from the spectrum-analysis-isn't-just-for-wifi-anymore dept.
In an article from Scientific American there is a call for more research into the link between the colonies of bacteria in your gut and Autism.
Autism is primarily a disorder of the brain, but research suggests that as many as nine out of 10 individuals with the condition also suffer from gastrointestinal problems such as inflammatory bowel disease and “leaky gut.” The latter condition occurs when the intestines become excessively permeable and leak their contents into the bloodstream. Scientists have long wondered whether the composition of bacteria in the intestines, known as the gut microbiome, might be abnormal in people with autism and drive some of these symptoms. Now a spate of new studies supports this notion and suggests that restoring proper microbial balance could alleviate some of the disorder's behavioral symptoms.
Arizona State University has already been doing this research, and has published a study [abstract] that shows there is a possible link between the gut bacteria and autism.
GI complications in children with ASD may contribute to the severity of the disorder. One study (10) found a strong correlation between GI symptoms and autism severity in a group of 58 children with ASD, consistent with the Childhood Autism Risks from Genetics and Environment (CHARGE) study (7). Abdominal pain, constipation, and/or diarrhoea are unpleasant and likely to produce frustration, decreased ability to concentrate on tasks, behavior problems, and possibly aggression and self-abuse, especially in children unable to communicate their discomfort. These problems also result in a decreased ability to learn toilet training, leading to increased frustration for the child and their parents/caregivers. However, given many recent studies that have linked the gut with the brain (11–13), there is also the intriguing possibility that correlations between ASD and GI symptoms may not alone be driven by discomfort, but rather by differences in function of the microbiota, such as the metabolites that they produce, that may affect neuronal processes.
The research into this is ongoing, but it is not a new theory (as pointed out in this 2005 article in the Journal of Medical Microbiology), and may lead to a better understanding of how autism effects the body, and how changes in the body may effect autism.
Related Stories
A newly published study is the first to report an association between bisphenol-A (BPA), a common plasticizer used in a variety of consumer food and beverage containers, with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in children.
"It has been suspected for a lot of years that BPA is involved in autism, but there was no direct evidence," said T. Peter Stein, of RowanSOM and the study's lead author. "We've shown there is a link. The metabolism of BPA is different in some children with autism than it is in otherwise healthy children."
The research team -- which included Margaret Schluter and Robert Steer, of RowanSOM who were responsible for laboratory analysis, and child neurologist Xue Ming, of NJMS who recruited and ascertained the study populations -- examined urine specimens from 46 children with ASD and 52 healthy control children for both free BPA and total BPA concentrations. Like many chemicals, BPA becomes water soluble when it is bound to glucose in the liver -- a process called glucuronidation. Conversion to a glucuronide and then excretion of the glucuronide in the urine is a major pathway for removing toxins from the body.
Back in the day some major chemical companies were telling everyone "Better living through Chemistry" (duPont) and wanted to build everyone plastic houses (Monsanto)... now it appears they are building chemically modified humans. The part of the (evil) back story about BPA can be found in a story from 2009 at Fast Company: http://www.fastcompany.com/1139298/real-story-behind-bisphenol
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 29 2015, @10:14AM
Damn it! Hungry again?! I already ate, ten hours ago! This insatiable gut is constantly frustrating the pursuit of my interests. Oh sure, let me just drop everything I'm doing to go eat some food instead. There's simply no end to this crap.
(Score: 2) by Jeremiah Cornelius on Sunday March 29 2015, @03:34PM
Autism?
I think if you turn the stone over, and look deeply enough, you will also find the roots for chronic depression in the fluctuation of the intestinal biome.
You're betting on the pantomime horse...
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Sunday March 29 2015, @10:35AM
You can't establish a healthy gut microbiome, until you begin eating healthy food. Sugars, corn syrups, preservatives, additives, colorings, and artificial flavorings all upset that microbiome. That doesn't even touch on the antibiotics fed to livestock, or the growth hormones. And, genetically modified foods? Hell, no one important has ever even asked the question, let alone found an answer to that question. What DOES genetically modified food do to the microbiome?
