In reviewing my punch list of new supplements to research or trial, glyconutrients peaked my interest as something that I maybe wanted to try – but to be quite honest, I’m not quite sold on them. I’m not on the search for the “magic bullet” (or supplement in this case) for autism because there is none – but I did read some stories that stated the kids were improving after they started taking them and also of one story in which glyconutrients was the last missing piece of the puzzle for that child. So, I’ve googled, searched message board archives, etc. and while a good percentage of the feedback was positive – what I read also lacked details of WHY those parents thought it made a difference in their child. So, deciding to try it was not a slam dunk decision like other supplement were. I have never got the “I have got to try this” feeling about this supplement.

Also, it doesn’t take much to see that there are alot of false claims made by those who sell Mannatech’s Ambrotose in addition to Mannatech being a MLM company with somewhat of a sketchy history. (yes, I believe I am being polite) So, much like anything we try on our children – a chance is a chance.

So, I decided to take a chance on Mannatech’s Ambrotose and Nicholas started taking this yesterday alongside his other supplements. While I am giving this supplement a try, I am not going to alter his supplement regiment at all from how it is today and we are going to be giving this at least a one month trial. I will post anything I think is relevant to this supplement here, good or bad.

And because of the controversy, just so you know, neither I nor anyone I know is any way affiliated with Mannatech.

Here’s some more information on it in case you’re interested:

Mannatech Ambrotose Product Information

Information for your Doctor

Mannatech’s Website

From the Mannatech Science website

Autism, Ambrotose and Glyconutrients

Added June 10, 2009 – It’s been a week, nothing to report – just wanted to make a note of it.
Added June 17, 2009 – It’s been 2 weeks, still nothing to report.
Added July 5, 2009 – Okay, it’s been a month and I’ve decided this supplement is a keeper at least for right now. Nicholas has seemed to climbed up one more rung on the ladder to recovery. Whether or not this supplement can take credit for this, I do not know 100%, but I will tell you that I changed NOTHING during this time. I didn’t remove, reduce, increase or add any supplements. We did however continue to chelate every weekend, which could be the primary reason for the gains. I’m going to post an update on his progess today, so you can find that post separately, I just wanted to come back and edit this thread with our results. Also, I feel it is important to note that I have no stake in mannatech/ambrotose, financial or otherwise. I do not sell it nor do I intend to. I do not benefit in any way by my reporting this. In addition to his improvements, I no longer have to give him claritin or benedryl and he was getting claritin year round due to allergies. (I took him off of it before starting the ambrotose thinking he was good on just the 6 caps of Transfer Factor, but his allergies did come back. Perhaps I needed to increase the Transfer factor, but I decided to try the Ambrotose first.)

Added September 3, 2009: Well, his allergies have come back. And since I have him on the adult daily dose and they’ve come back full swing – I am not impressed as I had read this would be useful for allergies. Like I said, we have continued with chelation during this time and have continued to see gains. I just don’t think any of his gains can be attributed to this supplement, I really don’t. I haven’t seen the “beneficial effects on brain function” it’s literature mentions – not any more than supplements which did this for Nicholas such as Acetyl-L-Carnitine, Vinpocetine and Enhansa. The literature also suggests prebiotic activity, which I missed until now, and if it does have such activity, we have seen a much better response from Klaire’s Biotagen, which is much less expensive. So, when it runs out, it runs out – and that’s that. Should I see a regression of any kind, we will revisit this supplement and I will update this post. But as of today, we’re done with this one. (PS if you wanna try it, I recommend eBay for the best price.)

*Attn Ambrotose distributors: you DO NOT have my permission to use anything I have said on this blog in an attempt to market this product.