Incredible New Autism Study

A remarkable new autism study has revealed a powerful new hope for people with autism spectrum disorder. . . .

In this double-blind, placebo-controlled study, forty-four people with moderate to severe autism were given either a placebo or a broccoli sprout extract rich in sulforaphane for eighteen weeks. The researchers used three widely accepted scales to measure the effect.

The people given the broccoli extract had a 34% improvement on the Abnormal Behaviour Checklist and a 17% improvement on the Social Responsiveness Scale. The ones who took the placebo had less than 3.3% improvement. On the Clinical Global Impressions Improvement Scale, significantly more people on the broccoli extract had improvements in social interaction (46%), abnormal behaviour (more than 50%: including irritability hyperactivity and repetitive movements) and verbal communication (42%).

This exciting study shows the promise of a very safe ingredient, sulforaphane, derived from broccoli sprouts to improve the lives of people with autism spectrum disorder.

Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2014;111:15550-5