Inositol Powder

Inositol helps prevent hardening of the arteries, metabolizes fat and cholesterol,
removes fats from the liver, and is important in the formation of lecithin.⁸

Inositol also helps promote healthy hair and skin.¹⁰

It helps lower cholesterol levels and it aids in the prevention of excema.¹⁰

Promotes female hormone health

Helps alleviate depression and anxiety

Useful in treating obsessive-compulsive disorder

Clinical Applications of Inositol:

Restful sleep/anxiety: 1-2g per day

Depression: 12g per day

Panic Attacks: 12g per day

Alzheimer's: 6g per day

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder: 18g per day

**Contraindications: ADHD, schizophrenia

Depression and Serotonin Disorders
Inositol also helps maintain healthy serotonin metabolism, and by so doing helps treat many conditions that involve poor serotonin function, including depression, agoraphobia, panic disorder, and obsessive compulsive disorder.

Heart Health
Inositol helps prevent hardening of the arteries, metabolizes, fat and cholesterol, removes fats from the liver, and is important in the formation of lecithin.⁸

Cell Nutrition
Inositol's primary function is in cell membrane structure and integrity. Along with choline, it may help in brain cell nutrition. It is especially important for the cells of the bone marrow, eye tissue, and intestines.¹⁰

A Natural Prozac
Autism Research Review International 1997, V.11 No. 2, p1
A recent study in the American Journal of Psychiatry indicates that the B vitamin inositol can be as effective in treating Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) as powerful drugs such as Prozac and Luvox.

In a double-blind, cross-over study, Israeli researcher Mendel Fux and colleagues administered high doses of inositol (18 g/day) to 13 individuals whose chronic OCD symptoms had not been alleviated by drugs, or who could not tolerate the side effects of the medications. For the first few weeks, the researchers report, inositol made no difference in symptoms. After six weeks, however, treatment with the nutrient resulted in marked improvements. The study authors conclude, “Inositol is effective in depression, panic, and obsessive-compulsive disorder.”

The Harvard Mental Health Letter notes that according to the study, inositol “appeared to work as well and as quickly as the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIS) fluvoxamine (Luvox) and fluoxetine (Prozac), which are accepted treatments for OCD.”

No side effects were seen in subjects taking inositol. A long-tem study of inositol treatment, by a different research group, found no side effects in individuals taking 1,000 to 3,000 mg daily for up to a year. However, Fred Penzel-who reports that about 60 percent of patients with OCD seem to improve when taking inositol-notes that the nutrient occasionally causes diarrhea and intestinal gas when taken at high doses. These symptoms, avoid them, he recommends reducing the dosage, taking inositol with meals, and/or dividing the daily intake into three doses.

While the Israeli researchers administered 18 grams per day of inositol to their subjects, Penzel reports that “some people improve on as little as 2 grams.” Like the Israeli team, Penzel cautions against expecting instant results. “It may take several weeks to see any effect,” he says, "although some have responded within two weeks."

Inositol, a nutrient, helps the liver manage fat and functions as a cell growth factor by stimulating the body to manufacture a type of fat used to construct myelinated nerve material. According to nutrition researcher Jeffrey Bland, “Inappropriately low amounts of inositol can reduce nerve growth and regeneration.” Sheldon Hendler notes that “although clear-cut deficiency states of myo-inositol (the nutritionally active form of inositol) have not been identified in humans, they have been described in other animals." Inositol is currently used to treat sensory nerve problems in diabetics, and new research suggests that supplemental inositol taken by pregnant diabetic women can dramatically reduce the incidence of neural tube defects in their children.

Editor's note: The new findings about inositol are of great importance to parents who need help in treating their children's crippling OCD symptoms, but are afraid of the potential side effects of powerful drugs. One such parent, Kathi Basehore, wrote us recently to say that she had taken her daughter off Prozac when side effects developed. When she read of the inositol study, she started her daughter on the nutrient. At the initial low dosage, she saw no effects; but when she increased the dosage, her daughter's teacher-who had threatened to pull the girl out of several due to her behavior problems--suddenly reported that she was “great”, “excellent”, “wonderful!” Basehore says her daughter “notes when it wears off (after 8 or 9 hours) that she doesn't feel too happy.”¹⁸

“Inositol treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder,” Mendel Fux, Joseph Levine, Alex Aviv, and R.H Belmaker; American Journal of Psychiatry, Vol.153, No.9, September 1996, pp.1219-1221.

“Inositol for OCD”, Harvard Mental Health Letter, December 1996. And Letter, Fred Penzel; OCD Newsletter, April 1996, page 5. Address: Fred Penzel, Western Suffolk Psychological Services, Huntington, NY.¹⁸

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Customer Reviews

Mrs. 6/29/2011

Reviewed by: Brigid from New York.

Thank you for the wonderful information on inositol My Dr. put me on it recently and while I did not understand its full benefits and health value to me then, I sure appreciate my great Dr. for his knowledge and in recommending inositol. And it's so pleasant to take, right off the spoon....

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