Autism and gut bugs. Interesting documentary

SuZir

Well-Known Member
Have any of you seen this? http://www.cbc.ca/natureofthings/episodes/autism-enigma

We had a nasty weather today so I was watching telly and saw it. I found it very interesting. It speculates about gut bugs role in developing autism, especially regressive autism. Lots of stuff about bacteria, it's role on overall and brain development during three first years of life. How food and antibiotics may have a role etc.

I for example didn't knew that there is such a difference on how common autism is not only in different countries but between different ethnic groups and how dramatic difference there is in some ethnic groups depending there they live. That while autism is uncommon in Somalia, it is epidemic among Somalian living in North America and for example Sweden (and much more common than among locals.)
 

BusynMember

Well-Known Member
Actually, I think it is just recognized more in better developed countries. Also, certain cultures don't like to label kids so they may not diagnose and hope for the best or just call it ADHD. I've noticed a difference in cultures as to the acceptance of labels.

They still have no clue what causes autism. The only thing they are proven is that it tends to run in families. If you have one kid with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), you have a 1 in 20 chance of having another with it. There is probably more than one cause. I'm sure my son's prenatal exposure to so many lovely drugs and alcohol fueled his Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Kids exposed to substances in utero have a higher rate of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD).
 

SuZir

Well-Known Member
MWM, regressive autism tends to be rather recognizable, you don't easily mix a kid who first developed normally and then regressed and is often non verbal or minimally verbal to ADHD. And anyway, it doesn't explain why recent immigrants have so much more kids with autism than people who have been there longer.

This is new research because heritability or recognizing it isn't explaining increase of autism enough. We already do know that children born very much 'middle of process' when it comes to brain wiring and brains change in huge ways depending environmental factors in three first years. We also know that metabolia, bacteria and many other environmental factors activate and inactivate parts of DNA. Some part of DNA may lay doormat, if it is not activated by a trigger etc. So heritability isn't explaining it all.
 

BusynMember

Well-Known Member
Well, there are a lot of theories out there. One is definitely genetic, but probably not the whole thing. My son's drug exposure contributed to his. I think we're a while away from finding out the secret to autism.
 

InsaneCdn

Well-Known Member
JMO, but... I believe our current culture contributes to the rise of autism. Fast paced living, double-income parents, early child care, technology, processed foods, pollution... there's probably a hundred factors at least, that didn't exist even 30 years ago. The genetic predisposition may be more widely spread than is known - and we don't know the triggers.
 

HaoZi

CD Hall of Fame
I saw something on the news recently that up until a couple months ago, autism wasn't recognized in South Africa. What we know is autism was considered witchcraft or possession. So the same thing is likely going on in Somalia as well, and possibly many other places.
 
L

Liahona

Guest
I tried to find the documentary on the web but couldn't. I did find the article/study the documentary is based from. I am only on page two of twenty four. So far it sounds like a very though study that has some interesting results. It'll take me awhile but I'll get through all 24 pages. I am hoping there will be suggestions on how to stop the bacteria.

Thank you for posting this. Here is the web address to the study.

http://www.microbecolhealthdis.net/index.php/mehd/article/download/19260/23954
 

SuZir

Well-Known Member
In the document there was parts of several studies and an anecdotal story about some Chicago-area (if I remember right) mother with (regressive) autistic 19-year old son. There were some videos of him, when he was small. Severely autistic child behaving like that. His regression started after having to have 6 times strong antibiotics in short time because of ear infection that didn't go away. They found out few years later that he has abnormally high counts of certain bad bacteria in him. Bacteria that produces neurotoxin. They tried vancomysin to treat it (it is only thing that works to that bacteria) and there was almost miraculous results (there was video also from that time), but one can not eat vancomysin all the time and that bacteria is one that produces some kind of doormat form that even vancomysin can't destroy so as they expected the bacteria came back and so did the regression. They couldn't be using vancomysin to help but they did have some success with limiting diet (gluten and casein free) and adding lots of probiotics.

(Sorry if this was simplistic with lots of writing errors, this vocabulary is not my strongest part in English and I'm in car and too lazy to look them up before writing.)
 
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