Omega-3 fatty acids—Grade: B
Polyunsaturated fatty acids, in particular omega-3 fatty acids, are crucial for brain development and cannot be manufactured in the body. Essential fatty acid supplements such as fish oil have become popular for children with autism. A recent randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, six-week pilot study found behavior improvements in 13 children with severe behavior problems as a result of autism.
Folic acid—Grade: C
Oxidative stress is a theory that some people have advanced to account for the atypical brain development seen in autism, and abnormal levels of antioxidants have been reported in children with autism. But there are no randomized, controlled trials testing the notion that supplementation with folic acid, a water-soluble B vitamin that helps produce and maintain new cells, would have beneficial effects.
Secretin—Grade: A
Secretin, a gastrointestinal hormone, is one of the most extensively studied autism treatments. More than a dozen well-designed, well-executed studies have failed to find any benefit.
Pharmaceutical treatments
Antibiotics—Grade: C
Parent reports of frequent respiratory or gastrointestinal infections in children with autism are used to support the theory that the children have immune system problems, but those findings have not been confirmed. One study found short-term behavioral improvement in 11 children treated with oral vancomycin. But there are no other data supporting the use of antibiotics, and the researchers in that study said they would not recommend it for routine treatment.
Antifungal agents—Grade: C
Treatment with antifungal agents is based on the premise that imbalances in intestinal flora or other immune factors lead to an overgrowth of yeast. No controlled trials have tested antifungals as an autism treatment despite the popularity of medications such as nystatin (Mycostatin) and fluconazole (Diflucan).
Gastrointestinal medications—Grade: C
Children with autism frequently have symptoms such as reflux, constipation and diarrhea, and eat only a very limited number of foods. There are no evidence-based studies on the efficacy of digestive enzymes or probiotics for treating these symptoms.
Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy—Grade: C
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) is used in conventional medicine to treat carbon monoxide poisoning and to speed wound healing, and it has become popular as an autism treatment based on theories that implicate gut or brain inflammation or lack of blood flow to the brain. There are no randomized clinical trials of HBOT for autism. One open trial of 18 children with autism found some decrease in C-reactive protein, a marker for inflammation, and parents reported improved behavior. But the subjective measures and the fact that many of the children were also taking antioxidant supplements "make this study difficult to interpret," Hyman and Levy report.
Immune therapies—Grade: C
Some alternative practitioners recommend treatment with intravenous immunoglobulin-G, on the premise that immune deficits cause symptoms of autism. One open trial reported subjective improvements, but two other trials with specific outcome measures found no benefit.
Other approaches
Chelation—Grade: C
One alternative theory holds that mercury is poorly eliminated by children with autism, and that the toxic metal alters immune function and development. Epidemiological studies have failed to find a link between the use of the ethyl mercury–based preservative thimerosal in vaccines and autism. Despite this, chelation, the standard treatment for heavy metal poisoning, is marketed as an off-label treatment for autism. There are no controlled studies testing chelation's safety or effectiveness as an autism treatment, and at least one child has died after being treated with EDTA (ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid) chelation for autism.
See what we're tweeting about
10 Comments
Add CommentThe meta-research published here is more than a little out of date. We started HBOT after reading the double blind placebo controlled study published by Rossignol. We essentially duplicated his results in our son: increased eye contact and awareness, increased ability (and desire) to function with same aged peers.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOne of the most difficult concepts for people to grasp is that Autism isn't a disease that needs curing, it is a condition with a lot of challenging aspects, and the therapies we pursue with our children are aimed at reducing those challenges, such as: sensory overload, limited communication, lack of awareness and understanding. There's no single success checkbox to study, everything is a qualitative measure of improvement. The authors of the meta-study did seem to grasp that, even if they are clueless about things like the gluten/casein free diet. Our son has a dramatic, repeatable adverse reaction to gluten, or maybe wheat, exposure, but no problems with limited quantities of dairy products. Maybe the study they read found no significant effects for the majority of the population they observed, but whatever the broader findings are for the gluten free diet, we know from repeated experience over multiple settings and years that our particular child definitely suffers bad effects for 5 to 7 days following consumption of even a tiny wheat cracker.
