newberry wrote:

take an autistic child and remove all of the above and lactose from his diet and see.

no one will fund a study. if it turns out to be true billions will be lost.

If a study hasn't been done, how do you know for sure that corn syrup, etc. causes autism?

Is autism caused by mercury in vaccines? Wireless signals? Corn syrup? Other environmental effects (pollution, etc)?

anecdotal evidence. hundreds to thousands of children whose diets are modified and suddenly their "autism" disappears.

as i said, no one will fund "scientific study." i've looked into it. i've gone so far as to contact a very large foundation that funds studies for diseases such as autism. i told them i had six figures to donate. they said "no" after the first contact. i asked why. they said "dietary studies are too difficult."

non-profits usually aren't in the business of turning down money, especially when a donation will be fulfilling its mission statement. i wonder why they turned down my offer.

There are several good points brought up here on an interesting issue. Why does everyone feel the need to bitch at each other? Is this the preferred nature of open-ended discourse on this board?

Fine, but it makes for an irritating read...

Rick...from your Huffington post blog post, it sounds like you're talking about two entirely different kinds of "autism"...one that is bonafide, genetic, "old school" autism...and another environmentally influenced autism that may not even carry the same traits...and may not even really be "autism" as we have come to understand it.

Is this accurate? Please be swift and brutal, I don't want to taint the discussion with confusing information.

rayj wrote:There are several good points brought up here on an interesting issue. Why does everyone feel the need to bitch at each other? Is this the preferred nature of open-ended discourse on this board?

Fine, but it makes for an irritating read...

Yeah...the board has become brutal since I started lurking on it over a year ago.

What happened to respect?

anecdotal evidence. hundreds to thousands of children whose diets are modified and suddenly their "autism" disappears.

What's your source for this?

as i said, no one will fund "scientific study." i've looked into it. i've gone so far as to contact a very large foundation that funds studies for diseases such as autism. i told them i had six figures to donate. they said "no" after the first contact. i asked why. they said "dietary studies are too difficult."

non-profits usually aren't in the business of turning down money, especially when a donation will be fulfilling its mission statement. i wonder why they turned down my offer.

I certainly can't speak for them, but is it possible that they honestly think your money would not be well spent?

newberry wrote:

anecdotal evidence. hundreds to thousands of children whose diets are modified and suddenly their "autism" disappears.

What's your source for this?

If I recall, this had something to do with calcium and magnesium deficiencies? Perhaps Vitamin E as well?

newberry wrote:

anecdotal evidence. hundreds to thousands of children whose diets are modified and suddenly their "autism" disappears.

What's your source for this?

as i said, no one will fund "scientific study." i've looked into it. i've gone so far as to contact a very large foundation that funds studies for diseases such as autism. i told them i had six figures to donate. they said "no" after the first contact. i asked why. they said "dietary studies are too difficult."

non-profits usually aren't in the business of turning down money, especially when a donation will be fulfilling its mission statement. i wonder why they turned down my offer.

I certainly can't speak for them, but is it possible that they honestly think your money would not be well spent?

google it.

yes, it's possible. but it's my money. and why not use my money to prove me wrong and end this thinking (that diet can cure "autism spectrum" diagnoses) once and for all? they get to book a large gift and do some research.

enframed wrote:as i said, no one will fund "scientific study." i've looked into it. i've gone so far as to contact a very large foundation that funds studies for diseases such as autism. i told them i had six figures to donate. they said "no" after the first contact. i asked why. they said "dietary studies are too difficult."

Funny. I just went to PubMed, a handy-dandy search engine for peer-reviewed medical and scientific journals and did a search for "autism" and "diet". 91 articles came up. Ladies and gentlemen, the tip of the iceberg:

J Epidemiol Community Health. 2006 May;60(5):375. Links
Autism and diet.Potts M, Bellows B.
PMID: 16614324 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Scientific America 2007 Apr;296(4):19-20.Links
The autism diet.Alpert M.
PMID: 17479620 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE

J Autism Dev Disord. 2006 Apr;36(3):413-20. Links
The gluten-free, casein-free diet in autism: results of a preliminary double blind clinical trial.Elder JH, Shankar M, Shuster J, Theriaque D, Burns S, Sherrill L.
College of Nursing, University of Florida, Gainesville

