Autism Studies and Related Medical Conditions, January 2009 - TACA

Liebscher DH, Liebscher DE. About the misdiagnosis of magnesium deficiency. J Am Coll
Nutr. 2004 Dec;23(6):730S-1S.
Self-Help Organisation on Mineral Imbalances, Task Force Magnesium-Deficiency
Tetany, Rummelsburger Str. 13, D-10315 Berlin, Germany. dierckh.liebscher@magnesiumhilfe.de
The experience of our self-help organisation shows that the reason patients with
symptoms of magnesium (Mg) deficiency do not get Mg therapy is acceptance of
an inappropriate lower limit of the reference values for serum Mg concentration.
The commonly designated low limit of the normal range seems to have been
selected from values obtained for symptomatic patients. It is below levels that
exist in patients with marginal deficiencies that can predispose to development of
pathologic findings, so that the prevalence and importance of this disease is
insufficiently considered. The lower reference limit of the normal population is
erroneously regarded as a diagnostic criterion that excludes Mg deficiency when
the serum level is even slightly above the reference limit that only excludes
normality at lower levels. It is a statistical error to use the confidence limits of
the normal population as the exclusion limit for those with abnormal Mg status.
PMID: 15637222 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Litov RE, Combs GF Jr. Selenium in pediatric nutrition. Pediatrics. 1991 Mar;87(3):339-
51.
Mead Johnson Research Center, Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, Evansville,
Indiana 47721-0001.
Se is an essential nutrient that provides antioxidant protection in concert with
vitamin E. Several selenoproteins have been identified, but only one, SeGSHpx,
has a known function, that of neutralizing toxic hydroperoxides. Plasma Se
concentration, being responsive to changes in Se intake, is the most practical
and widely used measure of nutritional Se status. The plasma Se concentrations
of the majority of healthy infants and children fall within the range of 50 to 150
micrograms/L. Although SeGSHpx activity measures the metabolically functional
form of Se, the lack of a standardized analytical method has limited its
usefulness as an index of nutritional Se status. Se deficiency was first observed
in animals, but it is now recognized to occur in humans. Two human diseases
associated with severe nutritional Se deficiency have been reported from China:
a juvenile cardiomyopathy named Keshan disease and a chondrodystrophy
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