Autism

Posted on Autism, Gut microbiome

Microbiome changes linked to Autism

Autism, a neurodevelopmental condition characterized by decreased social communication and repetitive behaviours, has long intrigued scientists seeking to unravel its underlying mechanisms. Researchers from the Azrieli Faculty of Medicine of Bar-Ilan University have now identified a potential link between autism and the composition of the gut microbiome.

The researchers analyzed the diversity of the gut microbiome in an Israeli cohort of 96 individuals diagnosed with autism and 42 neurotypical individuals. Their findings, recently published in the journal npj Biofilms and Microbiomes, point to significant differences in both alpha and beta diversity in autists and identify specific types of bacteria that are found at higher abundance in individuals with autism.

The key discoveries include an unexpected increase in alpha diversity, a measure of microbial diversity, and a notable rise in the relative abundance of the phylum Bacteriodetes and the genus Bacteroides in autists. Traditionally, decreased alpha diversity has been associated with compromised health in various conditions. However, the increased alpha diversity observed in the autistic cohort challenges prevailing notions, especially considering its potential connection to neurological diseases. Bacteroides, normally found in the human gut microbiome, may disadvantage health when increased in abundance.  

The researchers conducted experiments involving newborn mice to investigate the potential functional consequences of these microbiome changes. Mice treated with Bacteroides fragilis at birth exhibited social behaviour dysfunction, increased repetitive behaviours, and gene expression dysregulation.

“Our research suggests that an overabundance of Bacteroides, particularly in early life, may have functional consequences for individuals with autism. This sheds new light on the complex interplay between the microbiome and neurodevelopment in individuals with autism,” said the study’s lead researcher, Prof. Evan Elliott, of Bar-Ilan University’s Azrieli Faculty of Medicine. The study was conducted with Prof. Omry Koren, a microbiome expert at the Azrieli Faculty.

Intriguingly, these effects were observed primarily in male mice, with female mice showing no behavioural deficits. This suggests that males may be more susceptible to environmental factors contributing to autism. The research underscores the importance of further investigation into the sex-specific aspects of autism and the potential role of microbial composition.

The implications of this research extend beyond the laboratory, offering potential avenues for further exploration into the long-term effects of microbial interventions during early developmental stages and their implications for brain development.

Prof. Elliott’s research into mechanisms between microbiome dysbiosis and autism behaviour is now receiving international recognition and a significant boost. The Eagles Autism Foundation, established by the Philadelphia Eagles football team, has just announced that Elliott’s work is among 34 projects specializing in cutting-edge autism research and care that will receive a total of $6.2 million in funding. 

Posted on Autism, Diet

New study shows nutritional epigenetics education improves diet and attitude in parents of autistic or ADHD children

New study shows nutritional epigenetics education improves diet and attitude in parents of children with autism and ADHD

Nutritional epigenetics model for autism and ADHD CREDIT Dufault, Renee J developed the nutritional epigenetics model for autism and ADHD.

In a recent publication released by PubMed, American scientists led by Dr. Dufault at the Food Ingredient and Health Research Institute reported the results of a clinical trial in which parents who received nutritional epigenetics education significantly reduced their consumption of ultra-processed foods while increasing their intake of whole and/or organic foods. The education intervention used curriculum focused on the constructs of the nutritional epigenetics model that explains how autism and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may develop from the excess consumption of ultra-processed

foods.

Consumption of ultra-processed foods leads to heavy metal exposures and dietary deficits, creating mineral imbalances such as loss of zinc and calcium. Inadequate zinc stores can disrupt the function of the metal transporter metallothionein (MT) gene, preventing the elimination of heavy metals found in ultra-processed foods. The bioaccumulation of mercury and/or lead

avy metals are known to suppress the paraoxonase (PON1) gene.  Paraoxonase is required by the body to detoxify the neurotoxic organophosphate pesticide residues found routinely in the food supply by the United States Department of Agriculture. Children who have been diagnosed with autism and ADHD are more susceptible to the harmful effects of organophosphate pesticide exposure.

Parents who received nutritional epigenetics education learned how to reduce their children’s dietary exposures to heavy metal and organophosphate pesticide residues. The parents learned how to read food ingredient labels and changed their diet to avoid buying foods with allowable heavy metals and pesticide residues. In learning how specific food ingredients contribute to heavy metal exposures and impact nutrient status and/or gene behaviour, parents learned they needed to feed themselves and their children a healthier diet. By the end of the education intervention, parents had changed their minds about their ability to control their child’s behaviour through diet.

Children behave better when they feel better. Because the severity of symptoms in autism and ADHD correlate directly to the heavy metal levels in the blood, children with less heavy metal exposure show improvements in behaviour and cognition. In addition, because heavy metals, in single or multi-metallic combinations, create conditions for gut dysbiosis, improvements in diet can reduce inflammation and improve gut health. Reducing ultra-processed food consumption can alleviate symptoms associated with gut dysbiosis, which is often a co-morbid condition found in children with autism and ADHD.