Eat healthy, eat natural, eat in moderation, and you might have a chance. Continue eating processed foods, and you have little chance of maintaining a healthy ecology in your digestive tract.
(Score: 2) by buswolley on Sunday March 29 2015, @11:52AM
I am not naturally (appreciate the pun) one of those people that automatically says natural is always better than artificial but parent has a post.
And remember the recent article about the artificial emulsifiers disrupting the gut lining and the populations of gut bacteria living on it?
subicular junctures
(Score: 2) by buswolley on Sunday March 29 2015, @11:59AM
Parent had a post but grandparent had a point.
subicular junctures
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 29 2015, @02:03PM
A compost?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 29 2015, @03:25PM
You can't establish a healthy gut microbiome, until you begin eating healthy food.
Citation needed.
Sugars, corn syrups, preservatives, additives, colorings, and artificial flavorings all upset that microbiome.
So do apples. Anything that goes into your mouth does that.
Hell, no one important has ever even asked the question
Wrong [oxfordjournals.org].
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Sunday March 29 2015, @04:48PM
"We support the use of the substantial equivalence concept as part of the safety assessment of biotechnology-derived foods."
Substantial equivalence is great and all - but what about subtle differences?
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 29 2015, @05:32PM
Also seems that not all animal fats are bad for you - just depends on what the animal has been eating.
Probably not so good for you if they've been eating a lot of margarine.
Also seems corn fed cattle are different from grass fed ones - fat profile, gut bacteria- e coli, etc.
(Score: 4, Informative) by Jeremiah Cornelius on Sunday March 29 2015, @05:04PM
Ah. the "Society of Toxicology" - an industry shill group hat uses research dollars from private corporations to select research and direct public policy. Famous as a part of the Tobacco Industry's campaign to skew inquiry in the name of "good science".
Here's the Phillip Morris membership renewal letter, from 1980:
http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/action/document/page?tid=ylz56e00 [ucsf.edu]
They must be REALLY great at the unbiased presentation of abstracts and conference proceedings!
And here is a 1998 letter from the Society VP, writing to members about the urgent issue of EPA mandated safe levels of Chloroform in drinking water.
http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/gbp60d00/pdf?search=%22society%20of%20toxicology%22 [ucsf.edu]
Shame! The ridiculous EPA leaping to such levels of action: "overly restrictive regulations based upon exaggerated estimates of risk are promulgated while the public believes sound science Is being used". I'm glad the Society is championing methodology, instead of knee-jerk limiting of pervasive poisons!
You're betting on the pantomime horse...
(Score: 2) by Jeremiah Cornelius on Sunday March 29 2015, @07:13PM
Classic "derailment" troll. Esp. love your demand for citation - then link an industry-sponsored "research association", developed to front for the tobacco lobby.
Back to reddit with you - where you can shutdown amateurs.
You're betting on the pantomime horse...
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Monday March 30 2015, @05:34PM
You can't establish a healthy gut microbiome, until you begin eating healthy food.
Citation needed.
Citation Provided [scientificamerican.com]
(Score: 2) by Jeremiah Cornelius on Sunday March 29 2015, @03:41PM
Again, we touch on the borderline area of General Ripper's "Precious bodily fluids" in this discussion - but I'd like to see a correlation of "healthy" gut flora with presence - of lack thereof - of Sodium Flouride.
Again, if people stopped drinking beverages containing 12 tablespoons of fructose and phosphoric acid, they might have a better dental result than the meagre decrease in dental cavities afforded through fluoridation of drinking water and toothpaste.
You're betting on the pantomime horse...
(Score: 2) by Jeremiah Cornelius on Sunday March 29 2015, @05:25PM
And with a non-stop toxic waste environment [theatlantic.com], what is the impact to the organism at the gut-biome level? Research is done on cancers and nervous toxicity - but if depressions, Aspberger's symptoms and cardio-vascular abnormality can attributed to the composition of our meta-organism, than we move into an area of enormous new possible implication.
You're betting on the pantomime horse...
