Chair of Chemistry, Department of Analytical Chemistry, Medical University of Lublin, 4A Chodźki Street, 20-093 Lublin, Poland.
Faculty of Medicine, Student Research Team, Department of Analytical Chemistry, Medical University of Lublin, 20-093 Lublin, Poland.
Nutrients. 2020 Aug 26;12(9):2594. doi: 10.3390/nu12092594.
Numerous scientific studies on patients with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) suggest a significant role of inflammation processes or lipid disorders in this spectrum of neurodevelopmental disorders. Unfortunately, there is a lack of assessments of changes over time regarding level of lipids and inflammatory markers in people diagnosed with ASD using different diets. The aim of this study was to evaluate changes in lipid profile, high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) and body mass index (BMI) in individuals diagnosed with ASD and healthy controls. Variables were assessed at two time points (2015/17 and 2017/20) for each subject.
After applying the selection criteria, for the first assessment period, 96 participants were qualified (the group consisted of 59 males with ASD and 37 healthy volunteers, i.e., age-matched control group-CG). The final assessment included 93 participants (57 from ASD group and 36 from CG). Subjects were on low-fat diet (LFD), gluten-casein-free diet (GF-CF) and regular diet (RD), respectively. All members of CG were on regular diet. A fasting lipid profile and hs-CRP level were analyzed. BMI and percentiles were calculated. Eating habits were checked by analyzing data from questionnaires. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used separately for every assessment. The Mann-Whitney U test was used to compare the medians of variables in the scheme of pairwise comparisons between control and ASD groups on different diets for separate assessment, while differences over time between variables were tested by Wilcoxon signed-rank test.
Statistically significant differences between BMI, CRP, triglycerides (TG), total cholesterol (TC), high-density lipoprotein (HDL), non-HDL-C and TC/HDL ratio were found in ASD group in comparison to healthy volunteers (increased BMI, CRP and TC/HDL and decreased HDL-C for all types of diets, increased TG in the group of LFD and RD individual and increased non-HDL-C in the group of GF-CF and RD individuals) during the first assessment period. The second assessment over time also showed increased levels of TC, non HDL-C and TC/HDL and decreased level of HDL-C for all ASD individuals regardless of diets used, while BMI and CRP increased only for individuals on LFD and RD. No statistically significant correlations between age of participants and other variables comparing with CG were found.
Our studies suggest that targeted, individualized nutritional pattern and periodic screening for lipid and immune disorders would be beneficial for teenagers and adults diagnosed with ASD.
许多关于自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）患者的科学研究表明，在这一系列神经发育障碍中，炎症过程或脂质紊乱起着重要作用。不幸的是，目前缺乏关于使用不同饮食的 ASD 患者脂质和炎症标志物随时间变化的评估。本研究旨在评估使用不同饮食的 ASD 患者和健康对照组的血脂谱、高敏 C 反应蛋白（hs-CRP）和体重指数（BMI）的变化。对每个受试者的两个时间点（2015/17 年和 2017/20 年）进行了变量评估。
在应用选择标准后，对于第一个评估期，有 96 名参与者符合条件（该组包括 59 名男性 ASD 患者和 37 名健康志愿者，即年龄匹配的对照组）。最终评估包括 93 名参与者（ASD 组 57 名，CG 组 36 名）。受试者分别接受低脂饮食（LFD）、无谷蛋白-酪蛋白饮食（GF-CF）和常规饮食（RD）。CG 组的所有成员均采用常规饮食。分析了空腹血脂谱和 hs-CRP 水平。计算 BMI 和百分位数。通过分析问卷数据检查饮食习惯。分别对 PCA 进行了分析。采用曼-惠特尼 U 检验比较了不同饮食方案下对照组和 ASD 组的变量中位数，以及每个评估的时间变量差异，采用 Wilcoxon 符号秩检验。
与健康志愿者相比，ASD 组在 BMI、CRP、三酰甘油（TG）、总胆固醇（TC）、高密度脂蛋白（HDL）、非高密度脂蛋白胆固醇（non-HDL-C）和 TC/HDL 比值方面存在统计学差异（所有饮食类型 BMI、CRP 和 TC/HDL 增加，HDL-C 降低，LFD 和 RD 个体 TG 增加，GF-CF 和 RD 个体 non-HDL-C 增加）。第一次评估期间。随着时间的推移，第二次评估还显示，所有 ASD 患者的 TC、非 HDL-C 和 TC/HDL 水平升高，HDL-C 水平降低，而 BMI 和 CRP 仅在 LFD 和 RD 个体中升高。与 CG 相比，参与者的年龄与其他变量之间没有发现统计学上的显著相关性。
我们的研究表明，针对 ASD 青少年和成年人的靶向、个体化营养模式和定期筛查脂质和免疫紊乱将是有益的。
