Moore Foundation grantees at The Ohio State University conducted a study of 18 children with autism and moderate-to-severe gastrointestinal problems. These children received fecal transplants — a method of introducing donated healthy microbes into people with gastrointestinal disease to rebalance the gut.
The researchers used a method called microbiota transfer therapy, which started with the children receiving a two-week course of antibiotics to wipe out much of their existing gut flora. Then, doctors gave them an initial high-dose fecal transplant in liquid form. In the seven to eight weeks that followed, the children drank smoothies blended with a lower-dose powder.
Parents and doctors said they saw positive changes lasting at least eight weeks after the treatment. Behavioral symptoms of autism and gastrointestinal distress often go hand-in-hand, and both improved when the children with the disorder underwent fecal transplant and subsequent treatment.
Children without autism were included for comparison of bacterial and viral gut composition prior to the study.
The study, published this week in the journal Microbiome, was led by Marine Microbiology Initiative investigator Matthew Sullivan, an associate professor of microbiology at Ohio State.
Limitations of this study include its small size. The children and their parents also knew they were receiving the experimental treatment (i.e. the study was not double-blinded) and the researchers relied heavily on parents’ observations, both of which open the door for false perceived benefits.
"We have to be mindful of the placebo effect and we have to take it with a grain of salt," said Sullivan. "But it does give us hope."
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