Stephan and Hardy would be unable to complete the necessary drug

approval process.

Health Canada was relentless. EMPowerplus was being manufactured in

the U.S., so agents set up on the border and seized the product as it

came across. On July 15, 2003 Health Canada raided the Truehope

office, seizing private virtual and physical documents.

In 2004 Pierre Pettigrew, the Canadian Minister of Health, granted the

company sanction effectively putting an end to the border seizures.

Truehope won official government approval to distribute its product

legally after championing the Natural Health Products Directorate

(referred to by some as Canada's DSHEA) in the same year and being

issued a Natural Health Product Number (NPN) in 2005. A judge later

ruled that the company had done no wrong in distributing the product

without drug approval, and even went on to say that it would be a

violation of criminal code to withhold the product from those who

needed it.

As you may suspect, the controversy has hardly boiled over. What we

are looking at is a seemingly unremarkable blend of basic vitamins and

minerals that is claimed to be having an extraordinary effect on the

health of patients who have been diagnosed with 'incurable'

psychiatric conditions. It goes without saying that there are

entrenched interests that would like to see any product that threatens

their market share to quietly retreat out of the mainstream and back

into the often confusing and hard-to-navigate world of alternative

medicine. Still, just because a product or modality is under attack

from the mainstream does not necessarily mean it is effective. There

are many products that are attacked by established medicine for good

reason. So what does the science say?

The Studies

To date there have been five clinical studies or commentaries

published in scientific journals regarding the effectiveness of the

EMPowerplus supplement. The following is a brief synopsis of the

conclusions reached by each.

Effective Mood Stabilization With a Chelated Mineral Supplement: An

Open-Label Trial in Bipolar. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry 62:12,

December 2001.

The first study was performed by Dr. Bonnie Kaplan of the University

of Calgary on 14 bipolar patients. According to Dr. Kaplan, " For those

who completed the 6-month open trial, symptom reduction ranged from

55% to 66%... the need for psychotropic medications decreased by more

than 50%. " 80% of participants saw significant improvement in overall

symptoms according to scores recorded on the depression (HAM-D), mania

(YMRS), and general psychiatric status (BPRS) scales, according to the

TrueHope website.

Commentary: Do Vitamins or Minerals (Apart From Lithium) Have

Mood-Stabilizing Effects? Journal of Clinical Psychiatry 62:933-935,

December 2001.

Dr. Popper of Harvard University reported his clinical results

with 22 patients. Dr. Popper reports that " Among 22 patients... who

clinically met criteria for bipolar disorder, 19 showed what I judged

to be a positive response. " Further, he states that " Among the 15

patients who were being treated with medications when they began the

nutritional supplement, 11 patients have been stable for 6 to 9 months

without psychiatric medications. "

Treatment of Mood Lability and Explosive Rage with Minerals and

Vitamins: Two Case Studies in Children. Journal of Child and

Adolescent Psychopharmacology Volume 12(3): 203-218, Fall 2002.

This was another study by Dr. Bonnie Kaplan on two children exhibiting

explosive rage and mood disorder. " Both children with mood lability

and explosive rage showed clinically significant improvements while

taking a nutrient supplement consisting of minerals and vitamins, "

stated Dr. Kaplan on conclusion of the study.

Letters to the Editor: Nutritional Approach to Bipolar Disorder.

Journal of Clinical Psychiatry 64:3, March 2003.

This trial was conducted by Dr. Miles on 19 patients from his

private practice. He reports that " 12 of the 19 patients showed marked

clinical improvement, 3 showed moderate improvement, and 1 showed mild

improvement. " In all, 13 of the 19 patients were able to completely

discontinue use of their pharmaceutical medication.

Improved Mood and Behavior During Treatment with a Mineral-Vitamin

Supplement: An Open-Label Case Series of Children. Journal of Child

and Adolescent Psychopharmacology. Volume 14, Number 1, Spring 2004.

Dr. Bonnie Kaplan and four other researchers found that of nine

children diagnosed with various psychiatric disorders, all of them saw

significant improvement in mood and anxiety using the supplement. The

results were consistent with the results of previous studies.

Examined comprehensively, this early research seems to indicate an

approximate 80% success rate using EMPowerplus to treat psychiatric

conditions (specifically bipolar). This by no means translates to a

cure or consensus in the scientific community over the effectiveness

of the product, but it certainly suggests that further research is

warranted – a conclusion reached by every researcher who has studied

the supplement to date.

The Skeptics

TrueHope is not short on critics. Health Canada continues to pursue

the company, stating in a 2007 press release that there have been nine

reports of serious adverse effects attributed to the product, which

may have been due to users discontinuing use of prescription drugs or

combining them with the supplement. As we all know, any time

prescription drugs are involved there is potential for unintended

synergies and incompatibilities with supplements, herbs, or other

drugs. There is no doubt that no person should augment their own

prescription routine without consulting a qualified physician.

Terry Polevoy, M.D., co-author of the dissenting e-book Pig Pills,

Inc., has been another vocal critic of the claims made by TrueHope. He

describes the founders of the company as " seasoned sales people with

dubious tragic stories to help them focus their pitch on others in

need. " More information on Terry and his views on EMPowerplus can be

found at the HealthWatcher website, referenced at the bottom of this

article.

