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Metabolism of autism reveals developmental origins

medicalxpress.com

221–230 of 358 posts

Re: Metabolism of autism reveals developmental origins

#221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> In my opinion, though, in many cases this is not autism but rather autism with an accompanying intellectual disability That's just like, your opinion, man. If autism warrants needing help with daily living then it's a disorder by definition.

There are two ways that something can lead to needing help with daily living: - society rejects the trait without good reason, so then someone needs help to deal with this rejection - the trait leads to an inability to do something that the person wants to do, irrespective of any societal concerns I am okay with calling the latter a disorder, but not the former. The traits that are recognized as part of autism (socia…

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Re: Metabolism of autism reveals developmental origins

#222
post #3

Actual paper: https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-024-06102-y

"Of 50 biochemical pathways and 450 polar and lipid metabolites examined, the developmental regulation of the purine network was most changed. Purine network hub analysis revealed a 17-fold reversal in typically developing children. This purine network reversal did not occur in ASD." That's a strong statement, and one which can be checked by others. Anyone trying to replicate this yet?

The article was published today, and study like that take months to do and then months again to be published especially in this kind of journals (thankfully they don't accept replications most of the time so it can get published by more reasonable venues).

Re: Metabolism of autism reveals developmental origins

#223

I know of at least one book written by and for autistic people who advocates for a gluten free diet. They claim in the book that this significantly reduces their symptoms. I don’t know if I believe it or not, but the notion of gut-brain axis seems to imply that a good diet should help a bit, right?

The short answer is: No, there isn’t a simple treatment for Autism based on simple diet, lifestyle, or supplement changes. There are countless books, blogs, and social media influencers claiming to have unlocked something, but it never translates to something broadly useful.

There’s a long history of these claimed fixes. They follow popular trends that come and go. They’ve been attached to everything from eliminating dyes and food colorings to every possible alternate diet out there.

Placebo effect is a large part of it. People feel better when they feel like they have some control over their condition. They buy into the popular narrative and then they really do feel better, even if nothing has actually changed physically.

It’s also common for people with major medical diagnoses like Autism to start thinking that every one of their symptoms is attributable to Autism. Some of these people might have gluten intolerance as a separate issue, so going gluten free improves a number of issues for them. Instead of attributing the improvement to improving their gut problem, they assume they have treated their Autism.

Re: Metabolism of autism reveals developmental origins

#224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you always reply with definitions you invented on the spot to justify your view of reality?

It wasn't invented on the spot. In the past, I have thought extensively about what should be considered a disorder, if the concept of "disorder" is even coherent, and how this applies to what treatments should be performed, available, and researched.

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Re: Metabolism of autism reveals developmental origins

#225
post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you're engaging in the no-true-Scotsman fallacy with the claim that highly autistic people with a lot of special needs are really "autistic with intellectual disabilities". I disagree. They're simply more autistic and more impacted than either of us.

See here for why I think that it is different: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40329752

Behaviors that you think are harmless to others are not necessarily so.

Re: Metabolism of autism reveals developmental origins

#226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anecdotal, but we grow a heritage strain of wheat here in PHX (Sonoran White). Its appearance gives me pause. Common commercial wheat is very short in comparison. I have a friend who can’t eat “common” wheat products from the grocery store, having been diagnosed with severe gluten intolerance, but can eat Sonoran White without symptoms. You can follow the same exact recipe but substitute Sonoran White flour for stand…

> I strongly suspect that, over the next 100 years, we are going to find that we’ve been waging war on the human biome through food preservatives and environmental contaminants. And that many common chronic disorders/illnesses (including ADHD, Autism, weight gain, etc) in our generation are actually attributable to a disfunctioning microbiome. I suspect you're very right, and I further suspect that there's already re…

There is a very strong inverse correlation between obesity and elevation above sea level, the higher you go the thinner the people. One of the thoughts is that environmental contaminates are in higher concentrations the further down the water cycle you go, and these contaminants cause obesity.

Re: Metabolism of autism reveals developmental origins

#227
post #66
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A gluten free diet may or may not help but it’s not synonymous with “a good diet”.

Indeed. ASD or not, everyone would surely benefit from following a nutritionist-set diet based on the person’s own requirements.

Nah. Most "nutritionists" are clowns. Anyone can call themselves a nutritionist with no formal training or certification. The whole field is mostly filled with frauds and grifters.

There are some legitimate people with a Registered Dietician credential who can work as part of a care team to treat medical conditions. But most of us don't need them either. We know what we're supposed to eat, we just don't do it.

Re: Metabolism of autism reveals developmental origins

#228
post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They did not say no true autistic person are intellectually disabled. They said they are overlapping groups. Like Scotsmen and people who put sugar in porridge.

They're saying that no true definition of autism can contain intellectual disability by classifying any intellectual disability in an autistic person as a distinct, totally independent condition.

They said:

> In my opinion, though, in many cases this is not autism but rather autism with an accompanying intellectual disability and the intellectual disability is the reason for higher supports needs.

Which does not imply "no true definition of autism can contain intellectual disability".

Re: Metabolism of autism reveals developmental origins

#229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They have. But I do not believe they were as common prior to the 1960s as they are in the 2020s.

Were they less common, or unknown/heavily stigmatized?

Another confounding variable is that we got so much better at testing many things that we have people living long enough to clearly manifest problems that may not have decades or centuries ago.

Sort of like how a big part of the increase in cancer deaths are people living long enough to die of cancer.

Re: Metabolism of autism reveals developmental origins

#230

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I strongly suspect that, over the next 100 years, we are going to find that we’ve been waging war on the human biome through food preservatives and environmental contaminants. And that many common chronic disorders/illnesses (including ADHD, Autism, weight gain, etc) in our generation are actually attributable to a disfunctioning microbiome. I suspect you're very right, and I further suspect that there's already re…

There is a very strong inverse correlation between obesity and elevation above sea level, the higher you go the thinner the people. One of the thoughts is that environmental contaminates are in higher concentrations the further down the water cycle you go, and these contaminants cause obesity.

There’s a much much simpler reason.

Living at altitude is hard. People who are out of shape move away.

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