It is time to get real about all things autism. Some supplements and other items relating to autism are super expensive. I will buy them and review them for you. This is not sponsored by anyone. Nobody has paid me for my opinions and nobody sent me any free product. I will present my view based on working with parents in 17 different countries so far and the science of autism.
Simple Spectrum – a little background
This is a supplement for those with autism. It was created by Jackie, who was a former Real Housewife of New Jersey. Her son has autism, and they were very public about that on the show. I think that was a wonderful aspect to really help people see autism in real-life situations. She’s no longer on the show, but it certainly was great to watch her and her family.
There are two other founders, and one is a chiropractor. As far as I can tell, she specializes in CrossFit and high levels of fitness for competition. She certainly is well-versed in the body, but she doesn’t have a specific practice in autism.
What’s in Simple Spectrum?
Let’s go through some of the ingredients in Special Spectrum. It’s basically a multivitamin, so there’s lots of stuff in it.
It has:
- Vitamin A, which is great for antiviral properties
- Vitamin C, great for the immune system
- Vitamin D, absolutely essential
- Vitamin E
- Vitamin K, it’s great to have D and K together.
- The one thing to note: vitamins A, D, E, and K are fat soluble, which means if you take too much of them, there can be toxicity. You want to be very mindful if you’re taking this and any other supplements that have A, D, E, and K in them.
- A bunch of B vitamins. B vitamins are tricky. Not everyone responds well to B vitamins. Some people do, some people don’t. Some people don’t in the beginning, but later on do. There’s quite a bit of B vitamins in here, and there is a substantial amount of B12. Again, if you’re giving your child B12 shots, you want to be mindful and ask yourself (and your doctor) – Is this something that you want to add in addition? This is why you want to look at all the ingredients and everything.
- Some calcium
- Some iodine
- Some magnesium. Magnesium is great for that calming effect. It’s also great for producing stools, although typically not in this amount. This is a relatively small amount.
- There’s some zinc that’s great for antiviral, for detoxing, a variety of things.
- Selenium, is the same thing that’s great for detoxing. There’s a little bit of that in there.
- Mellignum, that same thing. It’s good for detoxing.
- Potassium.
- Inositol
- Coenzyme Q-10, that’s really good for mitochondrial support, but you might not be focusing on that at this time.
- NAC (N-Acetyl L-Cysteine). That can be great, but if done too early, and let’s say there’s some type of Candida infection, typically Candida and NAC don’t play well together. The reason why is NAC feeds Candida. In the lab, if you want to grow Candida, you give it NAC. That would not be what you want to do if your child has a Candida infection.
- Black pepper fruit extract,
- Turmeric
Giving it a shot
This is what it looks like. This is a full scoop in about 10 ounces of water. They suggest 4-6 ounces of water. You can see this is the color. If you’re trying to hide things from your child and they don’t like orange, this will not work. This is highly colored orange. I would also recommend you don’t try to hide things from your child. It becomes problematic sometimes.
What does it taste like?
I’ve got to tell you, not good. The smell is unpleasant. It smells like a multivitamin. You know how when you open up a multivitamin, you get hit with that not-so-good smell? It has that smell, and definitely a bit of a taste. It’s so brightly colored orange, probably from the turmeric, but it’s not strongly flavored. You could mix it in something else. Just keep in mind the color will change, but it’s not tasty. It’s not sweet, so there’s no added sugars and stuff like that, so that is great. But taste-wise, certainly, I’ve tasted many better things. I’ve had it a few times. For me, it doesn’t get better with each sip.
What do I think about Simple Spectrum?
In the beginning, if you need to feel like you’re doing a little bit of something and you want to see, maybe if I try a little bit of everything, what would happen? This would be your supplement. There’s a little bit of everything in it. There’s not a super focus on anything except a lot of B vitamins. In the beginning, if you wanted to feel like you wanted some type of multivitamin that has certain things that are important for autism, this would be an option. It is $50. This lasts maybe about a month, depending on the size of your child. It could be an opt in the beginning.
Once you figure out what you’re doing and what the health issues are for your child, it most definitely would be a drop. It’s too general in many ways to really advance the way that I’m sure you know your child can.
In the beginning, okay, maybe it helps give some momentum. Maybe it helps you feel like, “Oh, something is possible to change.” That would be fine to do, but definitely a drop for the long term. The taste is not that great. The color is definitely bright, vibrant, and noticeable. Unfortunately, after you know what you’re doing, it is a drop.
