From: judgebean23x@gmail.com   
      
   Above All, Autism, When It Comes to the Microbiome and the Immune System   
   Microbiome   
      
   By Teresa Conrick   
   The ever-increasing word -- AUTISM -- is seen as a disorder and also a disease:   
   DISORDER:     Autism is a complex spectrum of disorders that share three   
   classic features - impaired communication, poor social engagement and   
   repetitive behaviors. On one end of the spectrum are people who are socially   
   awkward but, in many cases,    
   incredibly bright. At the other extreme are individuals with severe mental   
   disabilities and behavioral problems.  Among autistic children's most common   
   health complaints? Gastrointestinal problems. Although estimates vary widely,   
   some studies have    
   concluded that up to 90 percent of autistic children suffer from tummy   
   troubles.   
   Tummy troubles is putting it mildly.   
   DISEASE:     Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are considered a heterogenous   
   set of neurobehavioral diseases, with the rates of diagnosis dramatically   
   increasing in the past few decades. As genetics alone does not explain the   
   underlying cause in many    
   cases, attention has turned to environmental factors as potential etiological   
   agents. Gastrointestinal disorders are a common comorbidity in ASD patients.    
   Far too many children and young adults who have a diagnosis of AUTISM suffer   
   GI issues and that has turned out to be a big clue. ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS   
   would then be the culprit.  Here is a recent study that ties these issue   
   together but never, ever    
   mentions AUTISM -- WHY?   
   The gut microbiota: a major player in the toxicity of environmental   
   pollutants?    
   ...There is clear evidence that bacteria-dependent metabolism of pollutants   
   modulates the toxicity for the host. Conversely, environmental contaminants   
   from various chemical families have been shown to alter the composition and/or   
   the metabolic activity    
   of the gastrointestinal bacteria, which may be an important factor   
   contributing to shape an individual’s microbiotype. The physiological   
   consequences of these alterations have not been studied in details but   
   pollutant-induced alterations of the gut    
   bacteria are likely to contribute to their toxicity. In conclusion, there is a   
   body of evidence suggesting that gut microbiota are a major, yet   
   underestimated element that must be considered to fully evaluate the toxicity   
   of environmental contaminants....   
   Environmental chemicals can also interfere with the composition of the GI   
   microbiota, which may lead to detrimental consequences for the host...the GI   
   bacteria may have a significant, but underestimated, capacity to metabolise   
   environmental chemicals.   
   .....there has been a tremendous increase in the prevalence of allergic   
   diseases such as asthma and food allergies in the last few decades. Recent   
   evidence suggests that both alterations of microbial colonisation during the   
   perinatal period and early-   
   life exposure to environmental chemicals may promote dysregulated immune   
   responses.  86,87,88  It therefore seems plausible that exposure to chemicals   
   may affect the normal colonisation of the gut by bacteria, with effects on   
   host physiology later in    
   life. Therefore, chemical-induced perturbations of the composition of the GI   
   microbiota may constitute an underestimated mechanism by which they interfere   
   with human health.   
      
   From the study:   
   Pesticide Exposure - Glyphosate is the active component of Roundup (Montsanto,   
   St Louis, MO, USA), the most widely used herbicide worldwide. It has been   
   shown that the growth of Enterococcus faecalis bacteria isolated from cattle   
   and horse faeces is    
   inhibited by the lowest concentrations of glyphosate and the herbicide   
   formulation tested.90 Further studies demonstrated that sensitivity to   
   glyphosate is dependent on the bacterial strain.    
   Mercury Exposure - In vivo, the importance of bacterial demethylation for the   
   elimination of mercury has been confirmed in studies where the suppression or   
   absence of the GI microbiota was associated with lower faecal excretion of   
   total mercury 60,61,62    
   and with increased accumulation of mercury in most tissues, including the   
   brain.......   
   Three types of "chemicals" often cited in Autism research and by parents are   
   1- Vaccines , 2- Pesticides and 3- Mercury   
                                                                                  
   YES, But What About AUTISM?   
      
   So we have ENVIRONMENTAL EXPOSURE, ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTANTS, EXPOSURE TO   
   CHEMICALS, CHEMICAL-INDUCED PERTURBATIONS OF THE GI MICROBIOTA, yet not one   
   mention of Autism?   
   There is much information that should make the alarm LOUDER on the MICROBIOME   
   and AUTISM:   
      
     changes in gut bacteria composition are reflected in changes in behaviors,   
   highlighting a strong and interconnected way of communication between the gut   
   microbiota and the brain.   
     dysfunctions of the gut bacteria-brain axis are correlated with several   
   disorders: anxiety, depression, irritable bowel syndrome and, ABOVE ALL,   
   AUTISM.   
       
     GI microorganisms have been known for decades to be involved in the   
   biotransformation of xenobiotics (a foreign chemical substance found within an   
   organism that is not normally naturally produced by or expected to be present   
   within that organism.)      
      About 50% of Desulfovibrio strains tested to date have the ability to   
   produce MeHg.     
      pyrosequencing analysis showed that gram-negative bacteria, Desulfovibrio   
   and Bacteroides vulgatus, were detected at higher levels in autistic children   
   And from the very recent International Meeting for Autism Research (IMFAR):    
      
      All of the daily stool samples from the child with autism contained four   
   organisms that earlier research had associated with autism. These included   
   Sarcina ventriculi, Barnesiella intestihominis, Clostridium bartlettii, and   
   Clostridium bolteae. By    
   contrast, none of these bacteria appeared in the stool of the unaffected   
   sibling.   
      
     The bacterium Haemophilus parainfluenzae appeared in the stool of the child   
   with autism during a three-day period when the child experienced GI pain,   
   diarrhea and a spike in challenging behaviors including self-injury.   
      
     On a separate two-day period, another spike in H. parainfluenzae correlated   
   with another increase in self-injurious behavior – but this time without any   
   change in stool consistency or obvious signs of GI pain.   
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)