What do you think of this theory?

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Joined: 14 May 2013
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18 Jun 2013, 11:29 am

It was on daybreak (a morning show) that scientists believe that pregnant women are twice as likely to have a child with autism if they fill their cars up more with fuel. What do you think? I think it's a load of rubbish and it's as bad as the vaccine "theory".

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/0 ... ?mobile=nc
Not daybreak but still.

eric76
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18 Jun 2013, 3:29 pm

There was some recent study out about an apparent connection between autism and air pollution including diesel fumes.

I'd wait a bit and see if the study is confirmed by future stories. It might turn out to be something in common. For example, there is some thought that autism tends to be more likely if the woman's vitamin D levels were too low during pregnancy. Maybe women in the cities (where air pollution is a bigger problem) don't get out as much as women in the country and have lower vitamin D levels. So would it be the vitamin D levels or the pollution? Or some other factor in common?

neilson_wheels
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18 Jun 2013, 5:31 pm

Hello Gracey, have another read of the third paragraph in that article. The theory is that pregnant women in heavily polluted areas may have a higher chance of giving birth to a child with ASD. There are at least two other threads, in News I think, discussing this topic.

Gracey72
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19 Jun 2013, 2:31 am

eric76 wrote:

But vitamin D works with calcium to build strong bones. What's that got to do with having a different brain?

eric76
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19 Jun 2013, 6:03 am

Gracey72 wrote:

eric76 wrote:

But vitamin D works with calcium to build strong bones. What's that got to do with having a different brain?

Vitamin D is very important for a lot of things besides skeletal reasons. Vitamin D may also help build stronger muscles.

Vitamin D is quite important for our immunity. All else being equal, people who have poor levels of vitamin D are more likely to develop diabetes and if they have diabetes are less likely to have good control of their blood sugar. And low levels of vitamin D appear very likely to increase one's odds of developing cancer.

Besides the already mentioned possible connection between low levels of maternal vitamin D and the the development of autism, it appears that low levels of maternal vitamin D are likely to increase the possibility that the baby develops schizophrenia.

Gracey72
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19 Jun 2013, 10:15 am

eric76 wrote:

Gracey72 wrote:

eric76 wrote:

But vitamin D works with calcium to build strong bones. What's that got to do with having a different brain?

Still nothing to do with autism

eric76
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19 Jun 2013, 10:26 am

Gracey72 wrote:

eric76 wrote:

Gracey72 wrote:

eric76 wrote:

But vitamin D works with calcium to build strong bones. What's that got to do with having a different brain?

Still nothing to do with autism

Do you know something that the medical researchers don't know?

Fnord
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19 Jun 2013, 10:36 am

Link to related thread HERE.

eric76
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19 Jun 2013, 10:40 am

From Grant W, Cannell J. Autism prevalence in the United States with respect to solar UV-B doses: An ecological study. Dermato-Endocrinology 2013; 5:9 - 14;
http://www.landesbioscience.com/journals/dermatoendocrinology/article/22942/2012DE0193R1.pdf:

Quote:

Abstract:

Evidence is mounting that vitamin D deficiency is intimately involved in autism. We report on autism prevalence by US state for those aged 6–17 y in 2010 with respect to indices of solar UV-B (UVB) doses. We calculated autism prevalence rates for white, black and Asian Americans by using total prevalence and relative populations of minors for each ethnic group by state. Analyses omit AK and HI (considered extreme cases), WY (no data), along with AZ and ND for black Americans (low numbers) and DC, ME, MT, ND and SD for Asian Americans (low numbers). For white Americans, the regression coefficient for solar UVB doses and autism prevalence ranged from -0.52 in January to -0.57 in October. For black Americans, the regression coefficient for latitude was 0.61, whereas those for solar UVB ranged from -0.55 to -0.61. For Asian Americans, the values for solar UVB ranged from -0.28 to -0.38. The inverse correlation between solar UVB and autism prevalence is similar to that for many types of cancer in the US. The journal literature indicates that adverse effects on fetal brain development during pregnancy due to vitamin D deficiency can explain these findings. However, we cannot rule out a role of vitamin D deficiency in early life. These results add to the evidence that vitamin D deficiency may be an important risk factor for autism and suggest that pregnant women and autistic individuals raise their serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentrations above 30 ng/ml.

...

Conclusion

This ecological study finds that autism prevalence among those aged 6–17 y in 2010 was significantly inversely correlated with solar UVB doses. Taken together, these results and other findings strongly implicate vitamin D deficiency as an important risk factor for developing autism. Maternal vitamin D deficiency appears to play an important role although we cannot discount a role of vitamin D deficiency in early life. Further studies should evaluate the UVB-vitamin D-autism hypothesis in both pregnant women and children with autism.

EliteEnigma57
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19 Jun 2013, 5:55 pm

The same thing I believe about all other "theories" about the supposed causes of autism: it's a load of bullcrap that's primarily based around the belief that autism is a horrible disease, instead of the cognitive difference that it is. Pollution is still a horrible thing, but I don't think it causes autism.

Gracey72
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20 Jun 2013, 2:38 am

EliteEnigma57 wrote:

I completely agree with you.

Rudywalsh
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21 Jun 2013, 5:18 am

A number of cases of children in the 1840s have been recorded with the symptoms of autism, way before cars graced our presence with there pollution.

Hopetobe
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21 Jun 2013, 6:05 am

Rubbish.

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21 Jun 2013, 2:05 pm

[Moved from Autism Politics, Activism, and Media Representation to General Autism Discussion]

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Grevesy
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21 Jun 2013, 4:28 pm

Forgive me if this is a stupid question, but surely areas of higher population density, such as cities, would have a higher rate of ASD simply due to the larger amount of people living there?

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KingdomOfRats
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21 Jun 2013, 4:47 pm

pfffft, load of balls as usual.
most people woud be in the less well off or poverty level category, and what less well off person can afford to fill their engine these days?
its a feckin fortune running a car,am only able to afford five quid a week to keep a low powered relied on motability car going.

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