Autism and ADHD are preventable, but the prevalence of these neurodevelopmental disorders will continue to increase in the United States until changes are made to reduce the allowable heavy metal residues in the ultra-processed food supply.  The US Congress released two reports in 2021 on the problem of heavy metals in baby foods. The first report, issued on February 4, 2021, revealed that baby foods are tainted with dangerous levels of arsenic, lead, cadmium, and mercury. The second report, issued on September 29, 2021, confirmed new disclosures from manufacturers show dangerous levels of heavy metals in even more baby foods.

Posted on ADHD, Autism, Neurodiversity

Understanding neurodiversity across the general population

A new study has provided insight into how experiences and features of neurodiversity vary amongst adults.

There is variation in people’s attributes and experiences across all populations. Neurodivergent people, such as people with a diagnosis of ADHD, dyslexia, dyspraxia, or autism, may experience the world in distinctive ways. But, we are only beginning to appreciate how traits and experiences associated with neurodivergence differ across the whole population.

New research from the University of Birmingham has provided a more detailed picture of what neurodiversity looks like amongst adults in the UK.

Ian Apperly, Professor of Cognition and Development and Director of the Centre for Developmental Science at the University of Birmingham, who led the study said: “People’s experiences of neurodevelopmental conditions are highly variable, and it is common for people to have more than one condition. Previous research has found, for example, that the prevalence of ADHD among autistic people is around 40%.

“We also know that people show traits associated with neurodiversity to varying extents across the entire population; it’s not just people with a diagnosed neurodevelopmental condition whose experience is influenced by these traits. What we don’t have, is a detailed understanding of what this looks like. This raises important questions that can inform our understanding of the complexity of neurodiversity across the general population.”

Professor Apperly and his team asked 1000 people representative of the UK population aged 18-70 to report on their experiences of characteristics commonly associated with autism, ADHD, dyslexia, and other conditions. For example:

  • High scores for characteristics associated with autism were linked with experiences of challenges with social and imaginative skills, higher preference for routines, and attention to details, numbers, and patterns.
  • High scores for characteristics associated with ADHD were linked with tendencies for inattentiveness, hyperactivity and impulsiveness.
  • High scores in cortical hyperexcitability were connected with visual sensitivity, and unusual visual experiences.
  • High scores for characteristics associated with dyslexia were linked with lower fluency with reading and word-finding.

Although characteristics associated with different neurodevelopmental conditions are often considered separately, the research found that when examined at the same time there were high levels of overlap, so people reporting high characteristics for one condition, also tended to report experiences associated with other conditions.

However, the research also found evidence of distinctive characteristics associated with specific conditions, above and beyond this general shared neurodiversity.

Professor Apperly explained: “We found that there is considerable overlap in the broader characteristics associated with different neurodevelopmental conditions so that people with higher levels of characteristics associated with one condition (e.g., ADHD) are also more likely to have higher levels of characteristics associated with other neurodevelopmental conditions (e.g., autism, dyslexia, dyspraxia, tic disorders).  But we also discovered that the same traits can be explained by different underlying causes. For example, some people reported high levels of several traits associated with autism, even though they did not report high levels of neurodivergent characteristics overall, while other people reported high levels of autistic traits alongside high levels of traits associated with other conditions. And some combinations were particularly unusual. For example, people showing high levels of traits associated with dyslexia and dyspraxia tended not to show high interest in numbers and patterns.”

This study is the largest examination to date to explore the diversity in how characteristics relating to neurodevelopmental conditions are expressed amongst adults in the UK. The researchers say that it has provided critical benchmark data and a framework approach for examining neurodiversity in the whole population, including people with one or more diagnoses.

Professor Apperly concluded: “Our findings help make sense of the complexity of neurodiversity. They help us understand characteristics and experiences that might be common across neurodevelopmental conditions, as well as those that are distinctive. The study also helps us understand how two people with the same diagnosis might nonetheless have rather different characteristics and experiences. By providing a picture of how neurodiversity appears across the whole population, this research can go on to inform improvements for future studies in this area. The more we know about other people’s experiences, the better we can understand each other.”

Posted on Autism

Autistic folks have an increased risk of chronic physical health conditions across the whole body. Is this true for you?

#Autistic people have higher rates of chronic physical health conditions across the whole body and are more likely to have complex health needs, according to a study led by researchers at the University of Cambridge. Their findings, published in the journal Molecular Autism, have important implications for the clinical care of autistic people.

Previous studies have shown that autistic people are dying far younger than others and that they are more likely to experience a range of physical health conditions. Until now, it was believed that autistic people were more likely to have specific conditions, such as gastrointestinal pain, sleep problems, and epilepsy/seizure disorders.

The new study is different in that it investigated a much wider range of health risks than has been done before and shows that autistic people experience a much broader range of health vulnerabilities than was previously thought.

Specifically, autistic people are more likely to have physical health conditions across all organ systems, including the brain (such as migraine), the gastrointestinal system (for example coeliac disease), and the endocrine system (for example endometriosis), compared to non-autistic people.

Dr Elizabeth Weir, a Research Associate at the Autism Research Centre in Cambridge, who led the team, said: “This study emphasizes the increased health vulnerability of autistic people both in the types and number of conditions they may have. We now need to understand the causes of these increased risks, which are likely multifactorial in nature.”

