Yonghui Shen,1,* Yangbing Xie,2,* Yadan Zheng,3 Yanbin Zheng,3 Yan Liu1 

1Affiliated Mental Health Center & Hangzhou Seventh People’s Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Psychiatry, Jiande Fourth People’s Hospital, Jiangde, Zhejiang, China; 3College of Life and Environmental Sciences, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China

*These authors contributed equally to this work

Correspondence: Yan Liu, Affiliated Mental Health Center & Hangzhou Seventh People’s Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, People’s Republic of China, Email fogliu33@outlook.com

Background: Vitamin interventions have emerged as a cost-effective and accessible approach to managing Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), primarily for alleviating gastrointestinal symptoms such as constipation. Recent studies suggest vitamins may also improve core symptoms, yet most existing research focuses on comparisons between patients and healthy controls, lacking clinically relevant, evidence-based insights.
Methods: A meta-analysis was conducted using studies retrieved from PubMed, Web of Science, and the Cochrane Library, focusing on vitamin interventions in ASD and ADHD populations.
Results: The findings indicate that vitamin supplementation significantly improves symptoms in both ASD and ADHD. However, the effects vary by vitamin type and disorder. Vitamin B supplementation was particularly effective in reducing ASD-related symptoms, while vitamin D supplementation showed greater efficacy in improving ADHD symptoms.
Conclusion: Different vitamins exert disorder-specific therapeutic effects, suggesting their potential role in guiding tailored clinical interventions for ASD and ADHD.

Keywords: vitamin therapy, ASD, ADHD, meta-analysis