Fecal transplants for autism deliver success in clinical trials (2019)

Post by PlattypusRex » Sat, May 16, 2026, 9:41 PM UTC

shermantanktop wrote: post #78

delichon wrote: post #26

I got bad chronic constipation after four years as a strict carnivore. I didn't get relief just by adding back fiber, but I did by adding fermented foods like kimchi. I wonder if ferments are a more natural way than fecal transplants to repair the gut microbiome, possibly treating autism. Studies have been non conclusive, but this story makes me think it's worth pursuing.

The lower intestinal region is guarded by a vat of acid. Not sure how much of those probiotic pills get through.

Post by crooked-v » Sat, May 16, 2026, 10:02 PM UTC

senordevnyc wrote: post #144

doctorpangloss wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They aren't the only company doing this exact therapy. It isn't a good one. When I looked at preclinical for one of their competitors, that was the exact same thing, the issue was study design. Specifically, you are shoving something up an autistic kid's butt once a day or twice a day. They only did this to the placebo arm for 3 days, and only to healthy kids, whereas the treatment arm did this for 8 weeks. If I punc…

This seems a wild theory. So in your view, effectively abusing autistic kids results in a long-term, sustained, massive reduction in their autism symptoms? Highly skeptical on that, chief. I’d bet good money it goes the other way, and causing intentional pain and suffering in autistic kids would only worsen their symptoms. I don’t even think I understand your proposed mechanism here. So these kids have this treatment…

Post by dmix » Sat, May 16, 2026, 10:19 PM UTC

Sverigevader wrote: post #151

cpncrunch wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Study completed in 2022, but still no results posted or study published.

I've never really thought about this but, could it be because they don't want people to "try this at home"? Either because of safety issues, or my actual hypothesis, because they want to keep their possible pool of candidates as big as possible?

Post by nlitened » Sat, May 16, 2026, 10:25 PM UTC

drzaiusx11 wrote: post #129

directevolve wrote: post #56

Many autistic children have extremely limited diets. For example, a geneticist friend of mine saw a case where an autistic child had been referred for genetic testing because of horrific, chronic, spontaneous wounds on gums and skin. Turned out to be scurvy, because he had exclusively eaten Wheat Thins for the last 3-4 years, which aren’t fortified with vitamin C. I would fully expect that a monotonous diet leads to…

We usually call these our "safe foods" and yes, it is a very real problem for many of us in the autistic community, specifically around nutritional deficiencies. In a similar vein, as a child I went several years just eating plain Cheerios. For a close friend it was chicken nuggets.

Post by delecti » Sat, May 16, 2026, 10:40 PM UTC

bodiekane wrote: post #195

delecti wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> [...] the treatment, which involved a bowel cleanse and daily transplants of fecal microbiota over a period of seven to eight weeks Maybe I'm misinterpreting what the process of that daily transplant looked like, but I expect they ate a not insignificant amount of hospital food if there were 7-8 weeks of daily treatments.

Ya, the word "transplants" here seems to mean something very different than you're interpreting it as. This isn't a hospital procedure like an organ transplant. It's material placed into the recipients colon through an enema, nasogastric tube or possibly even just taking some pills. So it might range from done at home to done during a 30 minute visit to a clinic.