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Joe Desertrat on Monday March 30 2015, @03:17AM
Anecdotal I know, but I used to suffer from a lot of stomach/digestive issues. Gobbled antacids as a matter of course. I reached a stage in my life where I was able to change my diet, not to alleviate my issues but as a matter of desire to eat better food. I now cook a meal from scratch every night. Fresh vegetables, meat, fish, etc. To my surprise, as I thought my problems were strictly genetic, my stomach issues went away. I think the major thing behind most dietary issues is processed foods. The further something you eat is from say, what a farmer in 1945 would have served at his own table, the worse it is likely to be for your system.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 29 2015, @11:03AM
Food that spends less time in the intestines has less time for leaking into the bloodstream. Also you need to eat more of it, which is good for business.
(1) Faster fast food
(2) ???
(3) Profit!
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Gaaark on Sunday March 29 2015, @11:06AM
We discovered this was true with our son: he used to have very odd/damaging behaviours (regurgitating food which was destroying his teeth and throat, etc) and at times would sit there and laugh at nothing, suggesting he was high... it turned out he was! The doctor said his body was turning gluten (or something: my wife and i are often so tired our memories are not very good) into an opioid.
We put him on the gluten/casein free diet. After 6 months, we saw no benefits, but thought we'd give it a bit longer.
After 9 months we thought maybe there was a bit of an improvement.
After a full year, his world changed. The behaviours are mostly gone, he can concentrate much better and understand what you tell him: he is now in high school and is working towards a modified graduation diploma, working towards going to college.
He is on a regimen of supplements to get rid of 'bad' bacteria/yeast and pump in the good stuff.
What a difference a year makes.
We also got him ways to communicate (pecs/ipad programs, because his verbal communication is poor) which quickly alleviated aggressive/self-harm behaviours: (think how frustrated you'd be if you had no controlled way of saying you were hungry/thirsty/just about to piss yourself).
>He still doesn't sleep as well as we'd like, but f*ck we'll take that: we have a kid who is happy and is usually the best behaved kid in the room (replace kid with young adult).
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 29 2015, @11:18AM
Congratulations on raising a square.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 29 2015, @11:35AM
Far better a square than a deliberately offensive piece of human excrement such as yourself.
Have you ever considered doing something useful with your life?
(Score: 2, Interesting) by jcm on Sunday March 29 2015, @11:39AM
I'm also on a gluten free diet since 3 years.
Before that, I had the symptoms of Irritable Bowel Syndrome, and my doctor gave me some drugs to reduce the symptoms.
The drugs never quite worked.
IBS also creates an unconscious aggressive behavior pattern, which encourages external conflicts.
One day, my wife showed me a documentary about the dangers of gluten, so I tried a gluten-free diet.
All my symptoms disappeared in one week !
The problem here is that doctors have been trained to use their own methodology, so they don't want to suggest something outside of their domain.
The sad thing is that my doctor has the same symptoms as me, and he refuses to try gluten-free diet.
In my particular case, I believe the gluten intolerance appeared because I used a lot of tough antibiotics when I was younger (I'm 50 now).
At this time, doctors frequently gave strong antibiotics, and these antibiotics decimated the gut bacteria's diversity.
Trying to rebuild it with bifidobacterium only is useless, since it's the diversity that is missing, not a particular bacteria.
About the attention/sleep problems of your child, I would suggest meditation or relaxation.
You can practice meditation very easily as follows:
15 minutes before going to sleep, sit in the dark in your bed and focus on the source of your thoughts or of your breath.
When ideas appear (for example, daily trouble), try to gently focus on the source again.
The main idea is not to stop/force the thinking/breathing process, but merely to witness it.
Do that one month, and you'll notice an improvement in attention, focus and sleep.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Sunday March 29 2015, @04:23PM
The problem just seems to be that he is one of those people who requires very little/less than normal sleep, but my wife and i need normal/more sleep, lol.
We can get him to sleep no problem: if we keep him up late (say i stay up late (11-midnight) and let my wife sleep), he wakes up early (5-6ish)(sometimes 4ish)
If we get him to bed early, God help us.
