Secretin and Autism Ranking:

History

Secretin was discovered in 1902 by physiologists William Maddock Bayliss and Ernest Starling. Its use as a treatment for autism was discovered by chance in 1998.

A young autistic boy, Parker Beck, was given secretin at the same time as he was given an endoscopy to find out what was causing his severe diarrhoea. He appeared to make remarkable improvements, smiling and talking for the first time. His parents believe that secretin was the cause of those improvements.

The first published study (Horvath et al, 1998) described the use of secretin in three autistic children. The study reported that the children reduced autism-related symptoms after receiving secretin as part of gastrointestinal testing. This trial was reported widely, leading many parents to request the use of secretin for their autistic children. 

Since then many clinical trials have been undertaken, the vast majority of which have shown that secretin does not provide any benefits to autistic people.

Updated

16 Jun 2022

Last Review

01 Dec 2018

Next Review

01 Aug 2024