The Biologically Based Complementary and Alternative Treatments In Autism Spectrum Disorders

Objective: The increase in the rate of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) induced a parallel interest in treatments for children with ASD. The lack of treatment methods which are focused on etiologic origins in ASD brought about use of complementary and alternative medicine assuming as a possi- ble treatment. In this article, we reviewed the biologically based complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) applications in ASD. Method: We searched for the articles related to the CAM applications in ASD through Pubmed (Medline) and we benefited from 78 articles including the data about biologically based CAM in ASD. Results: The rate of CAM use in ASD reached to a level as high as 92% in western countries. It has been observed that a multitude of various methods, including chelating agents, hyperbaric oxygen treatment, intake of gluten and casein-free diet, vitamin and mineral supplementations, antifungal and antiviral agents, IVIG and secretin administration, have been used to treat ASD. However, these issues had not been investigated enough except the association between ASD and vaccines and secretin. Discussion: The CAM applications may cause harm on physical health and they bring extra emotional and economic burden to the family. It might be necessary for clinicians to inform parents about these applications and their possible potential risks. To clarify the efficacy of the CAM approaches, it is necessary to investigate these methods by the studies conducted with sound methodology, although these applications are often not compatible with our current scientific understanding of neuroscience.