Melatonin, the neurohormone which regulates the circadian rhythm or sleeping cycle, had sufficient evidence on improving sleep disturbances a symptom which affects about 80 per cent of children with ASD.
A REVIEW of the evidence base that supports complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) options has singled out the use of the sleep hormone melatonin as the best treatment for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
The Telethon Institute for Child Health Research study investigated the current evidence-base on the safety and efficacy of a wide range of CAM options used by families seeking treatment for children with ASD.
There is substantial evidence that intensive educational and behavioural programs are successful at improving the core symptoms (social and behavioural difficulties) of ASD.
The non-core symptoms widely acknowledged in ASD include sleep and gastrointestinal disorders, associated with significant family and child distress, and CAM treatments claim to address these.
Telethon Institute researcher and Winthrop Professor Andrew Whitehouse says there is a huge cost and time burden associated with intensive educational and behavioural programs.
We are interested in finding evidence for interventions that are time and cost effective, to assist in relieving the exhausting burden from families, W/Prof Whitehouse says.
The review investigated biologically-based CAM practicesonly studies that were placebo-controlled, replicated, and met the safety standards required for an efficacy trial were included in the review.
The review found an estimated 40 per cent of children with ASD are put onto gluten-free casein-free diets, which claim to assist behavioural and gastrointestinal disorders.
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT), the inhalation of 100 per cent oxygen in a pressurised chamber, claims to reduce cerebral oxidative stress and neuroinflammation, observed in some children with ASD.
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Sleep hormone best combats autism symptom