Author Topic: Autism Research  (Read 9987 times)

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Offline PaleoPhil

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Autism Research
« on: December 12, 2010, 07:32:49 pm »
This thread is for sharing autism research, not for unsupported opinions. If you're going to share an opinion please at least support it with a study or research of some sort. Here's a study that was just published in the Journal of the American Medical Association followed by commentary:

Mitochondrial Dysfunction in Autism
JAMA. 2010;304(21):2389-2396.
December 8, 2010
http://jama.ama-assn.org/content/304/21/2389.abstract%22%20target=

"Context: Impaired mitochondrial function may influence processes highly dependent on energy, such as neurodevelopment, and contribute to autism. ....

Conclusion: In this exploratory study, children with autism were more likely to have mitochondrial dysfunction, mtDNA overreplication, and mtDNA deletions than typically developing children."


Autism Research: Breakthrough Discovery on the Causes of Autism
Posted: December 11, 2010 11:37 AM
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mark-hyman/autism-research-discovery_b_794967.html

A study just published in The Journal of the American Medical Association by researchers from the University of California, Davis called "Mitochondrial Dysfunction in Autism" (i) discovered a profound and serious biological underpinning of autism -- an acquired loss of the ability to produce energy in the cells, damage to mitochondria (the energy factories in your cells), and an increase in oxidative stress (the same chemical reaction that causes cars to rust, apples to turn brown, fat to become rancid, and skin to wrinkle). These disturbances in energy metabolism were not due to genetic mutations, which is often seen in mitochondrial problems, but a condition the children studied acquired in utero or after birth.
>"When some one eats an Epi paleo Rx template and follows the rules of circadian biology they get plenty of starches when they are available three out of the four seasons." -Jack Kruse, MD
>"I recommend 20 percent of calories from carbs, depending on the size of the person" -Ron Rosedale, MD (in other words, NOT zero carbs) http://preview.tinyurl.com/6ogtan
>Finding a diet you can tolerate is not the same as fixing what's wrong. -Tim Steele
Beware of problems from chronic Very Low Carb

Offline PaleoPhil

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Re: Autism Research
« Reply #1 on: January 06, 2011, 10:14:41 am »
This is from Dr. Emily Dean's interesting blog. She is a psychiatrist with an evolutionary perspective who advocates a (cooked) Paleo diet.

Diet and Autism 1
By Emily Deans, M.D.
http://evolutionarypsychiatry.blogspot.com/2010/09/diet-and-autism-1.html

Excerpt: "What is autism, and what causes it? Well, there is no universal theory, no consistent genetic findings (though autism does seem to run in families sometimes), and no agreed upon biological mechanism for what causes autism (3). Some researchers feel it is a brain development problem. Others wonder if autism is a set of disorders similar to phenylketonuria (where an inability to metabolize a certain amino acid can lead to progressive mental retardation, brain damage, and seizures, but can be averted by not eating that amino acid, phenylalanine).

The whole idea that gluten-free casein-free diets might be useful for autism is based on theories that exorphins (protein fragments that act as opiates) from gluten and casein might make it through the intestinal barrier and go on to act on the brain, causing harm. A similar theory is at work in gluten-free diets and schizophrenia. One very interesting tidbit of information: kids with autism and their family members seem to have leakier guts than families without autism (4). (Here's a finding which makes the Harvard Mental Health Letter's statement that researchers are promoting "autism diets" with no scientific support, seem, well, cranky. To be fair, the largest and best gluten-free casein-free diet trial was published in April of 2010 too, and the leaky gut study I'm looking at is epublished ahead of print, meaning it doesn't seem to even be officially published yet.)"

Diet and Autism 2
http://evolutionarypsychiatry.blogspot.com/2010/09/diet-and-autism-2.html

Excerpt: "The take-away point?  Once again, I think there is enough scientific evidence to suggest that some kids with ASDs will, in fact, benefit from a gluten-free, casein-free diet, and while it is no cure and may not be a part of the original cause (some known teratogens that cause autism seem to work at around 8 weeks gestation (7)), it may be worth a try.  It shouldn't be attempted without some professional nutritional advice, especially in a picky kid.  And it's clearly no holy grail.

