Effects of Overweight or Obesity on Brain Resting State Functional Connectivity of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.
In autistic kids, extra weight flips brain connectivity from low to high, but the work is early and needs behavior follow-up.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team scanned the kids with autism. Half were normal weight. Half were overweight.
They looked at resting brain connections. They focused on the default mode network. This network is active when we daydream.
The study was small. The authors call it exploratory. No behavior tests were linked to the scans.
What they found
Kids with autism only showed weak connections. Their default mode network talked less.
Kids with autism plus overweight showed strong connections. The same network talked more.
The pattern flipped. Weight changed how the autistic brain wires itself at rest.
How this fits with other research
Khongpiboonkit et al. (2025) tracked Thai autistic youth for years. Overweight rose from a large share to a large share. The new data extend the brain findings to a whole country.
Saghazadeh et al. (2017) pooled blood tests from 20 studies. Autistic kids had higher BDNF. This growth factor may drive the extra wiring seen in overweight cases.
Lee et al. (2024) mapped symptom networks. They found irritability and autism run on separate tracks. The brain scan study hints that weight could be a third track.
Why it matters
If you serve autistic clients, note their BMI. Extra weight may shift brain patterns linked to attention and mood. Track weight at every visit. Share gains or losses with the medical team. This small step could guide diet or med changes before behavior worsens.
Want CEUs on This Topic?
The ABA Clubhouse has 60+ free CEUs — live every Wednesday. Ethics, supervision & clinical topics.
Join Free →Add BMI to your intake form and flag any upward trend for medical review.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
Evidence on neurophysiological correlates of coexisting autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and overweight/obesity may elucidate mechanisms leading to the observed greater risk of obesity in children with ASD. An exploratory secondary data analysis was performed on resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) data of children downloaded from the ABIDE Preprocessed database (n = 81). Children with isolated ASD showed hypo-connectivity between anterior and posterior default mode network (DMN) (p = 0.003; FWER). Children with coexisting ASD and overweight/obesity showed hyper-connectivity between anterior and posterior DMN (p = 0.015; FWER). More evidence is needed to confirm these contrasting rs-fMRI connectivity profiles and to explicate causal inferences regarding neurophysiological mechanisms associated with coexisting ASD and overweight/obesity.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2019 · doi:10.1007/s10803-019-04187-7