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Biomedical Interventions for Autism

Bread Inhaler Bananas Syringe Vitamins

This page provides links to information about some of the biomedical interventions commonly used to help individuals with autism. Those links include definitions, efficacy studies and reviews, other publications, and our evaluations of some of those interventions.

Disclaimer

This page does not provide information about every biomedical intervention used by people with autism, although we hope you will find it a useful starting point. If you know of any other biomedical interventions we should include on this page please email info@researchautism.net.

The fact that an intervention is listed on this page does not necessarily mean that there is any scientifically valid or reliable evidence to support its use.

Our descriptions and evaluations do not constitute a recommendation about whether or not an intervention is suitable for a particular individual with autism. That is a decision for the individual with autism – and/or their carers, clinicians and others – to make.

You should seek advice from a responsible health professional such as your health visitor or GP if you are considering following a special diet or taking any kind of dietary supplement because of the potential for side effects and interactions. They may refer you to a dietician or nutritionist dietician – in particular one with experience of working with individuals with autism.

Please see Autism Treatment Notes for more information about this and similar pages.

What are biomedical interventions?

‘Biomedical’ is a very loose term that means different things to different people. In practice, most people use the term to refer to a group of interventions which are designed to stop, or at least reduce, the effect of biomedical problems – such as gastrointestinal abnormalities, immune dysfunctions, detoxification abnormalities, and/or nutritional deficiencies or imbalances.

The supporters of biomedical interventions believe that these biomedical problems act as ‘triggers’ which cause, or at least exacerbate, many of the problems faced by people with autism. They believe that those problems can be solved, or at least reduced, by following one or more biomedical interventions.

There is a vast range of biomedical interventions, many of which are considered to be forms of complementary or alternative medicine by most traditional health care practitioners. Biomedical interventions include diets, nutritional supplements and hormones, the ‘off-label’ use of some medications, as well as practices such as chelation and hyperbaric oxygen therapy.

As far as we know there is there no generally agreed system for classifying the different kinds of biomedical interventions, so we have divided them as follows: All Biomedical interventions | Special diets | Nutritional supplements | Hormones | Biomedical practices

Please bear in mind that many biomedical interventions – such as glutathione – will fall into more than of these categories and some biomedical interventions – such as the dietary supplement piracetam – are also categorised as medications.