Another point - gluten is (once again) creepy.  Gliadin and zonulin do not a good combination make.  No one wants a leaky gut.  Just something to think about."
>"When some one eats an Epi paleo Rx template and follows the rules of circadian biology they get plenty of starches when they are available three out of the four seasons." -Jack Kruse, MD
>"I recommend 20 percent of calories from carbs, depending on the size of the person" -Ron Rosedale, MD (in other words, NOT zero carbs) http://preview.tinyurl.com/6ogtan
>Finding a diet you can tolerate is not the same as fixing what's wrong. -Tim Steele
Beware of problems from chronic Very Low Carb

Offline laterade

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Re: Autism Research
« Reply #2 on: January 06, 2011, 02:45:51 pm »
Hell yea worth a try...
I can only provide my anecdotal evidence, growing up with my brother diagnosed with aspergers, and working in the field for 2 years next month. I have not met one of them that is eating like us.
One thing I would like to add is this, "autism" should never be the focus. The parents should only focus on those things that they can change, like brain function and digestion etc. If you optimize as many functions as possible, starting with the easy ones, things will inevitably get better.
Most people are only concerned with the child conforming to the BS that they have constructed.

Offline PaleoPhil

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Re: Autism Research
« Reply #3 on: January 23, 2011, 06:52:42 am »
Yeah, achieving a "cure" and perfectionism should never be the focus regarding any illness, as that can lead to disappointment and giving up. Instead, people should focus on improving health in general and any improvements will thus be welcome and help foster the discipline needed to maintain healthy habits. This is one reason why I try to avoid ever using the word "cure."

I too have never met a person with autism, Asperger syndrome or ADHD that had their whole lives been eating raw Paleo or a close approximation thereof, such as a traditional hunter-gatherer-style diet including some traditionally cooked foods. Of course, that doesn't prove anything and not many people are eating such traditional diets, so the sample size is too small to draw any major conclusions, but it is an interesting coincidence that suggests that more study may be worthwhile.

-----
Here's a good quote on why diet and lifestyle factors tend to be underestimated and genetic factors overestimated by scientists and the general public:

"[T]he reason observational studies in affluent nations haven't been able to get to the bottom of dental/orthodontic problems and chronic disease [my note: such as autism] is that everyone in their study population is doing the same thing [ie much or some of the same critical variables are in play]! There isn't enough variability in the diets and lifestyles of modern populations to be able to determine what's causing the problem. So we study the genetics of problems that are not genetic in origin, and overestimate genetic contributions because we're studying populations whose diet and lifestyle are homogeneous. It's a wild goose chase.

That's why you have to study modernizing populations that are transitioning from good to poor health, which is exactly what Dr. Weston Price and many others have done. Only then can you see the true, non-genetic, nature of the problem."
-Stephan Guyenet, http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2009/06/little-tidbit.html

When diet or lifestyle factors are studied, the scientists tend to look at only one or two factors (such as fructose or gluten and dairy) and often modern processed versions of them and drawing overbroad conclusions from their limited reductionist studies (for example, extrapolating problems from fructose onto whole raw fruits instead of just the processed corn syrups used in the studies or assuming that diet plays no role in an illness if just eliminating gluten and dairy doesn't produce major improvements). When they don't get astounding results they then sometimes conclude erroneously that diet and lifestyle cannot be significant factors and that genetics alone must be responsible for the illness, despite the fact that evolutionary biologists have not come up with a conclusive reason for why these so-called genetic illnesses persist across many generations and why many appear to be increasing at rates beyond which increased reporting would explain and right up to the present--years after the changes were made in reporting methods and data tracking. They have made guesses, yes, but no definitive proofs.

----
More indication that the mercury connection is a dead end, as I suspected:

Quote
MMR Doctor ‘Planned to Make Millions,’ Journal Claims
BMJ Reveals How the Doctor Who Claimed There Was a Link Between Vaccines and Autism Planned to Cash In
By Peter Russell
WebMD Health News Reviewed by Keith Barnard, MD
http://www.webmd.com/brain/autism/news/20110111/mmr-doctor-planned-make-millions-journal-claims?src=RSS_PUBLIC
.... In the first part of his investigation, Deer showed how Wakefield was able to manufacture the appearance of a medical syndrome that would hoodwink parents and large parts of the medical establishment with a fraud that “unleashed fear, parental guilt, costly government intervention, and outbreaks of infectious disease."