As a father of three autistic children, I would love to see a cure. You work to improve coping mechanisms, but to sit here and say "it's not a disease with a cure" is a sure way to guarantee there never being a cure.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI don't think much of this article because it references the NIH and the NIH knows nothing about the autoimmune aspects of autism or that it is an epidemic.
The NIH is not grounded in good science when it comes to autism. They don't look at alternative treatments because the only science the NIH does is VooDoo science and parents and the public know VooDoo science is worth nothing.
I know about the NIH because I tried to get them to look at the autoimmune aspects of autism in the 1990s and they had no interest since real science is not their speciality.....only VooDoo or junk science is their speciality like the Duke University study that had monkeys looking at other monkey's butts. That is what the NIH is best at.....studying monkey's butts.
Yes!!! Autism is NOT a disease! I wish more people realized this.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSince, most unfortunately, there is a broad range of "Autistic Spectrum Disorders", I suspect your view of its 'disease' status depends on whether your children are severely disabled or relatively mildly affected.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMy grandson has been diagnosed with Ausperger Syndrome, a relatively mild disorder now lumped into the Autism Spectrum Disorders. I suspect most of at least the males I'm related to also suffered (prior to its description) this condition, which often seems to improve with age or at least be minimized with personal experience, even without treatment.
From my perspective then, I don't consider Asperger's to be a disease since its disabling effects are somewhat limited and the condition also seems to infer some beneficial abilities that might likely be eliminated if the more troubling aspects were subdued. I think this is especially true with the pharmaceutical industry's approach to treatment but also surgical and other approaches to 'cures'.
On the other hand, I can understand that more disabling conditions should be considered separately from Asperger's, which is why I object to the broad categorization applied to these disparate if possibly related conditions. Best wishes to all.
I don't have any children with autism so I'm going to limit what I have to say. I rather hate "arm chair" parenting and "find a test that supports our conclusion" science. Severe autism is closely tied to actual brain structure. The milder forms may not be, I don't know. For the severe forms, unless you can grow a new section of brain, you can't treat or cure it. You just deal with the situation.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisFood allergies and intolerances lead to behavioral issues without regard to autism being present or not. In an autistic child it may be much harder to identify dietary problems because they have trouble telling you.
I doubt that autism has an onset, rather I think it most likely that it is a development issue that occurs before birth but have no evidence to support this position. If this is true and we can identify the indicators we may be able to prevent autism rather than cure it. I hope we eventually find out one way or the other.
I have an alternative treatment for those which have family members which suffer from autism. If you have questions, please try the treatment for 3 months and after contact me at yukay_j@hotmail.com.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAutism is caused by multiple factors that will never be put to rest.
Causes:
poor food
poor environment
immunizations
My treatment:
ways to improve the food of your child:
Don't shop at alde's or walmart for your food
limit the meat and dairy including eggs, to 1 serving of each a day
increase fruits and vegetables to at least 6 a day - always wash pesticides off of your food.
don't give your child any soda/pop or fruit juice that isn't juiced by you
purified water is best
ways to improve the enviroment:
clean your house more often - especially your child's room
keep a sage plant (the herb) next to your child's bed and one in the most used room of the house
If the sage plant dies, get a new one and keep getting a new one
test for heavy metals and remove them
ways to avoid too many vaccines
make sure the vaccine is necessary and if contracting the disease will be worst than autism
if you do get vaccines avoid them from 1 to 4 years old
also ask for the additive list for each and every vaccine and space them out
avoid heavy metals in any vaccine
Good thoughts. Might include "do not let your child be vaccinated if they are running a fever or have been sick prior to appointment." and "use Ibuprophen/Motrin instead of acetomenophen prior/after getting immunized."
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI don't place a lot of stock in these studies, whether they are supposed to be "good" studies or not, because everyone is so different. Just because one study says a particular treatment is good or bad does not necessarily mean it is going to work or not work on your child. I believe there are many different types of autism and autism causes, so it would also follow there are different kinds of treatments.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisFor some resources on Asperger's support, I found a good site the other night, this might help to give parents some ideas. http://www.aspergerssociety.org/articles/support.htm
I hope further treatments that work for autism are soon found.
Why is a sage plant important. What will it do?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this