Thesis (M.Sc.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Science - Department of Botany and Microbiology

Children with autism always have gastrointestinal problems and symptoms, these problems are more severe than in healthy children. Probiotics are able to influence the composition of microbiota and the function of intestinal barrier and alter the immune responses of the mucosa. Bifidobacterium spp. and Lactobacillus spp. were assessed in stool samples of 40 autistic children and 20 healthy typical children of similar ages as control. The study indicated that the counts of both Bifidobacterium spp. and Lactobacillus spp. were lower in the stool of autistic children than that of their control group. It was significant in the case of Lactobacillus spp. with (P value 0.05) and highly significant in the case of Bifidobacterium spp. with (P value 0.000) and the count of bacteria wasn't affected by sex (male or female). After supplementation of the autistic children with a daily nutritional product consisting mainly of dried carrots fortified with probiotic strains (Bifidobacterium spp.) for 3 months, highly significant increase in the levels of both Bifidobacterium spp. and Lactobacillus spp. was observed in stool of the autistic children (P value 0.000 , 0.015) respectively. The results showed that the probiotic product led to improve autism scale in childhood (CARS) by 90%, in addition to improve deep sleep in 85% and communicate to speak 32%, and social networking 31.4%. Also, the food reduced children hyperactivity by 25%

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