Carnitine may prevent some forms of autism

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) consists of a group of neurodevelopmental disorders. Individuals with autism tend to experience social, emotional and communication skill disabilities.

Persons with ASD can range from gifted to severely challenged in their thinking, learning and problem-solving abilities. The term “spectrum” is used to describe the wide-ranging symptoms, skills and levels of disability in functioning that can occur in these individuals.

ASD can be found across all socioeconomic levels and in all racial and ethnic groups; However, there is a higher occurrence in boys than in girls. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that one in 68 children has ASD. Currently, ASD cannot be cured, but early intervention therapy has been shown to improve the ability of a child with ASD to walk, talk and interact with others.

In July, autism researchers at Texas A&M University reported in the journal Cell Reports that they have new information suggesting that carnitine, a compound found in red meats and whole milk, may prevent some forms of autism from starting during the early development of the fetus.

There is not yet widespread agreement that pregnant women, or women who are planning to get pregnant, should supplement their diets with carnitine. According to Vytas Bankaitis, one of the Texas A&M researchers, there is no drawback to taking supplemental doses under medical supervision. He compares this to the widely accepted medical recommendation for women who are pregnant or planning to become pregnant to consume folic acid.

In the February 2013 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, Pal Suren of the Norwegian Institute of Public Health and others suggested an association between the prenatal use of folic acid supplements around the time of conception and a lower risk of autistic disorder. They also found more evidence of the already established effect of carnitine on lowering the occurrence of neural tube defects. This effect led to the mandatory addition of folic acid to flour in several countries, as well as a general recommendation that women planning to become pregnant be placed on a daily regime of folic acid supplements starting one month prior to conception.

Paul Wang, the senior vice president for medical research at AutismSpeaks, is cautiously optimistic about the results of the study. He is presently not ready to recommend carnitine supplements without clinical trials, but he commended the science behind the idea.

Zhigang Xie, the lead Texas A&M researcher, and Bankaitis have found that TMLHE, a specific gene linked to autism, functions by tracking and analyzing special types of brain cells in developing fetal brains. They found that in some mice, the TMLHE gene is mutated and results in an insufficient production of carnitine. The role of carnitine is to transport fatty acids into the correct location in a cell so that they can be broken down. With an insufficient amount of carnitine, fetal neural stem cells do not receive enough fatty acids in the correct locations. This, the researchers believe, contributes to an increased autism risk.

According to Bankaitis, the mutation erases the ability to make carnitine completely only in male fetuses. This finding is consistent with the fact that there is a far higher prevalence of autism among boys.

ASD may ultimately be linked to possibly 1,000 genes, and this research focuses on only one; However, mutations to this one gene are relatively common.