So we usually take turns staying up with him while the other gets up with him early (if one of us isn't aware of what he is doing, he may go outside by himself or he may eat something that is not gluten free or any number of other things.
It's just a cycle of not getting proper sleep, which leaves us just both tired.
But we're 'appy! (to quote BBC Grace and Favour) :)
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by Common Joe on Monday March 30 2015, @08:14AM
You mention that you had "symptoms" of IBS. IBS can only be determined by a doctor because it is a diagnosis by exclusion and the symptoms are shared with other maladies. (If you don't test positive for the things they are supposed to test you for, then you have IBS.) Treating for symptoms of IBS can make some of those other maladies worse.
With that said, doctors suck when it comes to IBS. I know that from personal experience. I had a doctor who diagnosed it in me without running any tests. (A big no-no. After doing research, I left him and found another doctor who did a proper diagnosis... who then told me to eat the wrong things. [Sigh.]) My biggest help? Heather Van Vorous is a gal who's put up with it for many years and seems to know what she's talking about. She made a hell of a lot more sense than the doctors did to me. Although it's been a while since I've looked at it, here's here website [helpforibs.com] and her books [amazon.com]. I only read her "The First Year" book.
In my case, I didn't want to first try the drugs the doctors recommended. I have bad luck with medication. (If there's a side effect, I'll experience it.) I use diet, exercise, and allergy meds to control it.
I've suspected this, but never been able to confirm it. Your anecdotal evidence helps support my anecdotal evidence. I can become aggressive when I get a bit too much out of whack. The allergy meds help in that case and I watch what I eat.
An interesting observation. I think I'll give the gluten-free diet a try. I've been half thinking about it for a while wondering if it would help.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Sunday March 29 2015, @12:12PM
My son has the medically diagnosed celliac disease, fairly similar to your explanation. Observationally if you've ever had a horrific stomach ache, when its there you're pretty spaced out and when its over or at least momentarily not so bad then you're feeling pretty good, like bipolar behavior. The docs hate to diagnose chronic lifestyle stuff for financial reasons, you pretty much have to argue with them to do an antibody test instead of ever more and different anti-nausea medications. Oh his blood antibodies are off the chart high for gluten, casein, and soy, hmm so how about not eating them? And in a week he was super healthy and gaining instead of losing weight. Took years to catch up in height/weight and education for him although he did finally catch up in grade school-ish years.
Then the next scam begins when the gastroenterologist wants a follow up appointment every 3 months that summarizes to "oh, he's perfectly healthy, well then keep on not eating wheat (and in his case, soy and dairy too). Then bill insurance $495 for a half hour despite it only being about 5 minute appointment and see you in 3 more months. We only went a couple times. Celliac is a big industry with lots of hands out for money.
From talking to other parents of celliac kids we're something of an outlier in not having CPS all over us because of the failure to gain weight thing. I wonder how many celliac kids get taken away from their parents and just outright die when shoved full of wheat bread at the foster house. The willful refusal to attempt diagnosis unless argued with from doctors must cause unimaginable amounts of suffering (although lots of profit, which is apparently more important than suffering, doctors really are jerks)
Also from about 10 yrs experience I can authoritatively say that naturally GF foods like a steak or an apple taste pretty awesome and artificially GF foods like those weird bread replacements or weird pastry/junk foods pretty much taste like crap or at best like sawdust. So tonight we're having basically a pork roast with veggies and its going to taste awesome, but fake GF pizza with fake cheese pretty much tastes like shit along with incredible cost.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 29 2015, @09:48PM
After a full year, his world changed. The behaviours are mostly gone, he can concentrate much better and understand what you tell him: he is now in high school and is working towards a modified graduation diploma, working towards going to college.
He's a drone in our abysmal public education system. Am I supposed to be impressed?
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 29 2015, @12:41PM
Has there been any study on drug use of the mother and autism? I know its a taboo subject and almost impossible to find test subjects who are willing to admit what illegal substances they ingested in prior relationships, but from what I've seen, 5 for 5, mothers of autistic children were whoring themselves out in their late teens/early twenties and eating healthy doses of prescription medications with meth for fun. Discuss.
