Dietary preferences Implicated in Autism-Microbiome Link

Recommendable! You are what you eat and what you don't eat! 😄

"... Although some patients with ASD have gastrointestinal issues and unbalanced gut microbes, or dysbiosis, the evidence that this contributes to ASD symptoms is unconvincing ... For example, animal studies showing that the transference of certain microbes into mice can alleviate ASD-like behaviours are hard to interpret ... because “rodents don’t get autism.” ...
ASD-diagnosed kids were more likely to have a restricted and poor-quality diet than those without a diagnosis. The team also found that this diet seemed to be driven by certain traits associated with ASD including restricted, repetitive behaviors and sensory sensitivity. ...
“It’s the reduced dietary diversity which is driving changes in the microbiome and not the other way around,” ..."

From the abstract:

"There is increasing interest in the potential contribution of the gut microbiome to autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, previous studies have been underpowered and have not been designed to address potential confounding factors in a comprehensive way. We performed a large autism stool metagenomics study (n = 247) ... We found negligible direct associations between ASD diagnosis and the gut microbiome. Instead, our data support a model whereby ASD-related restricted interests are associated with less-diverse diet, and in turn reduced microbial taxonomic diversity and looser stool consistency. ... Overall, microbiome differences in ASD may reflect dietary preferences that relate to diagnostic features, and we caution against claims that the microbiome has a driving role in ASD."

Diet Implicated in Autism-Microbiome Link | The Scientist Magazine® The unbalanced gut flora present in some people with autism is not a driver of the condition but rather a consequence of eating behaviors characteristic of the condition, a new study claims.

Autism-related dietary preferences mediate autism-gut microbiome associations (no public access. Cell journal only supports open access)