Tier 1 — highest
Sulforaphane treatment of autism spectrum disorder (ASD)
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
2014
111(43):15550-15555
Bibliography
- PubMed
- PMID 25313065
- PubMed Central
- PMC4217462
- Funding
- Supported by gifts from the Nancy Lurie Marks Family Foundation, Hussman Foundation, Lewis B. and Dorothy Cullman Foundation, Agnes Gund Foundation, N of One Foundation, and Brassica Foundation for Chemoprotection Research.
- Competing interests
- Johns Hopkins University filed U.S. patent applications with inventors K.D. Smith, Paul Talalay and Andrew W. Zimmerman; Talalay and Zimmerman divested potential financial benefits. Johns Hopkins licensed glucosinolate-rich broccoli sprouts/seeds to Brassica Protection Products LLC, whose CEO was Talalay's son. The tested sulforaphane-rich extract itself was not a commercial product.
Study snapshot
| Design | Randomized double-blind placebo-controlled clinical trial |
|---|---|
| Model | Males aged 13-27 years with moderate to severe autism spectrum disorder |
| Sample | 44 participants (29 sulforaphane, 15 placebo) |
| Intervention | Broccoli-sprout-derived sulforaphane 50-150 µmol daily versus placebo. |
| Duration | 18 weeks treatment plus 4-week washout |
| Endpoints | Aberrant Behavior Checklist (ABC); Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS); Clinical Global Impression-Improvement (CGI-I); Post-withdrawal change |
What the study showed, in plain terms
Key findings
What this study can and cannot tell us
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