I hope that more research will now be directed away from mercury toward diet and lifestyle beginning with the parents during conception and the mother from conception through birth and breastfeeding and the entire life history of the patient from conception onwards, not just the responses of teenage and adult patients during the brief periods of a clinical trial.
« Last Edit: January 23, 2011, 07:29:06 am by PaleoPhil »
>"When some one eats an Epi paleo Rx template and follows the rules of circadian biology they get plenty of starches when they are available three out of the four seasons." -Jack Kruse, MD
>"I recommend 20 percent of calories from carbs, depending on the size of the person" -Ron Rosedale, MD (in other words, NOT zero carbs) http://preview.tinyurl.com/6ogtan
>Finding a diet you can tolerate is not the same as fixing what's wrong. -Tim Steele
Beware of problems from chronic Very Low Carb

Offline laterade

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Re: Autism Research
« Reply #4 on: January 23, 2011, 01:37:22 pm »
There are many medical professionals who claim diet is the leading factor in our health, but they do not control "the narrative"
Most people do not think of diet(especially our lil extreme) because they believe the lamestream is pure fact, therefore they believe what Dr Oz says and accept nothing else. Even if "double blind studies" with "empirical evidence" surfaced, they would not believe it because it was not on TV gathering publicity.
My grandfather asked me "so why haven't doctors picked up on your ideas"? The truth is that some doctors have, but most doctors are afraid to think outside of the box the media gives them. Who funds the media? Just look at the commercials, drug companies... (that money most likely has a string or two attached) We should not expect the big media companies to bite the hand that feeds them, it is up to us to do what is necessary.

Offline sabertooth

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Re: Autism Research
« Reply #5 on: January 23, 2011, 08:05:19 pm »

The scientific research involved in autism is so suspect and flawed by design that I refuse to cite much of it as a base for any of my opinions, I have my own inclinations and intuition into this issue based on personal observation and independent study of the reality on the ground

More indication that the mercury connection is a dead end, as I suspected:

Mercury was never the direct cause of autism, so even since its been removed from the shots the autism epidemic has been surging on although perhaps with less veracity . I often suspected mercury as the catalyst that could be involved in exacerbating the first stage of autism development, when the immune system becomes overstimulated and begins to attack itself due to the introduction of synthetic viral RNA and other agent's that create a cascading immune overreaction, ( although this theory still causes much controversy, I claim that vaccination reaction is the primary cause for classical autism)

The repeated low dose mercury poisoning that was administered to the young through vaccination for most people of my generation for the most part only caused mild stupidity or vague mental issues and so could never be linked to many other conditions that seem to run parallel to the autism epidemic, such as ADHD, depression,cognitive impairment.( I see this connection even if no one else can ). I see things from the ground level, and the view from down here is clear as day, the kids around here are being damage universally, even if only slightly and unnoticed ,but none the less I see it happening, and I personally want to warn everyone to protect their children from possible causes, Even if there isn't a study to point to doesn't mean we should just accept what is happening without making an effort to eliminate the possible causative factors.

I have studied history from an offbeat point of view,

I have learned many facts that have been forgoten by modern science.

like how mercury based preservatives were considered to dangerous to be used in animal vaccines as far back as the 1920s, and yet they weren't banded from use until recently,

or how the Spanish flu epidemic that killed millions was actually a die off caused by mass poisoning due to the vaccination campain of WW1.

The solders that can home from the great war were often diagnosed with shell shock, but in reality they were neurologically damaged by poisons in the vaccines they received. The neurological damage induced by vaccines has been covered up since the very beginning of the mass vaccination campaigns and the white wash continues to this day almost 100 years later.  
http://www.whale.to/vaccine/sf1.html

I wish no conflict here I just want to illustrate how vaccines have allways been responsible for neurological and immune dysfunction on a large scale since they were first forcibly injected into the population, and although they are safer than they were 100 years ago they still may be responsible for a triggering mild brain rash that can leave one stricken with predominate brain damage that gets labled as autism and leave little direct evidence of the original cause.


Autism is the tip of the iceberg in my openion and so is vaccination. There is something much more insidious is happening, but there are too many other countless factors involved to make a scientific assessment. This debate can never happen on this two dimensional level, where there are two opposing camps( the Establishment; that claims its genetic flaws that are to blame, and the fringe that believe its environmentally induced, by either poisons, pesticides, vaccines, etc. In the end there is enough blame to go around as well as allot of ignorance.

