The Role of Vitamins in Autism Spectrum Disorder: What Do We Know?

Abstract

Vitamin or mineral supplementation is considered to be the most commonly used medical treatment for autism spectrum disorder (ASD), in addition to other interventions such as neurological and psychological interventions. There is not much evidence of therapeutic efficacy between vitamin and mineral supplementation and improvements in ASD. However, several researchers have noted that patients with ASD have various metabolic and nutritional abnormalities including issues with sulfation, methylation, glutathione redox imbalances, oxidative stress, and mitochondrial dysfunction. There is some evidence that vitamin and mineral supplementation may support these basic physiologic processes. Recently, the nutritional status of ASD patients has been gaining focus in this particular area. Pointing out the nutritional status as a potential etiological factor for attention/communication disorders, more importance has been given to this particular point. Moreover, autistic specific considerations like the feature and behavior of ASD might be increased or at least fall in the higher risk due to the sub-optimal nutritional status.