Dufault RJ. Biomarkers for tracking metabolic changes pre-post nutritional epigenetics diet/intervention to prevent autism and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorders in children. World J Exp Med 2025; 15(2): 101555 [DOI: 10.5493/wjem.v15.i2.101555]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Renee J Dufault, PhD, College of Graduate Health Studies, A.T. Still University, 800 W Jefferson Street, Kirksville, MO 63501, United States. rdufault@atsu.edu
Research Domain of This Article
Toxicology
Article-Type of This Article
Opinion Review
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Exp Med. Jun 20, 2025; 15(2): 101555 Published online Jun 20, 2025. doi: 10.5493/wjem.v15.i2.101555
Biomarkers for tracking metabolic changes pre-post nutritional epigenetics diet/intervention to prevent autism and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorders in children
Renee J Dufault
Renee J Dufault, College of Graduate Health Studies, A.T. Still University, Kirksville, MO 63501, United States
Renee J Dufault, Food Ingredient and Health Research Institute, Naalehu, HI 96772, United States
Author contributions: Dufault RJ conducted the brief literature review and developed and wrote the manuscript in its entirety.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The author reports no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Renee J Dufault, PhD, College of Graduate Health Studies, A.T. Still University, 800 W Jefferson Street, Kirksville, MO 63501, United States. rdufault@atsu.edu
Received: September 20, 2024 Revised: January 20, 2025 Accepted: February 6, 2025 Published online: June 20, 2025 Processing time: 209 Days and 2.9 Hours
Core Tip
Core Tip: Increasing evidence supports the nutritional epigenetics model for autism and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorders that explains how unhealthy diet contributes to the epigenetic inheritance of these disorders. An unhealthy diet characterized by excessive intake of ultra-processed foods results in heavy metal exposures and deficits in zinc that may impact metallothionein gene function. Metallothionein gene malfunction may result in the bioaccumulation of mercury and/or lead in the blood depending on diet. Nutritional epigenetics education may be used as an intervention to reduce the intake of ultra-processed foods and heavy metals in expectant mothers and prevent the development of autism and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorders in children.
