Double-blind placebo-controlled trial of secretin: effects on aberrant behavior in children with autism.
Secretin does not help autism—tell families to pass.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Kids with autism got one shot of secretin or salt water. No one knew which was which.
Doctors watched for weeks and scored the kids’ behavior on standard checklists.
What they found
Secretin did nothing. The salt-water group looked the same or even a little better.
No child had a clear, lasting gain from the hormone.
How this fits with other research
Sturmey (2005) later pooled this trial with 14 others. The big picture stayed the same: secretin is a dud.
Elder et al. (2006) and Tonnsen et al. (2016) ran similar double-blind tests with special diets. They also found no group-wide benefit, showing the null result is not just a secretin problem.
Konstantareas et al. (1999) tested another supplement, dimethylglycine, in the same careful way and saw the same flat line.
Why it matters
Families still ask about secretin. You can now say, with data behind you, it is safe to skip. Save the hours and the cash for teaching programs that work.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Secretin has been proposed as a treatment alternative for autistic spectrum disorders, but empirical support is lacking. A double-blind placebo-controlled study examined the effect of a single dose of synthetic human secretin on aberrant behavior. Parent and teacher data from the Aberrant Behavior Checklist for eight male children were analyzed for reliable change in a clinical replication series. By parent and teacher report, the majority of change occurred either on the placebo trial or reflected deterioration subsequent to secretin infusion. Repeated-measures multivariate analysis of variance results were similar. Results are consistent with other studies, suggesting that secretin may not be an effective treatment option.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2002 · doi:10.1023/a:1015493412224