Heather Bedard, C.H.E.
Some children are born with autism and others regress into autism during childhood. There are many reasons a child would regress and the major ones are listed below. Please see the individual articles, as they are posted, on the relationship between autism and the topics below for more detailed information and scientific studies.
Vaccines – Many vaccines include ingredients that pass the blood brain barrier affecting cognitive function, increase inflammation in the body, and contribute to autoimmune disorders. All of these events are markers for autism.
Chronic Ear Infections – Childhood ear infections are common. However, children who have multiple ear infections a year at a young age are at risk for autism because the antibiotics given to treat the infection destroy the good and bad bacteria of the Gastrointestinal (GI) tract. This allows for the overgrowth of bad bacteria as well as of yeast.
Inflammation in the gut – Because of the damage to the gut microbiome caused by antibiotics, many children with ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) have endotoxicity and suffer from leaky gut. Once this is treated, many parents report seeing improvement in their child’s behavior. This and other findings seem to support the idea that autistic behaviors are a symptom and not a disease and are related to the gut-brain connection. Some children show low levels of SCFA’s (Short Chain Fatty Acids) and other helpful bacteria which allows for an overgrowth of other pathogenic bacteria. Many parents with autistic children have reported frequent diarrhea or colitis in the past year compared to their counterparts. Many ASD (Autistic Spectrum Disorder) children have leaky gut due to diets high in gluten-containing foods and casein-containing dairy products and typically heavy use of antibiotics. Antibiotics kill off both the good and the bad bacteria allowing for an overgrowth of the bad and facilitating an environment where yeast can grow at an alarming rate. Overgrown yeast can turn into a toxic form called mycelia. This toxin imbeds into the GI (gastrointestinal tract) further causing leaky gut. Once leaky gut occurs, partially digested proteins and peptides from gluten and casein enter the bloodstream and these things inflict disruption on the Central Nervous System causing symptoms of autism.
Viral Infection – Studies indicate that children with ASD, and who have antibodies for measles, have other markers such as anti-myelin basic protein antibodies and anti-neuron axon filament protein that seem to show a strong autoimmune connection. Children that didn’t have ASD but had measles antibodies did not show the presence of either autoimmune marker. Autistic children have considerably more anti-MMR antibodies than their non-autistic peers.