Identification of urinary metabolites that correlate with clinical improvements in children with autism treated with sulforaphane from broccoli.

The trial had no control group, so it cannot separate the supplement's effect from time, school programs, or other supports. Parents knew their child was receiving the supplement, so their ratings may have been more positive. Only 15 children provided follow-up information, and 6 families dropped out before completing post-baseline information. The researchers did not adjust for multiple comparisons when testing 694 metabolites, so the paper did not correct for the many correlations it examined. Changes in urine chemicals tracked with score changes, but this does not show that the chemicals caused improvement or that the supplement caused the chemical changes. All children attended one specialized school, where existing behavioral programs may have already improved baseline function and limited further detectable change. The study used only behavior and social functioning questionnaires, so changes in other areas such as repetitive behavior or adaptive function were not measured. Urine chemicals are affected by diet, environment, stress, sleep, age, gender, and pubertal state, and the sample had a wide age range. The supplement delivered a sulforaphane precursor with an enzyme rather than pure sulforaphane, so the amount reaching the body may differ from the earlier trial.

Avmacol was provided at no cost by Nutramax Laboratories Consumer Care. The JS Fund is named as funder.

Do not conclude that sulforaphane improves autism symptoms. This was a small pilot trial with no control group, and the broader behavior score did not change clearly while only the social functioning score showed a clear improvement.