The effect of omega-3 fatty acids supplementation on social and behavioral disorders of children with autism: a randomized clinical trial.

INTRODUCTION: Some studies reported that essential fatty acids deficiencies can be related to autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in children. This study aimed to investigate the effect of omega-3 on social, verbal, and behavioral activities in ASD children. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A double-blind, randomized clinical trial study was conducted on 54 children with autism, who were assigned to the case (n = 28) and control (n = 26) groups. The cases received one capsule of 1000 mg omega-3 daily and the controls received one capsule of 1000 mg medium chain triglyceride daily as placebo for eight weeks. The Gilliam Autism Rating Scale-second edition (GARS-2) was used to assess the severity of autism and food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) was used to assess their dietary intake. All measurements were done at baseline and after the intervention. RESULTS: After adjusting for age, gender, birth weight, BMI, dietary intake, mother's age, and mother's BMI, the intervention group had significantly improved stereotyped behaviors (p = 0.02), social communication (p = 0.02), and the GARS score (p = 0.001) after the intervention compared to the control group. No significant change was found in the score of social interaction subscale. CONCLUSIONS: The findings indicate that omega-3 treatment improved autism characteristics including stereotyped behaviors and social communication. Further studies are needed to confirm these findings and to determine the underlying mechanisms.

Index of Nutritional Quality (INQ) and the Risk of Obesity in Male Adolescents: a Case-Control Study.

Dietary factors may play a key role in the etiology of obesity. The Index of Nutritional Quality (INQ) provides a comprehensive overview of the nutrients content of the diet. This study aimed to investigate the association between INQ and obesity in male adolescents. We hypothesize that receiving a high-quality diet reduces the risk of overweight or obese. This study was carried out on 214 obese/overweight as the case group and 321 normal-weight male adolescents as the control group. Dietary intakes of the participants were collected using a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). The FFQ-derived dietary data were used to calculate the INQ scores. After adjustments for age and height, an inverse association was found between obesity and INQ of iron, vitamin B6, and magnesium, and a positive association was found between obesity and INQ of zinc (all P < 0.05). After further adjustments for nutritional knowledge and calorie intake, an inverse association was observed between obesity and INQ of vitamin C, iron, vitamin B6, pantothenic acid, selenium, and magnesium (all P < 0.05). The positive association of obesity and INQ of zinc remained significant after adjustments. A higher intake of vitamin C, iron, vitamin B6, pantothenic acid, selenium, and magnesium and a lower intake of zinc may be protective against adolescent obesity. More longitudinal studies are required to investigate the relationship between these nutrients and obesity.