Team:NJMU-China/Education

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Education

The chosen biomarker, serotonin, or so-called 5-HT, as a critical modulator of ENS and CNS development and function, could be a nexus for the gut-brain axis in ASD. As a critical modulator of cortical function, serotonin’s metabolism is defective in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) brain^1,2. As we place our focus on metabolites, the change of intestinal microorganisms makes the content of metabolites different. From time to time. Recent research shows that children with autism spectrum disorders show higher food selectivity, which restricts the consumption of some foods and may cause nutritional deficiencies³. The meta-analysis also suggests a lower intake of calcium, vitamin D and dairy and a higher intake of fruit, vegetables, protein, phosphorus, selenium, thiamine, riboflavin and vitamin B12 than recommended⁴.

But during the volunteer and the communication with parents, we found the fact that parents generally lack knowledge of Gut-Brain Asix and the influence of diet on their children. After evaluating the benefits of health education, we decided to conduct health education on this topic: the diet for children with autism.

Our PI, Prof. Xingyin Liu, who has long been engaged in research on autism and gut microbes, gave a lecture for parents. Prof. Liu first introduced some background of autism, explaining that this is not a rare disease and its cause is still under research. Then she talked about mechanisms of how intestine and brain interact, therefore introducinged why controlling diet is beneficial for treatment and giving some advice on how to control diets.

We designed a brochure of autistic gut-brain axis interaction and registered a Wechat official account to provide some advice on dietary care for children with autism. Based on Professor Liu’s lecture, we also summarized some questions that most parents may care about, such as which food to drop and how long to drop that food.

Many parents report that their children’s autism symptoms and related medical issues improve when they remove casein (milk protein) and gluten (wheat protein) and provide less sugar from their diets as Prof. Liu recommended.

References

1. Nakai, N. et al. Serotonin rebalances cortical tuning and behavior linked to autism symptoms in 15q11-13 CNV mice. 1–13 (2017).
2. Agus, A., Planchais, J. & Sokol, H. Review Gut Microbiota Regulation of Tryptophan Metabolism in Health and Disease. Cell Host Microbe 23, 716–724 (2018).
3. Marí-Bauset, S., Zazpe, I., Mari-Sanchis, A., Llopis-González, A. & Morales-Suárez-Varela, M. Food Selectivity in Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Systematic Review. J. Child Neurol. 29, 1554–1561 (2014). 4. Esteban-figuerola, P., Canals, J., Fernández-cao, J. C. & Val, V. A. Differences in food consumption and nutritional intake between children with autism spectrum disorders and typically developing children : A meta-analysis. Autism 23, 1079–1095 (2019).