title: Are the amounts of vitamins in commercially available dietary supplement formulations relevant for the management of psychiatric disorders in children?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate whether micronutrient supplements shown through research to have perceived benefits in the treatment of psychological/psychiatric symptoms in children have similar vitamin ingredients and doses to over-the-counter dietary supplements.
  
  
  METHODS
  We conducted a systematic review to identify studies that used micronutrients for the treatment of psychological/psychiatric symptoms in children with documented benefits; 13 different supplements were identified that included vitamin ingredients. They were compared with the vitamin composition of 22 over-the-counter child-targeted supplements available in New Zealand.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The vitamin ingredients were comparable across the research and commercially available supplements. However, the median vitamin daily doses in research supplements were found to be greater than those of over-the-counter supplements, with most mean differences being significant, including vitamins B1, B3, B6, B7, B12, C and D (p<0.05), B5 and B9 (p<0.001), but not vitamins A or B2.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Micronutrient supplements found to show potential benefit in research with a focus on improving psychological/psychiatric symptoms in children have a significantly greater vitamin dose than over-the-counter supplements. Therefore, the results found in micronutrient research studies cannot be extrapolated to over-the-counter supplements. Comparing the myriad ingredients and dosages in micronutrient supplements is, however, a complex process and further investigation is required to understand fully the importance of our findings.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch 8140, New Zealand. julia.rucklidge@canterbury.ac.nz.
authors.forename: Julia J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Rucklidge
authors.forename: Amy L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Harris
authors.forename: Ian C
authors.initials: IC
authors.lastname: Shaw
mesh_terms: D035843:Biomedical Research / Q000379:methods*; D002648:Child; D019587:Dietary Supplements / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D019468:Disease Management; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D006801:Humans; D018977:Micronutrients / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D009520:New Zealand; D004366:Nonprescription Drugs / Q000600:supply & distribution*; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000628:therapy*
chemical_list: D018977:Micronutrients; D004366:Nonprescription Drugs