5. Conclusions
autistic spectrum disorders
This investigation aimed to assess the effects of SFN on the reduction of ASD symptom severity. We examined a paediatric cohort of ASD patients aged three to seven years. We found no significant clinical improvement in the behavioural outcome measures evaluated in ASD children aged 3–7 years treated with sulforaphane (SFN). The evidence from this study suggests that, despite the reasonable level of knowledge of the action and metabolic pathways of SFN and proposed SFN-elicited cellular response, the clinical effects of SFN in ASD patients must be prudently evaluated. More thoughtful research is needed to better understand the true nature of the clinical benefits of SFN in the supportive treatment of ASD. Avenues for future research include large and longer-duration randomized controlled trials also considering the susceptibility to placebo effects that could provide more definitive evidence. If the debate is to be moved forwards, a better understanding of autistic spectrum disorders’ aetiology and underlying factors needs to be developed to avoid the boundless but vain hope for a miraculous treatment.