Maternal dietary patterns, supplements intake and autism spectrum disorders: A preliminary case-control study

The aim of this study was first to investigate associations between maternal dietary patterns and autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) and second to investigate association between maternal supplement intake and ASD. We used a case-control study design to enroll typically developing (TD) children and children with ASD, and data were derived from the Autism Clinical and Environmental Database (ACED). Three seventy four children with AUTISM and 354 age matched TD children were included. The multivariate logistic regression model revealed that maternal unbalanced dietary patterns before conception had a significant increased risk of ASD in offspring (mostly meat: adjusted OR, 4.010 [95% CI, 1.080, 14.887]; mostly vegetable: adjusted OR, 2.234 [95% CI, 1.009, 4.946]); maternal supplementation of calcium during pregnancy preparation was associated with decreased ASD risk (adjusted OR, 0.480 [95% CI, 0.276, 0.836]). This study provided preliminary evidence that maternal unbalanced dietary patterns may be a risk factor for ASD and supplementation of calcium during pregnancy preparation may be inversely associated with ASD in offspring.