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There was an interesting article in last months Discovery Magazine on Autism. It described Autism as a “possible immune and neuroinflammatory disorder” which can be successfully treated through diet and supplements, along with various therapies.

Autism: It’s Not Just in the Head
by Jill Neimark
03.22.2007

http://discovermagazine.com/2007/apr/autism-it2019s-not-just-in-the-head

Here are some excerpts from the article:

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Meanwhile, on the sidelines of that confusing discussion, a disparate group—immunologists, naturopaths, neuroscientists, and toxicologists—is turning up clues that are yielding novel strategies to help autistic patients. New studies are examining contributing factors ranging from vaccine reactions to atypical growth in the placenta, abnormal tissue in the gut, inflamed tissue in the brain, food allergies, and disturbed brain wave synchrony. Some clinicians are using genetic test results to recommend unconventional nutritional therapies, and others employ drugs to fight viruses and quell inflammation.

Above all, there is a new emphasis on the interaction between vulnerable genes and environmental triggers, along with a growing sense that low-dose, multiple toxic and infectious exposures may be a major contributing factor to autism and its related disorders. A vivid analogy is that genes load the gun, but environment pulls the trigger. “Like cancer, autism is a very complex disease,” says Craig Newschaffer, chairman of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the Drexel University School of Public Health, “and it’s exciting to start asking questions about the interaction between genes and environment. There’s really a very rich array of potential exposure variables.”

“I no longer see autism as a disorder of the brain but as a disorder that affects the brain,” Herbert says. “It also affects the immune system and the gut. One very striking piece of evidence many of us have noticed is that when autistic children go in for certain diagnostic tests and are told not to eat or drink anything ahead of time, parents often report their child’s symptoms improve—until they start eating again after the procedure. If symptoms can improve in such a short time frame simply by avoiding exposure to foods, then we’re looking at some kind of chemically driven ‘software’—perhaps immune system signals—that can change fast. This means that at least some of autism probably comes from a kind of metabolic encephalopathy—a systemwide process that affects the brain, just like cirrhosis of the liver affects the brain.”
Erin’s boys benefited from their DAN! doctor, she says, but it was in 2003, when she switched to a highly unconventional molecular biologist and naturopath based in Maine, Amy Yasko, that she began to see more striking changes. Yasko blends the new findings on methylation with a scientist’s background in the finer steps of fundamental detoxification pathways in the body. However, she largely favors herbs, dietary change, and nutritional supplements over prescription medications. She monitors biomarkers of detoxification in the urine as often as every week or two and tweaks supplements accordingly. Her program is intensive and steeped in molecular biology; her twice-yearly conferences are extremely dense, scientific, and intended to help parents become at least semiproficient in the biology and chemistry themselves. It is a far cry from the old doctor-patient model—Yasko works primarily on the Internet now, with phone consultations, to interpret test results. She decided to do this when her waiting list for individuals stretched to five years, and, she says, she felt she was not helping enough children. Erin e-mailed me about 40 charts of metal “dumps” for both of her boys—urinalyses Yasko had ordered and charted on a graph to show the excretion of everything from arsenic to aluminum, mercury, and lead over time. “All these little things started clicking after we started with her,” says Erin.

“I call this approach biomolecular nutrigenomics, after Bruce Ames, a professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at the University of California at Berkeley,” says Yasko. “He said that someday it would become routine to screen individuals for polymorphisms and that nutritional interventions to improve health were likely be a major benefit of the genomics area.” Yasko tests for common polymorphisms in the methylation pathway, even though these findings are still preliminary. This has made her controversial among her peers. Yet several doctors and scientists with autistic children admitted privately to using Yasko’s services while being unwilling to go on the record to support her.

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I think in the future we will be treating people less with pharmaceuticals and more with nutrition. I am a case in point. For the past few years I’ve been on a statin to control my cholesterol level. Last year I started losing my hair. My dermatologist thought it was due to an emotional shock to my system. But I kept losing my hair. So I went to my regular doctor, he told me to stop taking the statins. A couple of months later my hair was visibly growing back. PLUS! all the inflammations in my joints vanished. I could walk without pain in my feet, knees and hips again. I could lift things without pain in my elbows and shoulders.

Satins were poisoning me, so I am not surprised to learn how the children who suffer from Autism are most likely being poisoned by something in their environment as well. This doesn’t mean the environment in general is toxic, but that it is toxic to certain individuals whose bodies are unable to detoxify chemicals and metals from their blood, which then causes those elements to be deposited into their brain.