Everyone wants big news from Autism research, but this was not the biggest news of the year that we might hope for. In fact, for those of us in functional and natural medicine, it was quite disappointing that some natural therapies got a negative report. So how do I, functional medicine doctor who has seen many of these therapies help my patients, deal with a report like this one? Let’s chat.
First, we all want to practice based on evidence. If “evidence” shows that something is not working, we want to avoid that therapy. If evidence indicates success, we apply that in the clinic. However, evidence can be our clinical experience or the experience of other clinicians and providers, seeing similar benefits from a therapy. We want all the evidence to be weighed.
Second, we must be sure that the evidence is good. That was part of the intent of the study in question: to collect the evidence from 200 studies and determine the quality of the evidence. For example, evidence from a study with 20 patients is less dependable than one with 1000 patients. Also, different study designs make some studies better than others. That is not even addressing potential bias of researchers that can skew final reports. This study’s lesson is that we need a lot more higher-quality studies; concluding that natural therapies did not help would go beyond what it justifies. Given the number of providers and parents who have seen success, these areas need more study, not less.
Third, studies look at groups of patients. As a rule, providers care for patients one at a time. These individual patients are unique in their presentation and biochemistry, even though these follow patterns. Findings from various studies may not fit them well. A given patient may react very well to a therapy when most don’t respond. Even with the generalizations of studies like those examined in this paper, we have to consider whether the patient in front of us might be the one in 20 who responds well to the treatment.
Fourth, most studies look at a single intervention to see if it made a difference. When treating patients presenting with an autism diagnosis, we more often combine various therapies. With studies measuring the effects of more than 3 simultaneous interventions, it become very challenging to tease out meaningful results using standard experimental lab methods. As a recent study looking at Alzheimer’s disease therapy from an individualized functional medicine approach showed, a personalized approach can be quite beneficial when one combines several therapies. The effect likely goes beyond mere addition to multiplicative synergy.
So, a functional doctor like myself reads this study and asks several questions:
- How does this compare to what I have seen in patients?
- Is there other evidence to support these therapies?
- Are there any therapies to set aside based on this?
- Is there a reason a given study might not be sufficient for a decision to use the therapy or now?
- Is my current patient someone who might be the exception to the general rule?
- How can I combine therapies to optimize outcomes?
- Where do I think the researchers are missing a bigger picture?
Caring for patients requires more than just reading the literature, but it starts there. The art and wisdom in helping patients restore healthier, more abundant lives comes from knowing how research applies to my next patient in the office.
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Original Article:
Corentin J. Gosling, Laure Boisseleau, Marco Solmi, Micheal Sandbank, Lucie Jurek, Mikail Nourredine, Gabriella Porcu, Elisa Murgia, Joaquim Radua, Paolo Fusar-Poli, Klara Kovarski, Serge Caparos, Ariane Cartigny, Samuele Cortese, Richard Delorme. Complementary, alternative and integrative medicine for autism: an umbrella review and online platform. Nature Human Behaviour, 2025; 9 (12): 2610 DOI: 10.1038/s41562-025-02256-9
Thanks to Science Daily:
University of Southampton. “A massive scientific review put alternative autism therapies to the test.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 28 December 2025. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/12/251227082722.htm>.
Sanctuary Functional Medicine, under the direction of Dr Eric Potter, IFMCP MD, provides functional medicine services to Nashville, Middle Tennessee and beyond. We frequently treat patients from Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Ohio, Indiana, and more... offering the hope of healthier more abundant lives to those with chronic illness.
Dr. Eric Potter graduated from Vanderbilt Medical School and then went on to specialize in internal medicine (adult) and pediatric care, spending significant time and effort in growing his medical understanding while caring for patients from all walks of life.
