Saturday, 23 February 2008

British antioxidant trial published: no significant effects

The long awaited results of a UK clinical trial of oral antioxidant and folinic acid supplements for young children with Down syndrome were published by the British Medical Journal on 21st February 2008.

The study used the Griffiths developmental quotient, an adapted MacArthur communicative development inventory, and biochemical markers to assess changes over 18 months, in a randomised clinical trial with 156 infants with Down syndrome participating.

No significant differences were found between the supplement and no supplement groups. The researchers concluded that the study "provides no evidence to support the use of antioxidant or folinic acid supplements in children with Down's syndrome."

The full text of the report is available to download from the BMJ website, and as a .pdf file An extract from a BMJ editorial in the same issue is available here.

We expect much more commentary on this study, and will post links here and on the DS NSW website, on the Research pages.

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