The famous ‘trust hormone’ oxytocin has been credited for everything from mother-child bonding to financial decisions. The latest study secures its position as a frontrunner among emerging treatments for autism.

Studies in the past two years have found that people carrying specific genetic variants of the hormone’s receptor are at increased risk of developing autistic traits.

Children with autism have low levels of oxytocin in their blood, and a few small clinical trials have shown that getting extra doses of the hormone can improve some characteristic deficits of the disorder, such as body rocking or interpreting emotion from faces and words. Oxytocin is considered a pretty safe drug, because it doesn’t last long in the body and its effects are short-lived.

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SFARI, March 2010.