Nutritional Approaches in the Treatment of Autism Spectrum Disorder

Autism spectrum disorder, which global prevelance is increasing day by day, is pervasive developmental disorder defined as deficiencies communication and interaction difficulties and limited-repetitive behaviour patterns. According to epidemiological studies, while prevelance was one in every 150 births in 2000, it is one each 68 children nowadays. The precise unknownness of the cause and the increasing of its frequency have increased the studies about autism. The fact that the intestines of autistic individuals are over-permeable and selective in their diet suggests that nutritional approaches may be beneficial in the treatment of autism. Gluten-free diet, ketogenic diet, special carbohydrate diet, Feingold diet, Candida body ecology diet, elimination allergy diet and fatty acid, multivitamin, mineral, probiotic supplementation are nutritional approaches used in autism treatment In this review, it was aimed to evaluate the effects of current scientific and evidence based nutrition approaches on autism symptoms.