Tests show no specific gastrointestinal abnormalities in children with autism

[HuckleB]

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/02/160225153612.htm

"Children with autism have no unique pattern of abnormal results on endoscopy or other tests for gastrointestinal (GI) disorders, compared to non-autistic children with GI symptoms, reports a study in the Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition (JPGN), official journal of the European Society for Paediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition and the North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition.

The study finds no evidence of cellular intestinal inflammation, lactase deficiency, or "leaky gut" specific to autistic children with GI symptoms, according to the new research, led by Timothy Buie, MD, Rafail Kushak, PhD, and Harland Winter, MD, of MassGeneral Hospital for Children, Boston. The results raise questions about previous scientific and non-scientific reports linking GI abnormalities to autism and autistic behaviors.

Similar Findings in Autistic versus 'Neurotypical' Children with GI Symptoms

The researchers analyzed the results of diagnostic tests in 61 children with autism being evaluated for GI symptoms, such as abdominal pain or constipation. The findings were compared with those in 50 non-autistic, or "neurotypical," children undergoing similar tests. All tests were performed as part of routine clinical care--not solely for the purposes of the study.

..."


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FYI.

[question everything]

1. Interesting. Sadly, many mothers who give their kids bizarre enemas

will not be convinced.

[Gregorian]

2. There's a reason they call the gut the second brain.

I've been studying this for the last few years, and have discovered a world of interesting facts about the gut. We pour sugar and other high glycemic garbage into our stomachs and don't realize we're causing illness. A big part of the modern world is full of candida.

I could go on all day. I've just completely reversed a chronic disease I had for 25 years by simply changing when I eat, and what I eat.

What this all adds up to is one word: stress.

Stress is not just what we think, but how much or little we exercise. It's what we eat, and how well we sleep.

I have no doubt that there's a correlation with autism. The big question is, will big pharma push a new bullshit autism pill, or will they turn to the holistic approach? People are curing all kinds of diseases now by simply doing the right things. The right things are simple, yet many.

[HuckleB]

3. Did you read the piece in the OP?

[Gregorian]

4. Yes. I probably shouldn't have hijacked your thread.

I'm just passionate about the gut and how we can cure many diseases through proper diet, and a few other things.

[Heddi]

5. I'm gonna go with

[NickB79]

8. "I have no doubt that there's a correlation with autism"

Posted in a thread about a new scientific study that found no correlation to autism.

[SheilaT]

6. No surprise to me.

I have a son with Asperger's. In addition, he and his younger brother both have alopecia areata, an auto-immune disorder that causes hair loss. Both sons have the most extreme form, called alopecia areata universalis. They have no eyebrows, eyelashes head hair, body hair, nothing.

We used to go to the conferences sponsored by the National Alopecia Areata Foundation, and what often saddened me at them were the parents of children with this condition who were desperate beyond reason to find the cause for their child's baldness. Leaky gut syndrome was one often embraced. I didn't have a lot of patience for the people who sought out wacky theories and wackier "cures". Right now the situation with alopecia is this: They don't know what causes it. There is no cure. People can go through any pattern of hair loss and re-growth that you can possibly imagine. Some people are bald their entire lives. Some will have hair sometimes, some hair other times, no hair yet other times. Sometimes a person with very long-standing alopecia will suddenly regrow a full head of hair. It's unpredictable in the extreme.

There seem to be some genetic markers. Research is ongoing.

It's analogous with autism. They don't know for sure what causes it. There's no cure, although some things can be helpful in various ways to help an autistic person function in the world. Unlike the hair loss thing, people with autism don't suddenly wake up one morning completely non autistic.

[womanofthehills]

7. Many studies show the opposite

From the Departments of Pediatrics and Pathology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore.
Supported by an intramural grant by the University of Maryland School of Medicine.
.

Objectives:
Our aim was to evaluate the structure and function of the
upper gastrointestinal tract in a group of patients with autism who had gas-
trointestinal symptoms.
Study design:
Thirty-six children (age: 5.7 ± 2 years, mean ± SD) with
autistic disorder underwent upper gastrointestinal endoscopy with biopsies,
intestinal and pancreatic enzyme analyses, and bacterial and fungal cul-
tures. The most frequent gastrointestinal complaints were chronic diarrhea,
gaseousness, and abdominal discomfort and distension.
Results:
Histologic examination in these 36 children revealed grade I or II
reflux esophagitis in 25 (69.4%), chronic gastritis in 15, and chronic duo-
denitis in 24. The number of Paneth’s cells in the duodenal crypts was sig-
nificantly elevated in autistic children compared with non-autistic control
subjects. Low intestinal carbohydrate digestive enzyme activity was report-
ed in 21 children (58.3%), although there was no abnormality found in pan-
creatic function. Seventy-five percent of the autistic children (27/36) had an
increased pancreatico-biliary fluid output after intravenous secretin admin-
istration. Nineteen of the 21 patients with diarrhea had significantly higher
fluid output than those without diarrhea.
Conclusions:
Unrecognized gastrointestinal disorders, especially reflux
esophagitis and disaccharide malabsorption, may contribute to the behav-
ioral problems of the non-verbal autistic patients. The observed increase in
pancreatico-biliary secretion after secretin infusion suggests an upregula-
tion of secretin receptors in the pancreas and liver. Further studies are re-
quired to determine the possible association between the brain and gastroin-
testinal dysfunctions in children with autistic disorder. (J Pediatr
1999;135:559-63)