Study finds a correlation between food allergies and autism spectrum disorder

Philip Copitch, Ph.D. ~ Author of Basic Parenting 101: The Manual Your Child Should Have Been Born With

Researchers looked at almost 200,000 US children ages 9 to 17 years of age. 

The researchers found, “children with food, respiratory, and skin allergies were significantly more likely to have autism spectrum disorder than children without these allergies.”

This is a correlational finding. It means that the two observations occurred, in this case, allergies and autism spectrum disorder, together at a significantly higher level than by chance. It does not necessarily mean that one causes the other.

Read the study in JAMA Network Open