(Score: 2, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 29 2015, @01:18PM
I wonder if they don't pray hard enough. Discuss this too.
(Score: 3, Funny) by maxwell demon on Sunday March 29 2015, @03:42PM
I wonder if autism is caused by a lack of mobile phone radiation. Discuss!
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 29 2015, @01:40PM
An academic once noted how our neural system is more distributed, particularly in our gut/Di tract. The word "visceral" is more apt than I had thought previously.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 29 2015, @07:01PM
Why not just use bleach to cure Autism?http://www.care2.com/causes/you-cant-bleach-autism-out-of-a-child.html [care2.com]
(Score: 3, Interesting) by gringer on Sunday March 29 2015, @08:18PM
I saw another recent "X is linked with autism", where X was "pain without relief in early childhood". It is possible that the gastrointestinal problems are just another [very common] source of pain, and the lack of relief is what's driving the autism, rather than the microbial imbalance. Obviously in this case the best way to relieve the pain is to get rid of the cause (i.e. recover the proper microbial balance), but I don't think this gut study excludes the pain link.
Ask me about Sequencing DNA in front of Linus Torvalds [youtube.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 29 2015, @09:57PM
I see studies all the time, but I'm not dumb enough to believe them instantly. I actually wait until there's significant scientific consensus on the matter and the studies have been replicated as if necessary, unlike the media, which just cites every study that reaches conclusions they agree with without bothering with things like scientific consensus.
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Monday March 30 2015, @02:28AM
That's an interesting insight.
Also, we need to consider whether abnormal brain/body chemistry is driving gut bacteria here, rather than gut bacteria driving abnormal brain/body chemistry. (The biochemist in me thinks it's probably the former; otherwise affected numbers would be much higher than they are.)
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by gnuman on Monday March 30 2015, @03:27AM
The problem is antibiotics, and more specifically, oral antibiotics given to kids. Each antibiotic is like a nuke to the thousands of species of bacteria that live in our guts. And not surprising, some are quite immune to almost all antibiotics - one such produces a substance that when injected into mice results in symptoms of autism.
What has changed in the last 60-80 years that caused this severe spike in Autism? Cheap and easy to prescribe antibiotics. The miracle cure to infections has a nasty double edges sword against our own inner ecosystem. An ecosystem of bacteria that outnumber our own cells 10 to 1. What we eat, the bacteria eats. What these bacteria crap out, is then in our blood stream. And if you start to put pressure on the good bacteria that are not very resistant (or not at all) to antibiotics, you allow plenty of room for the bad stuff to colonize the gut lining.
Case and point is the studied Somali population that immigrated to Canada and US. Cases of Autism in Somalia? basically non-existent. But once they arrive here, Autism spikes like never before.
http://www.autismdailynewscast.com/minnesota-study-links-somali-population-with-high-levels-of-autism/5738/snapshot/ [autismdailynewscast.com]
If you have not seen it yet, see "Autism Enigma".
http://www.cbc.ca/natureofthings/episodes/autism-enigma [www.cbc.ca]
And if you are not Canadian, well, get it from some Canadian you know.
Researchers are working on Autism to gut connection, but the field is underfunded. It is not nearly as "sexy" as "gene sequencing". I fear that Autism's connection to antibiotic's nuking our own gut flora is going to be resisted by medical community for same reason as ulcer link to H. Pelori - cure ulcers with antibiotics - it was all acid acid acid? Right?
And no, this has absolutely nothing to do with any fad diets, organic food, anti-wheat crazies, anti-GMO crazies, or anti-vaxers and not even antibiotics in general. For kids, 5 and under, the only antibiotics they should get are intramuscular. Oral antibiotics (that are ever stronger, since old ones are removed as ineffective) are *the* reason for this epidemic. So next time, when your kid goes to the doctor to get a vaccine and the doctor finds that "ear infection", maybe, just maybe, antibiotics should not be the first line of action.