New hope in the fight against autism
Autism is a health problem that seems to grow tremendously during the last 20 years. In the developed countries, one child in every hundred births develops a certain disorder within the autism range.
If one considers that the corresponding ratio during the 70s was 1 every 10,000 children, we can realize that it is a disorder directly linked to the modern lifestyle.
Autism and autism-related disorders, such as Asperger’s syndrome, involve a set of symptoms affecting the child’s mental and emotional development.
The main component of the problems children present is failure to communicate with the people around them and the environment. This failure to communicate may have different gradings. The two extremes of the range start from almost complete lack of communication, with absence of speech and response up to a bare minimum, whose impaired ability is only perceived by the parents of the child.
The manifestation of the above problem of communication with the environment causes a range of symptoms to the child, such as:
- Lack of speech
- Irritation
- Aggressiveness
- Failure to understand
- Repetitive behavior
- Ticks
- Sleep disorders
The management of communication in our body is mainly conducted via the central nervous system.
Causes that prevent the central nervous system to function ideally or gradually impair its function
Epigenetics
Until recently, autism had been characterized as a disease with intense genetic predisposition. New discoveries shift the basic causes of the disease, laying more emphasis on congenital exogenous factors.
The modern approach of genetics now refers to factors affecting gene function epigenetically (epi- in addition to).
Our genes are not something static, as was considered in the past. DNA reacts with the environment and under distinct conditions, it operates (expresses) differently.
Many researchers have been oriented towards different hypotheses and causes regarding the rapid increase of autism. Each one of them actually presents a series of studies supporting their view.
The clinical experience though shows that the factors that are to blame are several and all of them should be taken into account in an effort to improve the image of autism.
Vitamin D and autism
In January 2010, five researchers from Harvard Medical School published a study that examined the contribution of environmental risk factors in the effect of autism.
According to the researchers, low vitamin D levels during pregnancy and the first childhood years are linked to DNA mutations and are one of the main factors for the manifestation of autism.
Vitamin D essentially contributes to DNA repair and expression. It has been suggested that low vitamin D levels may be related to irreversible damages in the central nervous system of the fetus during pregnancy. This is the reason that the Canadian Pediatrics Association increased the recommended daily allowance in pregnant women fivefold (from 400 iu to 2000 iu).
Apart from its action during fetal period in the development of the nervous system, vitamin D seems to play an important role in its function as well. Every 10 unit (ngr/ml) increase of (OH)25D3 blood levels is linked to a reduced speed of relapses in patients with multiple sclerosis by 25% in adults and 34% in children. D3 level increase by 20 units may reduce multiple sclerosis relapses in half.
Toxic burden
One of the principal factors behind autism, but perhaps any chronic disease nowadays, is the continuously increasing burden of our body by toxic factors.
The disturbance of the normal function is conducted in two ways:
1) Through the direct toxic action on the central nervous system cells, as in the case of mercury
2) Through the accumulation of compounds foreign to life (xenobiotic) interfering in the function of each cell within our body.
Mercury is one of the most toxic known substances. Most heavy metals lose their toxicity if diluted sufficiently, 1 to 100 or 1 to 1,000 times. Mercury, however, remains toxic even in solutions 1 to 1,000,000,000,000 (trillion). If for instance we diluted a quantity of mercury equal to a granule of cooking salt in an Olympic-size swimming pool, the water of such pool would be toxic to swim in!
Our body is equipped with enzymes responsible for the management and discharge of xenobiotic compounds. They are complex biological mechanisms responsible for the repair of lesions occurring everyday in our body, which are however overwhelmed by an immense toxic load.
Our body accumulates toxins and lesions from this point on, whereas any recovery abilities are steadily reduced.
Gastrointestinal function disorder
The poor function of the gastrointestinal is a factor encountered in a multitude of studies relating to autism issues. The basic lesions contributing in the image of image are the following:
- Poor absorption
- Altered intestinal flora, fungi
- Production of neurotoxins
- Neurotransmitter production disorder.
- Intestinal mucosal permeability disorder (leaky gut)
Intestinal flora alteration acts in several levels. As I have mentioned in previous articles, the number of friendly bacteria inhabiting in our body is ten times that of our body cells. Their genes are 150 times more than ours. It is well known that a disturbance of the bacterial flora may affect the expression of human genome.
The impaired ability to digest and absorb food results in a chronic condition of malnutrition and lack of basic micronutrients. Significant magnesium, complex B Vitamins, minerals and amino acid deficiencies are frequent findings in kids with development disorders.
Our gastrointestinal system is a second brain and directly linked to the central nervous system. The gastrointestinal system contains a hundred million neurons (nerve cells), more than the spinal cord. 80% of serotonin in our body, together with other neurotransmitters (glutamate, dopamine and nitric acid) is produced in intestinal cells.
If we also consider neurotoxin production by fungi and pathogen bacteria developed when the bacterial flora is disturbed, we may easily understand that a radical change of the gastrointestinal function may even affect the operation of the central nervous system.
New hope against autism
Apart from the special education which helps the child rehabilitate and improve lost abilities, the restoration to a state as close as possible to the optimal biochemical balance is of vital importance.
The restoration and implementation of the above data in the clinical practice offers new hope in our fight against autism. From new researches, it starts to become clearer that autism is not an irreversible disease that is due to irreversible genetic factors, but one more consequence of the severe disorder in the environment and our lifestyle.
The conduct of advanced tests using high analysis mass phasmatographers may record the hidden metabolic disorder behind autism, allowing us to act with enhanced accuracy and effectiveness. The shorter the interval between the appearance of symptoms and the onset of treatment, the better the results.
Cheers to You!
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Sources
Epigenetics
On the Aetiology of Autism
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