Dietary Supplements and Autism Ranking:

Current Research

There is evidence that some autistic individuals may have nutritional and metabolic problems. For example, some autistic people eat restricted diets which are nutritionally imbalanced and can lead to severe nutrition deficiencies. Symptoms of severe deficiencies include skin rashes, mouth sores, limps, unexplained irritability, eyesight changes and severe ill health. The effects of these can be life threatening and life changing. There is also evidence that some autistic individuals may have other nutritional and metabolic problems that have less severe, but behaviourally or medically significant effects.

However, the number of autistic individuals who have these problems is not clear. It is also not clear whether these problems or differences are any more common in autistic individuals than in other individuals. Possibly, these problems cause or worsen symptoms (of autism or related issues). Or maybe they arise because of autism, or they could be completely unrelated to autism. Nobody knows.

Most dietary supplements provide the same benefits for autistic people as they do to people who are not autistic. They do not appear to provide any additional benefits to autistic people, according to a limited amount of research evidence of sufficiently high quality. Some dietary supplements may make some problems worse for some autistic children and young people according to a limited amount of research evidence of sufficiently high quality. There is no high quality research to suggest that any dietary supplements provide any benefits to autistic adults.

For details of the research on specific supplements, where it exists, please see vitamins and minerals and other dietary supplements.

NICE

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is a UK government body which supports healthcare professionals and others to make sure that the care they provide is of the best possible quality and offers the best value for money.

NICE made the following observations on the use of dietary supplements for autistic adults . “... there is very little evidence regarding safety and efficacy for exclusion diets, vitamins, minerals or supplements for the treatment of autism. Moreover, it is important to bear in mind that ... some dietary supplements can be associated with adverse side effects and/or interact and perhaps interfere with the action of other supplements or prescribed drugs”. (NICE, 2012)

NICE also reported that some dietary supplements may be beneficial for some autistic children and young people. However it also reported that “... the evidence was very limited and further randomised placebo-controlled studies are required to corroborate the existing evidence for ... dietary supplements in children and young people with autism”. (NICE, 2013).

Updated

16 Jun 2022

Last Review

01 Apr 2017

Next Review

01 Aug 2023