Schizophrenia.com has also urged caution in use of the supplement.

Their position is that " Schizophrenia.com considers this product to be

unproven, with risks that currently outweigh possible benefits. The

product is, in our opinion, burdened by excessively positive marketing

claims given the minimal testing the product has received, as well as

by lack of information... " There is some evidence that TrueHope

marketing claims may be leading to skewed perceptions of the product's

efficacy in vulnerable populations. In one case, a schizophrenic man

threw out his medication in favor of the new perceived 'miracle cure',

and upon return of uncontrollable psychosis wound up in jail for assault.

Skepticism of any product is always to be expected and is certainly

useful for a contrary point of view. Consumers should view any

nutritional supplement with a healthy dose of skepticism, because it

is always in a company's interest to promote their product in the most

positive terms, whether a small supplement manufacturer or a colossal

pharmaceutical company.

The Summation

The point of substance here is that naturopathic and allopathic

medicine work to treat disease in two completely different ways. The

naturopathic approach attempts to address underlying causes such as a

nutritional deficiency, while the allopathic approach for the most

part attempts to ameliorate symptoms. One should never try to replace

drug therapy with a supplement straight up, because they are often

treating two different sides of the condition. If medication is

discontinued, symptoms may show their ugly face immediately, while the

naturopathic treatment is only beginning to do its job. This is an

especially fitting precept in cases of psychiatric disorders, where

patients can lose control of their normal thought process and act in

ways that put themselves or others in danger.

Additionally, naturopathic treatments benefit from what is referred to

as an additive effect. What this means is that problems are looked at

from many different angles, and are addressed using different

complementary tools that work in unison. A patient may receive

nutritional therapy, herbal treatment, and acupuncture. If each of

these had a 20% success rate, then the patient's chances for success

could be as high as 60%. Allopathic treatments take a reductionist

approach, and are often subtractive in nature. If a patient is on an

immunosuppressant drug, adjuvant treatments that might otherwise prove

useful may be contraindicated, namely those that augment immune

function. It is worth noting that this is why we so often see

nutrients being tested one at a time; it is a drug-oriented,

reductionist mindset being applied to an entirely different theory of

medicine. Supplements do not typically work in the same way as drugs

where one pill is expected to act as a 'magic bullet.' A patient

should not expect to stop taking prescription drugs and replace them

with a single supplement overnight.

The EMPowerplus label enumerates a deceptively dull list of

ingredients. It is a simple formula that contains no novel or exotic

compounds, and upon reading the label you might even be fooled into

thinking that you're looking at the back of a bottle of Centrum. The

vitamins in the mix include A, C, D, E, B1, B2, B3, B4, B5, B6, B9,

B12, and H. The mineral blend consists of calcium, phosphorous,

magnesium, potassium, iodine, zinc, selenium, copper, manganese,

chromium, molybdenum, and iron. Add a dash of TrueHope's " CNS

Proprietary Blend " (dl-phenylalanine, glutamine, citrus bioflavanoids,

grape seed, choline bitartrate, inositol, ginkgo biloba, methionine,

germanium sesquioxide, boron, vanadium, nickel), and you have the most

controversial supplement ever to come out of Canada.

EMPowerplus is working, above all else, to address a nutritional

deficiency. This is an area with little research to reference, and

nutritional deficiency may or may not be at the root of bipolar

disorder in general. Even if the disease is caused by some deficiency

we know that one supplement will not meet this need for all people.

Keeping in mind that this is only a nutritional supplement (regardless

of what Health Canada says), the research suggests that it may be

worth it for someone suffering from bipolar or other psychiatric

disorders to look into trying this approach. However, this should be

treated as a nutritional supplement and not an immediate replacement

for medication. Treat it like an overpriced multivitamin. If symptoms

begin to dissipate then a patient may be able to lessen his or her use

of medication responsibly under the close guidance of a qualified

physician. As they say – it is important to keep an open mind, but not

so open that your brain falls out.

Please Note: This article is not to be construed as an endorsement of

EMPowerplus by either myself or Natural News. This article is intended

for informational purposes only to assist the reader to be informed

and empowered to make his or her own decisions based upon the

conclusions of his or her own personal research and counsel obtained

from a qualified health professional.

Sources of Interest:

(http://www.truehope.com)

((http://www.healthwatcher.net/Quackerywa...)

((http://www.newswithviews.com/Meininger/...)

((http://www.schizophrenia.com/sznews/arc...)

((http://www.healthyplace.com/Communities...)

((http://discovermagazine.com/2005/may/vi...)

(http://www.circare.org/FOIA/atipindex7.htm)

Available Public Abstracts of Referenced Studies:

((http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1514...)

((http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1242...)

((http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1178...)

About the author

Adam is a student of life who has dedicated literally thousands

of hours of personal research on top of formal institutional training

in Dietetics to learn the secrets of achieving vibrant health and

extended lifespan. His passion and dedication is in bringing the best

ideas for self-empowerment through nutrition and nutraceuticals as

well as alternative therapies, technology, and information to the

public through various means.