Folic acid associated with better response to structured teaching

Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) who took supplemental folic acid while participating in a TEACCH-style structured educational program showed greater improvement than children who did not take the nutrient, a study from China reports.

Caihong Sun and colleagues assigned 44 children to the folic acid group and 22 to a control group. Children in the intervention group took 400 micrograms of folic acid twice a day. The children in both groups participated in three months of structured education based on the TEACCH model. 

Before and after the study, the researchers assessed the children using the Autism Treatment Evaluation Checklist (ATEC), the Psychoeducational Profile (PEP-3), the Autism Behavior Checklist (ABC), and the Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS). They also measured folic acid levels, homocysteine levels, and glutathione metabolism in 29 of the folic acid-treated children and 29 neurotypical controls. 

The researchers report that folic acid intervention was associated with greater improvements in sociability, verbal and preverbal cognitive ability, receptive language, affective expression, and communication on the ATEC and PEP-3. In addition, supplementation increased folic acid levels, which were low at baseline, and reduced levels of homocysteine, which were high initially. (High homocysteine levels can be destructive to cells and cause abnormal DNA methylation.) Supplementation also resulted in normalized glutathione metabolism, which is crucial for protecting against oxidative damage to cells. 

The researchers conclude that some children with ASD “could benefit from this simple and safe nutritional supplementation.”

Citations

“Effi cacy of folic acid supplementation in autistic children participating in structured teaching: an open-label trial,” Caihong Sun, Mingyang Zou, Dong Zhao, Wei Xia, and Lijie Wu, Nutrients, June 7, 2016 (epub prior to print publication). Address: Wei Xia, [email protected].