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wider use as a supplement. People with bipolar disorder should exercise appropriate
caution, including consideration of a mood stabilizer while using inositol. There are no
studies or cautions concerning use of inositol in breast-feeding women or in children, but
Lake and Spiegel caution that inositol may cause uterine contractions, ruling out its use in
pregnant women.- DOSAGE: Brown et al. report dosages of 12 - 20 g per day. Belmaker and Levine and Lake and
Spiegel both used a dose of 12 - 18 g per day. This is 10 – 18 times the average daily intake of
1 g per day. - RESEARCH: Long-term outcomes -- benefits and liabilities from continuing treatment with
inositol and comparative assessment with other drugs -- require further investigation, as do
the systematic tracking, reporting and quantification of adverse effects.
1
How to Use Herbs, Nutrients & Yoga in Mental Health Care, by Richard P. Brown, M.D. (of Columbia University
College of Physicians and Surgeons), Patricia L. Gerbarg, M.D. (of New York Medical College), and Philip R. Muskin,
M.D. (of Columbia as well) (W. W. Norton and Company, New York, 2009) at 47.
(^2) Muskin, P.R., Gerbarg, P.L., and Brown, R.P., Complementary and Integrative Therapies for Psychiatric Disorders,
Psychiatric Clinics of North America, copyright Elsevier, Inc., Philadelphia ( 2013 ) (“Brown et al. II”) at 34.
(^3) Lake, J.A. and Spiegel, D., Complementary and Alternative Treatments in Mental Health Care, American
Psychiatric Publishing, Inc., Washington (2007), at 138.
(^4) Belmaker, R.H. & Levine, J., “Inositol in the Treatment of Psychiatric Disorders,” in Natural Medications for
Psychiatric Disorders: Considering the Alternatives, co-edited by David Mischoulon, M.D. and Jerrold F.
Rosenbaum, M.D. (both of Harvard Medical School) (Lippincott, Williams and Wilkins, Philadelphia 2002/2008), at
105 - 115.
(^5) Mischoulon and Rosenbaum, op. cit. at 105-109.