سامانه کنگره های دانشگاه علوم پزشکی و خدمات بهداشتی و درمانی آذربایجان غربی

صفحه اصلی / بیستمین همایش سالیانه بیماری های شایع گوارش و کبد کودکان ایران و دومین همایش بین المللی چاقی کودکان

Effect of gluten free diet on gastrointestinal and behavioral indices among children with autism spectrum disorders: a randomized clinical trial

نویسندگان :

Faezeh Ghalichi¹ Alireza Ostadrahimi²

1- دانشکده علوم پزشکی مراغه 2- Tabriz University of Medical Sciences

کلمات کلیدی :

Autism Spectrum Disorders،Gluten Free Diet،Gut-brain axis،ROME Ш،Gastrointestinal stress

چکیده :

Background and Aim: Genetic and environmental factors are both responsible for the etiology of autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Although epidemiological studies have been conducted to clarify the association between restriction diets and ASD, the conclusion remains unclear. Children with ASD often suffer from gastrointestinal discomforts due to intestinal dysbiosis, which is mainly related to the gut-brain axis. The similarities between the mechanisms involved in celiac disease and malabsorption of large proteins such as gluten, gliadin and casein proposed that there might be a link between celiac disease and ASD. This study aimed to investigate the effect of gluten free diet (GFD) on gastrointestinal symptoms and behavioral indices in children with ASD. Methods: In this randomized clinical trial, 80 children diagnosed with ASD by the Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R) were assigned into GFD (n=40) and regular diet (RD) (n=40) groups for 6 weeks. At the beginning and end of the intervention, the ROME Ш and Gilliam Autism Rating Scale 2 (GARS-2) questionnaires, were used for assessing gastrointestinal symptoms and psychometric properties, respectively. Results: Of the 80 children, 53.9% had gastrointestinal abnormalities. In the GFD group, the prevalence of gastrointestinal symptoms decreased significantly (P<0.05) after intake of GFD (40.57% vs. 17.10%) but increased insignificantly in the RD group (42.45% vs. 44.05%). GFD intervention resulted in a significant decrease in behavioral disorders (80.03±14.07 vs. 75.82±15.37, P<0.05) but an insignificant increase in the RD group (79.92±15.49 vs. 80.92±16.24). Conclusion: Our findings support for the use of the gluten free diet in the treatment of some children with ASD, and stress the importance of further research into the biological and dietary factors optimizing and attenuating the diet in treating these children. Additionally, searching for ASD subpopulations that will best respond to the intervention is another aspect that must be taken into account.