Although I blame vaccines for the most part, and waste allot of time grasping at other theoretical straws , and I have been made paranoid from what I have learned and I will never trust anything that smells of the main streams polluted science. I  just want to warn people about how they can protect their own children from being damaged.

« Last Edit: January 23, 2011, 08:13:26 pm by sabertooth »
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Offline laterade

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Re: Autism Research
« Reply #6 on: January 24, 2011, 01:04:50 am »
Anyone who gets vaccinated is just asking to get sick. "here, lets inject you with a "dead" virus so you can build immunity from a living virus"
...remembering when I was very young and said "that is just stupid"
We have come to a point in time where people, sigh, just want to do what they are told thinking it somehow miraculously inhibits responsibility.
Just keep your strength and watch the cows run off the enticing hill. I like to help anyone I can but most people are just screwed, either in this generation or the next few. Then you add in the fiat currency collapsing situation, we are in for a bumpy ride...

For "autism".... show me a kid eating a pound of meat each day, eggs, limiting simple sugar, and excluding chemical foods. If he/she is still showing developmental problems then we may have something to talk about. Until then ALL pursuit is meaningless. We will never detoxify it away, or find the magic autism herb. It is like any other health issue, the body is a team of organisms, promote them working in concert by 1.do no harm 2.eat plenty of grass eaters 3.learn methods to dissolve/avoid accumulating stress, and everything will get better.

Offline sabertooth

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Re: Autism Research
« Reply #7 on: January 24, 2011, 04:13:58 am »
My basic view is that autism is a permanent brain affliction caused by some type of irreversible damage, any conversation about how to manage the affliction is good for those who have to learn to cope.

I want to take the argument to the front lines and try to make people realize that it can be prevented and there are ways to keep your own children safe. Prevention is the best medicine. What I see the establishment doing is the exact opposite, they ignore the real cause and then run off in some crusade to explain it away without doing anything about it.

If the mass genocide that happened in 1918 can be covered up and labled a flu epidemic (where is the scientific community when this happened?) , then these epidemic cases of chemically induced brain damaged can be covered up labled autism in the same fashion. People are just as ignorant today as they were back then. The technology may be different but who controls the weapons labs has never changed a bit. The same foundations are running the same operations now as they were back then. Most of that reality cannot be fathomed by the average person.
« Last Edit: January 24, 2011, 05:15:41 am by sabertooth »
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Offline CHK91

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Re: Autism Research
« Reply #8 on: January 24, 2011, 04:39:36 am »
or how the Spanish flu epidemic that killed millions was actually a die off caused by mass poisoning due to the vaccination campain of WW1.

This is a very bold claim. There were many deaths in the non-industrialized world too, and I doubt many people there would have even heard of vaccines.
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Offline laterade

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Re: Autism Research
« Reply #9 on: January 24, 2011, 04:46:04 am »
Most of that reality cannot be fathomed by the average person.

This is something that has bothered me for a while. I wonder..
Are they just not ready? Will they ever be?
I think of my grandparents who are always informed(or so they think, ie. lamestream media) looked at me in terror when I said that cancer pays the mortgages of so many doctors. Unquestionable pitiful fact. However IMO the answer is not in litigation but building our own community and in effect attract some of the sheep into our "tribe". Most people NEED to have a sense of "pack safety" if we continue to do this and stay active in reality as well, it is only a matter of time before our outcast status transforms into an actual community, even if we are not dogmatically bound together.

Offline sabertooth

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Re: Autism Research
« Reply #10 on: January 24, 2011, 06:27:31 am »
This is a very bold claim. There were many deaths in the non-industrialized world too, and I doubt many people there would have even heard of vaccines.
"Even if all the experts agree, they may well be mistaken."--Bertrand R.
 Its bold and a grand generalization, but it doesn't mean it didn't happen. The whole war as a huge powergrab consolidation, where they took the strongest and bravest men and condemned them to die, it wasn't a war it was orchestrated genocide. They put two opposing sides in trenches and forced them to charge against machine guns, they poisoned both sides with chemical weapons and after the war was over the vaccine companies unloaded the stock piles on the general public. Perhaps I am going overboard in these claims, but I still believe the primary cause of the Spanish flu epidemic was cased by the extensive use of untested vaccines, the third world may have been hit with a person to person transmitable version that was a result of the vaccines that were being used world wide at the time. I cant find much history on what actually happened or how history verified that the deaths in the third world were a direct result of the flu and not some other issue.

