?Too many Clostridia bacteria as one cause of autism?

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The Economist is a British publication somewhat on the politically more conservative side of the spectrum.

I consider this as just one possibility among many, but people do have a right to know.

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I agree. Especially since this is the first I've heard of this, I consider this very preliminary.

I believe in civil rights for persons on the Asperger's-Autism Spectrum. And as I've tried to say, those of us who are more verbal and vocal do a good thing when we stand in solidarity with our less verbal sisters and brothers.

I think we should expand the definition of 'normal' and that it's good for people to be authentically themselves, including when they're different.

Now with all this said, if I can be a better version of myself (or help give children more open fields), sure, that might be something I'm interested in, too.

today i heard on "sound medicine" on NPR that if a pregnant mom is obese, her fetus may have a higher chance of turning out to have autism.

I think oxygen causes autism. have you ever seen an autistic person that did not breath oxygen? there is such a large correlation here.

The Clostridium species plays a role in ASDs? So, THAT'S why we always are being hospitalized for gas gangrene, botulism, tetanus, and C. diff! It all makes sense now!

It must be the DPT shot that causes ASDs, not the MMR one! Tetanus is the link!



I just love how the article never even bothers to explain what sulfur is used for in the body. Really, the only major way sulfur is utilized is in a small number of the 20 amino acids, via disulfide bonds. And, of course, the amino acids are used throughout the body. It's not just in BRAIN protein. I put this in the not-even-bothering-to-listen category of ASD hypotheses.

And while I enjoyed chris5000's sarcasm in his post, if you want to get pedantic, oxygen very well may be a factor in ASDs. Hypoxia during birth has long been linked to higher amounts of ASDs.

And here I was, all this time, believing it was an unusually high level of midichlorians that made you autistic!

The part I originally quoted from The Economist seems to be making three claims.

1) People on the Spectrum tend to have digestive issues.

2) The body uses up some of its available sulphur reserves by competing, essentially in turf battles, with bacteria of the Clostridia genus.

3) (Some) people on the Spectrum have a genetic difference which interferes sulphur metabolism anyway.

And then we have this interesting wrinkle:

I am also intrigued by the brain damage hypothesis which I came up with myself (and other people probably did as well).

That however a person is brain damaged, he or she often ends up in a similar place. With patchy social skills, afraid of mistakes (because you have been criticized), trying to engage in social back-and-forth with clumsy, left-brain analytic skills instead of smooth and fluid right-brain pattern recognition skills, etc.

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And this is me, who has long thought of myself as much smarter than average. And I am, in the areas in which I'm smart in. But other areas, maybe not so much.

[Moved from General Autism Discussion to Parents' Discussion on OP's request]

I love The Economist, have a subscription myself. Their expertise is primarily political and world news, however. The scientific section in the back tends to be interesting stories they've gathered from other places, I don't think they are as capable at properly vetting them as a publication like Scientific American would be. The thrust of the article sounds like they are highlighting the recent attention on the research about gut bacteria, the potential autism link is just some researcher's speculation that has been given too much space in the article, not the result of an actual study.