The role of cholesterol metabolism and various steroid abnormalities in autism spectrum disorders: A hypothesis paper.
Christopher Gillberg, Elisabeth Fernell, Eva Kočovská, Helen Minnis, Thomas Bourgeron, Lucy Thompson, Clare S Allely
PMID 28401679WHAT IT FOUND
No original patient outcomes are reported.
The paper proposes a cholesterol-steroid pathway hypothesis for autism spectrum disorder.
What this paper is
This is a hypothesis and narrative review of published studies linking cholesterol, vitamin D, testosterone, estrogen, cortisol and oxytocin to autism spectrum disorder. It does not report its own patients, outcomes or tested intervention, so there is no finding here that a therapist can act on in practice.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as evidence that cholesterol, vitamin D, testosterone, estrogen, cortisol or oxytocin abnormalities cause autism spectrum disorder, or that supplementation helps. The paper does not report its own patients, outcomes or tested intervention.