Nutritional interventions for autism spectrum disorder therapy: scope review

Introduction: Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder triggered by several factors, including genetic and environmental factors. The main symptoms are digestive and neurological, and nutritional interventions are among the most promising therapies to alleviate clinical symptoms Objective: To map scientific evidence on nutritional interventions for people with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Materials and Methods: Scoping review performed according to recommendations from The Joanna Briggs Institute, in Medline, Lilacs, Cochrane Library, Embase, SciELO and Web of Science databases. Results: 51 studies published from 2015 to 2022 were selected, presenting high levels of evidence. As for the mapped evidence, the highlights were gluten-free, casein-free and ketogenic diets, food supplements such as folic acid, N-acetylcysteine, probiotics, methyl-B12, trimethylglycerin, B vitamins, magnesium, vitamin D, omega-3 , melatonin and cysteine-rich whey protein isolate, in addition to dietary nutraceuticals such as curcumin, resveratrol, naringerin, sulforaphane and gamma-aminobutyric acid in the form of Oolong tea as the most reported nutritional interventions for nutritional therapy of people with ASD, with indications to reduce stereotyped behaviors and improve communication, cognition and sociability. Conclusion: Food as a therapeutic measure has been shown to be beneficial, making further studies necessary to obtain knowledge of the relationship between nutrition and ASD.