The whitewash has occurred and is nearly complete, very few people of that age were ever aware of what was going on. I mainly wanted to use the 1918 flu conspiracy as an example of how such an event could be covered up and spun by history while a complete lie emerged as the Truth. I am trying to illustrate how even the basic evidence of the conspiracy was completely covered up, doctors who realized that the vaccines caused the sickness were made to shut up. When you google the Spanish flu epidemic on the web you wont even be given a chance to decide for yourself what I say is true. there is no metion about the mass vaccination campain that was done to 10s of millions of people all over the world at about he same time the flu broke out. The encyclopedia says nothing about the up 17 experimental shots many solders were forced to take. These shots were concocted using serums cultivated in festering animal tissue.  The suggestion that such mad science could of been responsible for creating the right conditions for a deadly mutant flu to arise is nowhere to be found.

I compare our modern day whitewashing of the issues about finding the Truth behind widespread occurrences nurodegenerative disease like autism with those , with the total ignorance of the conditions that lead to the genocide after world war I . Even if all the deaths were not caused by the flu, that doesn't mean that millions of people were not damaged by the shots. The same is true today, just because not everyone who is afflicted with autism was directly damaged by vaccines, does not mean that these shots are safe or that they don't cause neurological issues.

  
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Offline PaleoPhil

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Re: Autism Research
« Reply #11 on: January 24, 2011, 07:03:47 am »
Its bold and a grand generalization, but it doesn't mean it didn't happen.
This thread is not for such generalizations, as I specified at the beginning:

This thread is for sharing autism research, not for unsupported opinions. If you're going to share an opinion please at least support it with a study or research of some sort.

If you wish to engage in unsupported generalizations or do not value research, then please start your own thread, thank you.
>"When some one eats an Epi paleo Rx template and follows the rules of circadian biology they get plenty of starches when they are available three out of the four seasons." -Jack Kruse, MD
>"I recommend 20 percent of calories from carbs, depending on the size of the person" -Ron Rosedale, MD (in other words, NOT zero carbs) http://preview.tinyurl.com/6ogtan
>Finding a diet you can tolerate is not the same as fixing what's wrong. -Tim Steele
Beware of problems from chronic Very Low Carb

Offline CHK91

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Re: Autism Research
« Reply #12 on: January 24, 2011, 07:16:10 am »
I apologize but your comments come off as paranoid. You have to understand that I have probably heard of OVER 9000 conspiracy theories, and it seems that there is always somebody willing to offer sinister alternative explanations to every tragic event. I am skeptical of government and corporation, but I don't think it is realistic to believe that their members are in some underground lair perpetually plotting ways to destroy or screw over humanity.

"When you google the Spanish flu epidemic on the web you wont even be given a chance to decide for yourself what I say is true."

I mean this sounds like what most other conspiracy theorists would say. They claim that they know the truth or hold monopoly on sanity, then claim that the evil powers have magically hidden every trace of evidence, and then claim that people should take what they know as true anyways. If the anyone criticizes the conspiracy theorist, the conspiracy theorist laments that his or her disagreers have been brainwashed by society. I have heard this so many times that it is hard to take seriously...

Make no mistake, I have an open mind and am open to alternative viewpoints. I don't think it is good to completely trusting, but I also don't think it is good to reject EVERY single thing relating to authority. Too much paranoia can make one crazy.
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Offline TylerDurden

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Re: Autism Research
« Reply #13 on: January 24, 2011, 07:47:53 am »
I think it's reasonable to assume  that the 1918 flu epidemic wasn't a conspiracy-theory. I mean, there were other circumstances, such as the weakening of the immune-systems casued by mass-starvation during WW1 etc.


I do agree with a very few conspiracy-theories but most are bunk, once examined.
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Offline sabertooth

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Re: Autism Research
« Reply #14 on: January 24, 2011, 10:19:38 am »
Whether or not these afflictions suffered by the forsaken are a result of some evil plot or just victims of unforeseeable circumstance is of little importance to my view of things. First I must say that I saw the proviso at the top of the thread which was meant to keep this type of generalizations out of the topic, but I am being belligerent here , because I have such strong feelings on the subject. Its hard for me to sit back and read these convoluted scientific nonsense where its obvious to me the main issue is being completely ignored while the lab coats pursue all these increasingly complex and convoluted schemes to explain something that is essentially a type of brain damage.