This is the first study to show that autistic people are more likely than non-autistic people to experience ‘physical health multimorbidity’, meaning that they have at least two or more physical health conditions. These include co-occurring fibromyalgia (which causes chronic pain throughout the body) and polycystic ovarian syndrome (which causes irregular menstrual cycles, infertility, excess hair growth, and acne in women) across different organ systems.

The study was conducted by a team at the ARC and used an anonymized, self-report survey to compare the experiences of 1,129 autistic people with 1,176 non-autistic people aged 16-90 years. The participants were international, although 67% of participants were from the UK.  

The survey assessed risk of 60 physical health conditions across nine different organ systems (gastrointestinal, endocrine, rheumatological, neurological, ocular, renal/hepatic, otolaryngological, haematological, and dermatological). The analysis took into account other factors such as age, sex assigned at birth, country of residence, ethnicity, education-level, alcohol use, smoking, body mass index, and family medical history.

The team found that autistic people were more likely to have diagnosed medical conditions across all nine organ systems tested, compared to non-autistic people. Regarding specific conditions, autistic people had higher rates of 33 specific conditions compared to non-autistic peers. These included coeliac disease, gallbladder disease, endometriosis, syncope (fainting or passing out), vertigo, urinary incontinence, eczema, and iron deficiency anaemia.

Dr John Ward, a visiting research scientist at the ARC in Cambridge, who conducted the analysis, said: “This research adds to the body of evidence that the healthcare needs of autistic people are greater than those of non-autistic people. More research is required, particularly surrounding the early identification, and monitoring of chronic conditions.”

This is also the first epidemiological study to show that Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS) – a group of disorders that affects connective tissues and which cause symptoms such as joint hypermobility, loose joints that dislocate easily, joint pain and clicking joints, skin that bruises easily, extreme tiredness, digestive problems, dizziness, stretchy skin, wounds that are slow to heal, organ prolapse, and hernias – may be more common among autistic women than non-autistic women.

The new research also replicates previous findings to show that autistic people have higher rates of all central sensitivity syndromes, which are a varied group of conditions that are related to dysregulation of the central nervous system, compared to non-autistic people. Central sensitivity syndromes include irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), temporomandibular joint syndrome (TMJ), migraine, tinnitus, myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), and fibromyalgia.

The new study also investigated risks of physical health multimorbidity with a novel application of ‘network analysis’, a technique used to understand relationships between different parts of a system. This analysis method is regularly used in neuroscience to understand how different regions of the brain interact with each other. In this study, the analysis assessed how often conditions from different organ systems occurred together in the same person. In addition to highlighting complex health needs, this analysis established for the first time that the combinations of medical conditions that frequently co-occur may be different between autistic and non-autistic adults.

These results are preliminary evidence that healthcare providers such as GPs or family physicians need to be monitoring the health care needs of autistic people much more closely.

Dr Carrie Allison, Director of Strategy at the ARC and a member of the team, added: “These findings highlight the acute need to adapt the healthcare system to better meet the needs of autistic people. These results must be confirmed in larger, population-based samples.”

Professor Sir Simon Baron-Cohen, Director of the ARC and another member of the team, said: “We are aware of the risks of mental health conditions in autistic people, but this new research identifies their risks of physical health conditions too. We need to urgently re-evaluate current health care systems to improve support for autistic people.”

Posted on Autism

MU study shows blood pressure drug can reduce anxiety for autistic folks

Findings reveal propranolol may help kids and young adults with autism who struggle with anxiety.
Findings reveal propranolol may help kids and young adults with autism who struggle with anxiety.

A new study at the University of Missouri’s Thompson Center for Autism and Neurodevelopment found that propranolol, a medication that treats high blood pressure, can also help lower anxiety for autistic kids and young adults).

Given that some autistics tend to struggle with anxiety at a far greater rate than their neurotypical peers, the new finding can significantly help such individuals in the autistic community. David Beversdorf, a clinician at the Thompson Center, led the study, which involved 69 patients over a three-year span. Compared to a placebo group, the participants who received propranolol showed significantly reduced anxiety levels at their 12-week check-up appointments while receiving the medication. The study also examined if there were significant changes in the individuals’ social communication skills, but no significant changes were found.

“The findings show that propranolol could serve as a helpful intervention for reducing anxiety for individuals with autism,” said Beversdorf, who also has appointments in the MU School of Medicine and the MU College of Arts and Science. “This drug has been around since the 1960s and is very inexpensive. Up until now, we haven’t had any known drugs that target psychiatric issues specifically for individuals with autism, so these results are very promising and can support future research.”

As a clinician, Beversdorf has seen firsthand the positive benefits propranolol can have in improving the overall quality of life for some autistic folks and their families.

“As researchers, we try our best to improve the lives of our patients, and it feels rewarding to help out,” said Beversdorf, who is a professor of radiology, neurology and psychological sciences as well as the William and Nancy Thompson Endowed Chair in Radiology. “I went into the field of neurology knowing I wanted to try to find new treatment options and interventions to benefit autitic folks.”