Sulphation deficit in 'low-functioning' autistic children: a pilot study

Abstract:

BACKGROUND: Parents of autistic children and autism support groups often report that autistic episodes are exacerbated when the children eat certain foodstuffs such as dairy products, chocolates, wheat, corn sugar, apples, and bananas. The hypothesis that autistic behavior might be related to metabolic dysfunctions has led us to investigate in a group of ‘low functioning’ autistic children and in an age-matched control group each made up of 20 subjects, the sulphation capacity available.

METHODS: Utilizing the biochemical characteristics of paracetamol we evaluated by high performance liquid chromatography, the urine paracetamol–sulfate/paracetamol-glucuronide (PS/PG) ratio in all subjects following administration of this drug.

RESULTS: The PS/PG ratio in the group of autistic subjects gave a significantly lower result than the control group with p < .00002.

CONCLUSIONS: The inability to effectively metabolize certain compounds particularly phenolic amines, toxic for the CNS, could exacerbate the wide spectrum of autistic behavior.

NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY

Parents of autistic children and autism support groups often report that their children’s autistic behaviours get worse when the children eat certain foodstuffs such as dairy products, chocolates, wheat, corn sugar, apples, and bananas. This suggests that some aspects of autistic behaviour might be linked with difficulties in processing certain food substances.

This idea led the authors to investigate the ‘sulphation capacity’ of 20 ‘low-functioning’ autistic children compared with 20 normal children of similar age. A dose of paracetamol was given to the children, and the ratio of two different compounds – paracetamol-sulfate (PS) and paracetamol glucuronide (PG) in their urine was measured.

For the autistic children, this ratio was very much lower than it was in the non-autistic children, suggesting that their capacity for ‘sulphation’ (the addition of a sulphate group) may be impaired.

Various food substances and other chemicals in the body are normally processed by sulphation – notably the ‘phenolic amines’ (found in various foods, and also present in some of the chemicals used to transmit signals in the brain and body).

A failure to deal with these substances normally could have toxic effects on the nervous system and might help to explain many aspects of autistic behaviour.