I cant sit back and just ignore the fact that the technology and resources are available to do research that could determine the main factors in the causation of conditions such as autism, and yet no such studies are being conducted. Instead there is an effort to explain away the condition using carefully designed studies that seem to always shy away from trying to identify a cause. I see such falseness in much of what I read in mainline history and medical science and I am a die-hard skeptic for life.

Come on ye men of science put a few million in a study that follows a number of groups of people with certain control groups, say for example an unvaccinated group fed an organic Weston price diet, and living in a remote location, and you compare the autism rate to a group of inner city people who are fully vaccinated and eat cafeteria food. Then see how the rates of autism compare. Such a study needs to happen, but instead they spend millions on dead ends.

I will leave the issue alone for now out of respect... I just want to make sure that people are aware of factors that aren't always apparent. I will respectfully withdraw from this thread and if anyone wishes to continue to converse with me about this topic then I have an open message box.
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Offline PaleoPhil

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Re: Autism Research
« Reply #15 on: January 24, 2011, 11:04:34 am »
... First I must say that I saw the proviso at the top of the thread which was meant to keep this type of generalizations out of the topic, but I am being belligerent here , because I have such strong feelings on the subject.
You can do that in a separate thread. I'd like to keep this thread dedicated to reports and discussion of autism research please. Too often research threads get sidetracked with debates over opinions and when one wants to go back to find the research that was reported previously one has to weed through all sorts of opinion debate to find it. There were already at least a couple of autism opinion debate threads and I intentionally set this one up as dedicated to the research rather than to the opinion debate. I don't mind a small amount of debate here too if it specifically regarding the research and holds true to the topic by always backing up the debate with referenced research instead of just naked opinions. What I was hoping for here was people reporting what they find on autism research. For example, if you have come across some new study on mercury (which preferably doesn't involve Wakefield, who appears to have lost whatever credibility he had) that provides supportive evidence for a mercury-autism connection you could post that here.

Quote
Its hard for me to sit back and read these convoluted scientific nonsense where its obvious to me the main issue is being completely ignored while the lab coats pursue all these increasingly complex and convoluted schemes to explain something that is essentially a type of brain damage.
OK and please consider that no one is forcing you to read it and that you have the option to post in one of the other threads or start your own thread.

Quote
say for example an unvaccinated group fed an organic Weston price diet, and living in a remote location, and you compare the autism rate to a group of inner city people who are fully vaccinated and eat cafeteria food. Then see how the rates of autism compare. Such a study needs to happen, but instead they spend millions on dead ends.
Sounds pretty good, and I think it could be made even better by focusing on one variable at a time. For example, doing one study with diet as the variable (traditional vs. modern like you suggest, not just gluten and dairy elimination) and another study with a vaccine as the variable. They could also study the genes of the subjects to see how much of a possible factor they were or perhaps they could try to control for genes too by using a relatively homogeneous total subject population.

Quote
I just want to make sure that people are aware of factors that aren't always apparent.
Sure, I was already aware of the existence of both dietary and vaccine hypotheses and studies. I created this thread so that recent and future study results, hypotheses and evidence-based scientific discussions could be reported here.

Quote
I will respectfully withdraw from this thread and if anyone wishes to continue to converse with me about this topic then I have an open message box.
You're also free to post opinion-focused discussions in other threads. I'd just like at least one thread dedicated more to the research, however imperfect, that's all, if that's OK or even possible in a free forum.
« Last Edit: January 24, 2011, 11:11:09 am by PaleoPhil »
>"When some one eats an Epi paleo Rx template and follows the rules of circadian biology they get plenty of starches when they are available three out of the four seasons." -Jack Kruse, MD
>"I recommend 20 percent of calories from carbs, depending on the size of the person" -Ron Rosedale, MD (in other words, NOT zero carbs) http://preview.tinyurl.com/6ogtan
>Finding a diet you can tolerate is not the same as fixing what's wrong. -Tim Steele
Beware of problems from chronic Very Low Carb

Offline PaleoPhil

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Re: Autism Research
« Reply #16 on: July 17, 2011, 09:14:58 am »
This study found environment more important than genes in driving autism:

Genetic Heritability and Shared Environmental Factors Among Twin Pairs With Autism
http://archpsyc.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/archgenpsychiatry.2011.76

Another study connecting an environmental factor to autism:

Antidepressant use in pregnancy may raise autism risk
http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/07/04/antidepressant.pregnancy.autism.risk/index.html

Thanks to Chris Kresser for these links.
>"When some one eats an Epi paleo Rx template and follows the rules of circadian biology they get plenty of starches when they are available three out of the four seasons." -Jack Kruse, MD
>"I recommend 20 percent of calories from carbs, depending on the size of the person" -Ron Rosedale, MD (in other words, NOT zero carbs) http://preview.tinyurl.com/6ogtan
>Finding a diet you can tolerate is not the same as fixing what's wrong. -Tim Steele
Beware of problems from chronic Very Low Carb

Offline PaleoPhil

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Re: Autism Research
« Reply #17 on: July 13, 2012, 08:19:27 am »
Quote
Autism: A Brain or Whole-Body Disorder?
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/autism-a-brain-or-whole-body-disorder/#axzz20SJ2lb8A

... Regardless of our personal connection, we’ve all heard about the skyrocketing rates of developmental and behavioral disabilities like autism and ADHD. Recent studies show one in six kids in the U.S. has been diagnosed with a developmental disability – mostly resulting from the spike in autism and ADHD. There’s general agreement now it’s not solely a matter of improved diagnosis, and few anymore argue that it’s purely a genetic phenomenon. Simple math negates the possibility that a “genetic” condition would spike in the span of less than half a generation. Since 1995, autism alone has gone from a rate of 1/3300 children to 1/88 children. Prevailing opinion now connects the rising prevalence of these conditions with a confluence of some kind of genetic vulnerability with pivotal environmental factors that somehow set off this genetic potential. ....

Is it possible to stop the cascade that unfolds and even reverse it – at least in part?

A New Focus for Autism Research

Dr. Martha Herbert, a Harvard pediatric neurologist who has studied autism for seventeen years, believes it can be done. She began research into autism with the same genetics-focused approach common to the field. In her words, she quickly found the picture to be much more complex. In her recently published book The Autism Revolution: Whole-Body Strategies for Making Life All It Can Be, Dr. Herbert explains how addressing basic coexisting medical issues and optimizing overall health can positively and sometimes dramatically impact the symptoms associated with autism. I’d definitely recommend Dr. Herbert’s book to anyone interested in learning more about a biological treatment approach to autism.

Initially interested in comparing MRIs of her patients, Dr. Herbert began to see an interaction of neurological functioning with other physical issues like poor digestion, low muscle tone, fatigue, frequent infections, nutritional deficiencies, and food allergies. She found that “treating health” ended up treating autism.

In the meantime, experts were finding – and confirming – that seemingly unrelated factors like fevers or the use of certain steroids or blood pressure medications could almost instantaneously dial back autistic symptoms. These instances – as well as the basic progress of many individuals on the spectrum – suggested autism was perhaps more of a flexible “state” than a fixed “trait.” If this was possible, what could be done safely and systemically to take advantage of this potential fluidity?

Dr. Herbert outlines a whole host of lifestyle based suggestions surrounding diet, toxin free living, supplementation, sleep, sensory exposure, stress, and other daily factors. There’s too much to explain here, but let me summarize a few of her central points and put it in context for those who live Primally.

Nutrition Is Key ....

Read more: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/autism-a-brain-or-whole-body-disorder/#ixzz20SJenaf8
>"When some one eats an Epi paleo Rx template and follows the rules of circadian biology they get plenty of starches when they are available three out of the four seasons." -Jack Kruse, MD
>"I recommend 20 percent of calories from carbs, depending on the size of the person" -Ron Rosedale, MD (in other words, NOT zero carbs) http://preview.tinyurl.com/6ogtan
>Finding a diet you can tolerate is not the same as fixing what's wrong. -Tim Steele
Beware of problems from chronic Very Low Carb

