The children today are in the midst of the epidemic of neurodevelopmental disorders. In this metallomics study for the scalp hair samples of total 2550 children with autistic disorders (2108 males and 442 females aged 0-15 years), it was demonstrated that near one-half of the infantile individuals aged 0-3 years are suffering from zinc deficiency and toxic metal burdens. Zinc level correlated closely to the index of zinc/iron ratio more than zinc/copper ratio. Furthermore, there were significant relationships between zinc deficiency and toxic metal burdens such as lead and aluminum, which were inversely associated with not only zinc level but also zinc/iron ratio with higher regression coefficients of r = -0.486 and -0.551 (P < 0.00001), respectively. High-significant inverse association was detected between zinc and molybdenum concentration (r = -0.509) and also between zinc/iron ratio and molybdenum (r = -0.548). These findings suggest that infantile zinc deficiency relates to the high burdens of not only toxic but also some essential metals such as molybdenum, iron, and manganese and that these various mineral imbalances play principal roles in the etiology of neurodevelopmental disorders. We expect that the early assessment and intervention of the mineral imbalances (or dis-homeostasis) in individual child open an avenue for evidence-based individualized treatment of neurodevelopmental disorders and also of the comorbid immune disorders, in near future.
Keywords: individualized intervention; infantile time window; metallomics analysis; mineral imbalances; neurodevelopmental disorders; toxic metal burdens; zinc deficiency; zinc/iron ratio.
© The Author(s) 2022. Published by Oxford University Press.