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Review
. 2021 Feb 9;13(2):572.
doi: 10.3390/nu13020572.

Gluten and Autism Spectrum Disorder

Iain D Croall  1 , Nigel Hoggard  1 , Marios Hadjivassiliou  2
Affiliations
Review

Gluten and Autism Spectrum Disorder

Iain D Croall et al. Nutrients. .

Abstract

An expanding body of literature is examining connections between Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and dietary interventions. While a number of specialist diets have been suggested as beneficial in ASD, gluten has received particularly close attention as a potentially exacerbating factor. Reports exist suggesting a beneficial effect of the gluten-free diet (GFD) in ameliorating behavioural and intellectual problems associated with ASD, while epidemiological research has also shown a comorbidity between ASD and coeliac disease. However, both caregivers and clinicians have expressed an uncertainty of the value of people with ASD going gluten-free, and as the GFD otherwise receives considerable public attention a discussion which focuses specifically on the interaction between ASD and gluten is warranted. In this review we discuss the historical context of ASD and gluten-related studies, and expand this to include an overview of epidemiological links, hypotheses of shared pathological mechanisms, and ultimately the evidence around the use and adoption of the GFD in people with ASD.

Keywords: autism spectrum disorder; celiac disease; coeliac disease; gluten sensitivity; review.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
A histogram of eligible papers found in the primary pubmed search according to their year of publication.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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