Offline PaleoPhil

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Re: Autism Research
« Reply #18 on: July 16, 2012, 01:17:24 am »
The proposed Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) 5 seeks to merge Pervasive Developmental Disorder sub-categories under Autism Spectrum Disorder, including Asperger Syndrome, High Functioning Autism, and Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified. The neurodevelopmental disorder committee of the American Psychiatric Association explained that it "wants to use the term “autism spectrum disorder” as the category title because they feel autism is truly a spectrum of characteristics (such as language ability or intellectual level) that vary among individuals, and even within an individual across his or her lifetime. Francesca Happe, a committee member, says that the proposed criteria better indicate the needs of the individual versus making him or her fit into a narrow category that is not really a match." (http://www.centerforsystemschange.org/up_doc/DSM_5_ASD.pdf)
>"When some one eats an Epi paleo Rx template and follows the rules of circadian biology they get plenty of starches when they are available three out of the four seasons." -Jack Kruse, MD
>"I recommend 20 percent of calories from carbs, depending on the size of the person" -Ron Rosedale, MD (in other words, NOT zero carbs) http://preview.tinyurl.com/6ogtan
>Finding a diet you can tolerate is not the same as fixing what's wrong. -Tim Steele
Beware of problems from chronic Very Low Carb

Offline PaleoPhil

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Re: Autism Research
« Reply #19 on: April 10, 2013, 06:57:35 am »
An interview of Dr. Herbert (http://www.autismrevolution.org) on the "To the Best of Our Knowledge" radio program was rebroadcast:

Martha Herbert on "The Autism Revolution"
To the Best of Our Knowledge
Interview date 04.15.2012, rebroadcast on 4.7.13
http://ttbook.org/book/martha-herbert-autism-revolution

Dr. Herbert said that people with autism tend to eat a "beige diet" of "Macaroni and cheese, goldfish crackers, chicken nuggets, maybe pizza" and tend to be zinc deficient. She noted that the paucity of fermented foods in current diets may contribute to gut microbiome problems which may contribute to autism.

Here's her response to hostility re: the autism diet connection from an earlier interview:
Quote
Autism Now: Dr. Martha Herbert Extended Interview
AIR DATE: April 20, 2011
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/health/jan-june11/herbertext_04-20.html

ROBERT MACNEIL: How do you explain the hostility in a lot of the medical community to the treatments that parents of autistic children are using to treat these biomedical conditions?

DR. MARTHA HERBERT: That's an interesting -- how do you explain the hostility?

ROBERT MACNEIL: The hostility -- medical hostility -- to it.

DR. MARTHA HERBERT: I think that there are a number of different levels for hostility. One of them is, medical doctors are trained to believe that drugs are more efficacious than remedies like diet. There's a strong prejudice against diet and nutritional interventions. Another thing is that the parents are not doing this under the control or guidance of their medical professionals. And that is a problem.

It feels like it's an out-of-control situation, I think, to doctors. I think that most doctors don't really have an understanding, from what they've learned of autism -- if they're not specializing in it, they don't hear about the advances in the science and they have no reason to think that this could have anything to do with what they conceive of as a devastating, lifelong, inborn brain error.
It's quite a breakthrough for a respected Harvard neurobiologist to say these things publicly. Here's to hoping that this turns the tide against the ignorant hostility.
>"When some one eats an Epi paleo Rx template and follows the rules of circadian biology they get plenty of starches when they are available three out of the four seasons." -Jack Kruse, MD
>"I recommend 20 percent of calories from carbs, depending on the size of the person" -Ron Rosedale, MD (in other words, NOT zero carbs) http://preview.tinyurl.com/6ogtan
>Finding a diet you can tolerate is not the same as fixing what's wrong. -Tim Steele
Beware of problems from chronic Very Low Carb

Offline PaleoPhil

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Re: Autism Research
« Reply #20 on: November 23, 2013, 09:04:12 pm »
I suspect that the robotic Mr. Spock-type personality style, with certain traits like deficits in empathy and emotion, pessimism, detail-oriented, perfectionism, obsessiveness, etc. that have been associated with the autism spectrum (including Asperger's) may turn out to be partly influenced by the microbiome and that prebiotics (such as butyrate-generating resistant starch http://www.rawpaleodietforum.com/general-discussion/fantastic-health-benefits-of-butyrate-6649/msg88185/#msg88185) may prove to be useful therapies for this.
« Last Edit: November 23, 2013, 09:19:28 pm by PaleoPhil »
>"When some one eats an Epi paleo Rx template and follows the rules of circadian biology they get plenty of starches when they are available three out of the four seasons." -Jack Kruse, MD
>"I recommend 20 percent of calories from carbs, depending on the size of the person" -Ron Rosedale, MD (in other words, NOT zero carbs) http://preview.tinyurl.com/6ogtan
>Finding a diet you can tolerate is not the same as fixing what's wrong. -Tim Steele
Beware of problems from chronic Very Low Carb

 

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