Mayo Clinic Study Questions Link Between Autism and Stomach Problems

A new study casts doubt on a commonly held but controversial belief that children with autism have more gut problems than their peers.
The Mayo Clinic study, published Monday in the journal Pediatrics, found children on the autism spectrum in the study were more likely than their nonautistic counterparts to be picky eaters or constipated. But the researchers did not find a significant difference between the two groups when it came to diarrhea, abdominal discomfort, bloating, reflux or vomiting.
"We did not find a difference in gastrointestinal symptoms in total," said Dr. Samar Ibrahim, lead study author and a Mayo Clinic pediatric gastroenterology fellow.
For years, parents, physicians and researchers have wondered whether people with autism suffered from more digestive problems than the rest of the population.