Journal of Devel Behav Pediatr. 2006 Apr;27(2 Suppl):S162-71. Links
Elimination diets in autism spectrum disorders: any wheat amidst the chaff?Christison GW, Ivany K.
Department of Psychiatry, Loma Linda University School of Medicine, Loma Linda, California 92354, USA. gchristison@llu.edu

Journal of the American Diet Association 2007 May;107(5):727-30. Links
Registered dietitians' insights in treating autistic children.Peregrin T.
PMID: 17467361

Pediatric Nursing 2007 Mar-Apr;33(2):138-43.Links
Diet and child behavior problems: fact or fiction?Cormier E, Elder JH.
Florida State University College of Nursing, Tallahassee, USA

Journal of Autism Developmental Disorders. 2006 Oct;36(7):901-9. Links
Patterns of complementary and alternative medical therapy use in children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders.

Journal of Medical Case Reports. 2007 Sep 20;1:98. Links
2-methylbutyryl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency associated with autism and mental retardation: a case report.Kanavin OJ, Woldseth B, Jellum E, Tvedt B, Andresen BS, Stromme P.
Department of Pediatrics, Ullevål University Hospital, Oslo, Norway. oivind.kanavin@ulleval.no.

Pediatric Neurology 2007 Mar;36(3):152-8. Links
Children with autism: effect of iron supplementation on sleep and ferritin. Dosman CF, Brian JA, Drmic IE, Senthilselvan A, Harford MM, Smith RW, Sharieff W, Zlotkin SH, Moldofsky H, Roberts SW.
Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics, Glenrose Rehabilitation

Clinical Toxicol (Phila). 2007 Jun-Aug;45(5):476-81. Links
24-hour provoked urine excretion test for heavy metals in children with autism and typically developing controls, a pilot study.Soden SE, Lowry JA, Garrison CB, Wasserman GS.



NOW will the uncredentialed dilettantes please shut up?

Rick Reuben wrote:

tocharian wrote:NOW will the uncredentialed dilettantes please shut up?

Get over yourself, thought cop.

msnbc.com 11-24-07 wrote:Just two hours west of Reno, there is a place that is giving a lot of hope to children with autism and their families. It's called the U.C. Davis Mind Institute.

News 4 took a trip to this research center in Sacramento to see what's being done there and get some answers to tough questions from experts.

As the numbers of children with autism in the United States grow, there is an intense effort underway to find answers quickly. The Mind Institute which stands for Medical Investigation of Neuro-Developmental Disorders is world-renowned. It's a "think tank" of 250 experts from all different specialties under one roof.

Executive Director Bob Hendren answers the questions we wanted to know the answer to, what causes autism?

"The truth is we don't know," Hendren. "And it's probably not as simple as one thing."

Hendren says based on years of research, it's probably a combination of things. Studies show genetics, some type of weakness in the immune system and environmental factors all play a role. What those environmental factors are specifically is not known. Things like pesticides, early childhood vaccinations and toxins are all being looked at here.

Now, if I was a person who claimed to be genuinely seeking a treatment for autism, about the last thing I would do is tell people studying environmental factors to 'shut up'.

Right. It's being studied. Therefor you sir can shut up.

One caveat: this piece that Ruben is quoting was written by a journalist, not a scientist. That this journalist would write childhood vaccinations are being looked is kinda slipshod and unfortunate (vaccinations have done been looked at, case is closed). It's what happens when journalists report on complex science. They're not great at it.

Hmmm.

MSNBC wrote:We want to emphasize that this is the director of the Mind Institute's opinion on a controversial topic when it comes to autism and vaccinations. The American Academy of Pediatrics on its website says that it is safe to give multiple vaccinations and that there is not scientific proof otherwise. So this is really a parent's call on what they feel comfortable doing.

This is the last paragraph from that report you're quoting. A balanced, well researched story indeed.

So it's not the mercury, it's the reaction of the young immune systems to multiple vaccinations or of young, weakened immune systems to early vaccinations. Maybe. Ok, that's interesting. Mind you, the MIND scientist is not talking about eliminating all autism. He's talking about maybe eliminating a "risk factor of autism." I humbly appologize for not reading the article first and thinking you were still talking about mercury. Really. Sorry.

Anyway, I'm not saying that environmental factors are irrelevant. I'm saying that to date the consensus is that genes, not environmental factors, are the prime suspects. And nothing seems to indicate that a magic diet wil irradicate autism, sadly.