Diet as a treatment method for adults with autism or ADHD

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SBU Enquiry Service

Consists of structured literature searches to highlight studies that can address questions received by the SBU Enquiry Service from Swedish healthcare or social service providers. We assess the risk of bias in systematic reviews and when needed also quality and transferability of results in health economic studies. Relevant references are compiled by an SBU staff member, in consultation with an external expert when needed.

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Published: Report no: ut202512 Registration no: SBU 2025/710

Question

What systematic reviews have been published regarding the effects of dietary interventions and supplements on symptoms in adults diagnosed with autism or ADHD?

PICO

  • Population: adults diagnosed with autism or ADHD
  • Intervention: Dietary interventions and/or supplements
  • Comparison: No intervention
  • Outcome: Symptoms of autism/ADHD, quality of life, weight gain/loss

Method

A systematic literature search was performed using the following databases: Scopus and Medline (by Ovid).

Two authors independently assessed the abstracts of all identified studies.

Risk of bias in relevant systematic reviews was assessed using an assessment tool based on AMSTAR.

Identified literature

No relevant studies were identified.

Search strategies

Medline via OvidSP 26 Jun 25

Title: Dietary interventions ASD
Search terms Items found
Population:
1. exp Neurodevelopmental Disorders/ 225 272
2. (asd or autis* or adhd or attention deficit).ti,ab,bt,kf. 131 940
Intervention:
3.  exp Food/ or exp Diet/ or exp Meals/ or exp Nutritional Sciences/ or exp Nutrition Therapy/ 1 849 505
4.  ((nutrition* or diet*) adj6 (treatment* or intervention* or therap*)).ti,ab,bt,kf. 119 573
5.  ((diet* or nutrition*) adj3 supplement*).ti,ab,bt,kf. 77 994
6. (vitamin* or mineral* or carbohydrate* or protein* or fatty acid* or omega-3 or omega-6 or fibre* or keto* or mediterran* or LCHF or antiinflammatory or prebiotic* or probiotic* or amino acid* or antioxidant*).ti,ab,bt,kf. 5 322 572
Study types: systematic reviews and meta-analysis
7.  ((Systematic Review/ or Meta-Analysis/ or Cochrane Database Syst Rev.ja. or ((systematic adj4 review) or "meta analys*" or metaanalys*).ti,bt,ab.) not (editorial/ or letter/ or case reports/)) 546 310
Combined sets:
8. 1 or 2 274 750
9. 3 or 4 or 5 or 6 6 557 432
10. 8 and 9 20 899
Final result
11. 7 and 10 589
/ = Term from the MeSH controlled vocabulary; .sh = Term from the MeSH controlled vocabulary; exp = Term from MeSH including terms found below this term in the MeSH hierarchy; .ti,ab = Title or abstract; .tw = Title or abstract; .kf = Keywords; .kw = Keywords, exact; .bt = Book title. NLM Bookshelf; .pt = Publication type; .ja = Journal abbreviation; .af = All fields; adjn = Adjacent. Proximity operator retrieving adjacent words, adj3 retrieves records with search terms within two terms from each other; * or $ = Truncation; “ “ = Citation Marks; searches for an exact phrase

Scopus via scopus.com 26 Jun 25

Title: Dietary interventions ASD
Search terms Items found
Population:
1.  TITLE-ABS-KEY ( ( asd OR autis* OR adhd OR "attention deficit" ) ) 236 388
Intervention:
2. TITLE-ABS-KEY ( ( ( nutrition* OR diet* ) W/ 5 ( treatment* OR intervention* OR therap* ) ) ) 221 084
3. TITLE-ABS-KEY ( ( ( diet* OR nutrition* ) W/ 2 supplement* ) ) 232 797
4. TITLE-ABS-KEY ( ( vitamin* OR mineral* OR carbohydrate* OR protein* OR "fatty acid*" OR omega-3 OR omega-6 OR fibre* OR keto* OR mediterran* OR LCHF OR antiinflammatory OR prebiotic* OR probiotic* OR "amino acid*" OR antioxidant* ) ) 1 468 448
Study types: systematic reviews and meta-analysis
5. TITLE-ABS-KEY ( ( systematic  W/2  review )  OR  "meta analy*"  OR  metaanaly* ) AND (EXCLUDE (DOCTYPE, “le”) OR EXCLUDE (DOCTYPE, “ed”) OR EXCLUDE (DOCTYPE, “ch”) OR EXCLUDE (DOCTYPE, “cp”))   818 203
Combined sets:
6. 2 or 3 or 4 1 480 756
7. 1 and 6 3437
Final result
8. 5 and 7 775
TITLE-ABS-KEY = Title, abstract or keywords (including indexed keywords and author keywords); ALL = All fields; W/n = Within. Proximity operator retrieving terms within n words from each other; PRE/n = Precedes by. Proximity operator, the first term in the search must precede the second by n words; LIMIT-TO (X) = Includes only results of specified type, e.g., publication type or time range; DOCTYPE = Publication type; “re” = review; “le” = letter; “ed” = editorial; “ch” = book chapter; “cp” = conference proceedings; * = Truncation; “ “ = Citation Marks; searches for an exact phrase
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