Medical researchers in the US have identified an effective new treatment for autism in an extract from the humble broccoli sprout.
Researchers from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine conducted a double blind study over 18 weeks of more than 40 young men with moderate to severe autism.
The study found the effect on those treated with the extract was transformative.
One of the lead authors, Professor Paul Talalay, said during the blinding period it became quite obvious to the parents, caretakers and professionals that there were some dramatic changes in behaviour.
"So that I must say we were rather sceptical and somewhat wondered whether there couldn't be anything wrong with the studies," he said.
"And we had all the data professionally examined by an independent firm to make sure that there'd be no systematic error of any sort."
At the moment, other than behavioural modification programs, there is no effective medical treatment for autism.
"Nearly all efforts in autism now - and there are many hundreds - deal with trying to ameliorate the behavioural effects, which are endpoints to be sure.
"But the point is that this was designed to look at the cause, the core mechanisms rather than at the symptoms, and that has not been done before or very rarely done before, let's put it that way," he said.
In a double blind study, neither the test subjects nor the researchers know what treatment a subject is receiving - for example, active or placebo.
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Broccoli extract found to be transformative in treatment of autism, US researchers say