Dietary Supplements in the Management of Symptoms Associated With Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Scoping Review.

This review looked at whether certain vitamins, minerals, and other natural supplements might help with autism symptoms. The researchers found that substances like melatonin, certain vitamins, and antioxidants may improve social skills, thinking, language, and sleep problems in autistic people, with few side effects. While promising, more research is needed before these can be widely recommended.

This scoping review examined dietary supplements for managing autism spectrum disorder symptoms, following PRISMA guidelines. Eight substances were studied: folic acid, l-carnitine, l-carnosine, melatonin, methylcobalamin, sulforaphane, beta-glucan, and ubiquinol. The review found these interventions showed improvements in sociability, cognition, language, CARS scores, CGI-I scores, and sleep disorders, with mild or no adverse effects. The authors suggest these substances have potential for clinical practice as options to reduce autism symptoms or comorbidity-related symptoms, potentially improving quality of life.

However, they emphasize that further research is necessary before definitive clinical recommendations can be made.

Dietary supplements may offer safer alternatives to psychotropic medications for managing autism symptoms. However, healthcare providers should await more rigorous research before routine clinical implementation. Current evidence suggests potential benefits for core symptoms and comorbidities with good safety profiles.

As a scoping review, this study maps existing literature rather than providing systematic evaluation of evidence quality. Sample sizes of individual studies not reported. Authors acknowledge further research is necessary before clinical recommendations can be made.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized as a neurodevelopmental disorder in which oxidative stress is a strong hypothesis for the pathophysiology. Treatment usually involves complementary therapies and psychotropic medication. However, despite their benefits, these drugs also cause adverse effects. Thus, substances such as vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and fatty acids have been the subject of studies due to their possible benefits.

This scoping review aimed to map the literature on substances that can reduce symptoms associated with ASD. The review followed the PRISMA guidelines and the Joanna Briggs Institute Manual for Evidence Synthesis. The studied substances were folic acid, l-carnitine, l-carnosine, melatonin, methylcobalamin, sulforaphane, beta-glucan, and ubiquinol. The interventions reduced some symptoms, with improvements in sociability, cognition, language, the Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS) score, the Clinical Global Impression Scale (CGI-I) score, and sleep disorders, with mild or no adverse effects.

Although further research is necessary, the substances described in the literature have potential for use in clinical practice and could be options for reducing symptoms of autism or those related to comorbidities, with a view to improving the quality of life in this population. Scoping Review Registration: The protocol was prospectively registered on the Open Science Framework on June 30, 2022 (https://osf.io/2ejhk).