• Yahya M Al-Farsi, Mostafa I Waly, Richard C Deth, Marwan M Al-Sharbati, Mohammed Al-Shafaee, Omar Al-Farsi, Maha M Al-Khaduri, Samir Al-Adawi, Nathaniel W Hodgson, Ishita Gupta, and Allal Ouhtit.
• Department of Family Medicine and Public Health, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Sultan Qaboos University, Al-Khoud, Sultanate of Oman.
• Nutrition. 2013 Sep 1;29(9):1142-6.

ObjectivesAutism is a lifelong neurodevelopmental disorder of early childhood. Dietary supplementation of the ω-3 fatty acid (docosahexaenoic acid [DHA]) during prenatal and postnatal life is considered a protective dietary intervention strategy to minimize the risk for autism spectrum disorder (ASD). To our knowledge, no relevant studies have been conducted in the Middle East investigating the status of DHA among children with autism during early childhood. The aim of this study was to investigate the serum levels and dietary intake status of DHA among Omani children recently diagnosed with ASD.MethodsThe present case-control study involved 80 Omani children (<5 y), 40 cases and 40 controls matched for age and sex. A semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire was used to assess dietary intake of all the participants, while serum levels of DHA were measured using high-performance liquid chromatography.ResultsOur results showed that children with ASD had lower dietary consumption of foodstuff containing DHA, as well as lower serum levels of DHA than controls.ConclusionThe present finding from Oman supports the view of other studies that there are low serum levels of DHA among children with ASD.Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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