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Surprisingly, researchers identified a strong microbial signature for autism spectrum disorder, challenging the idea that autism is a primarily genetic conditio

Surprisingly, researchers identified a strong microbial signature for autism spectrum disorder, challenging the idea that autism is a primarily genetic condition and suggesting that environmental factors may be behind the sharp rise in ASD

hanniabu 3y ago
Anyone with serious microbiome issues will tell you it's pretty obvious most diseases/conditions are due to your microbiome. The research just hasn't caught up yet and it's difficult to analyze since it's pretty much a black box that varies wildly between people.
- callalex 3y ago
  Really? _Most_ diseases seams like a gross overstatement.
  - alphazard 3y ago
    It's really not. The gut contains most of the immune system, and is most of the surface area in contact with the outside. The microbiome controls how much contact the immune system has with the gut lumen (intestinal permeability) and the chemical products it has to neutralize (like LPS). Through cytokines or movement through the lymphatic system, immune cells in the gut set the tone for the immune system systemically. When you consider how many diseases are related to a dysfunctional immune system, "most" isn't really an exaggeration. It's especially not an exaggeration if you weight diseases by how common they are.
- mwbajor 3y ago
  It has long been noticed that many people with mental issues also have digestive issues. Imagine if the prescription for alot of health problems was to "eat a good diet and no amount of alcohol is beneficial"? People don't want to make lifestyle changes, they want a pill and the pharmaceutical industry is happy to supply it.
  - justin_kempton 3y ago
    One of the issues with Autism is a total refusal to eat certain healthy foods. The argument for a pill, or better, gut flora transplant, would be for people unable to make informed decisions for themselves. Once the flora were in place, theoretically, repulsion of healthy food would be reduced, allowing the child to feed his gut naturally, and hopefully improve mental health over time. This would be the holy grail, I hope more research is done in this area.
    - mwbajor 3y ago
      "One of the issues with Autism is a total refusal to eat certain healthy foods" I have to disagree because "total refusal to eat healthy foods" is another one of the many subjective observations that muddies the definition of autism, which is as loose of a definition as you can get in my opinion. Are they autistic because they don't eat right or do they not eat right because they are autistic?
      - justin_kempton 3y ago
        Not all autistic kids have food intolerance. But food intolerance is such a common thing in kids on the spectrum that it's part of the evaluation. Autism is a loose definition! My wife and I have had this discussion many times, with therapists, teachers, etc. If you look into it, being diagnosed with ASD, means that you answered yes to enough questions on a long list. That's basically it. The fact that the definition is so broad leads you to conclude they don't know why it is, or how to change it, or even cause it. Even the definitions of ASD, and or Aspergers has changed. Many who would not have qualified for the diagnosis 30 years ago would qualify now. Money is involved, at the schools, and the schools are the ones doing the testing. But, there is a real need for it. These kids are smart, but the environment is blocking them from learning or expressing. What is needed is some kind of scientific, measurable, and conclusive understanding of the condition. Until then we are all just grasping in the dark, without even a brain scan. I think we are the early days of Neuroscience.
    - MonaroVXR 3y ago
      > One of the issues with Autism is a total refusal to eat certain healthy foods Not me, oh and do sports, but ive hidden it very well.
- smohare 3y ago
  [dead]
- go_elmo 3y ago
  Thats how homophobia develops too Ive heard, and cancer too, people in hiroshima died because thw radiation destroyed their biome which killed them, not their dna!
j16sdiz 3y ago
It can be reverse: People with ASD prefer some food that promotes a specific biome
- zeroCalories 3y ago
  i sure love my tendies
- Jacky4Chan 3y ago
  Yeah, researchers are so dumb they haven't thought of this possibility. Thank you for being a genius.
  - h4l 3y ago
    Maybe take a break if you feel like making toxic comments like this.
- justin_kempton 3y ago
  Exactly what I was thinking. In my own sons case, 8, his food preferences are extremely limited. We've pushed to expand this, even slipping many things undetected into his oatmeal. I've even wondered, were it possible to do a gut flora transplant, easily, what would be the result. Since early intervention is the name of the game, if the root cause were as trivial as the biome of your gut, every parent in the world would be signing up. Sadly, these results do not seem game changing. Keep going!
  - scottyah 3y ago
    > were it possible to do a gut flora transplant, easily There is a way to do this, it's been tried before and had dramatic results but is a bit unorthodox. You basically take the fecal matter of a person with a healthy gut biome, blend it up and put it in pills for the other to swallow.
dragonwriter 3y ago
> Surprisingly, researchers identified a strong microbial signature for autism spectrum disorder, challenging the idea that autism is a primarily genetic condition and suggesting that environmental factors may be behind the sharp rise in ASD It doesn't really challenge anything without some evidence for causation from microbiome to ASD beyond correlation, since causation from ASD (or its genetic determinants) to microbiome is also consistent with a correlation.
epcoa 3y ago
Correlation is not causation.
Gupie 3y ago
It is doubtful there is any rise in ASD, just more awareness and diagnosis: https://www.statnews.com/2023/03/23/autism-epidemic-cdc-numbers/#:~:text=In%20a%20pair%20of%20new,This%20increase%20may%20sound%20scary https://www.statnews.com/2023/03/23/autism-epidemic-cdc-numb....
- concordDance 3y ago
  That's not a good article, doesn't seem to link to studies making the case that it's changing diagnoses.
- MagicMoonlight 3y ago
  That's true to a degree but I don't think we had the level of moronity we currently have. You get children that are just mindless creatures who only know tiktok and biting. That doesn't feel like something that was underdiagnosed or unnoticed before

hanniabu 3y ago

Anyone with serious microbiome issues will tell you it's pretty obvious most diseases/conditions are due to your microbiome. The research just hasn't caught up yet and it's difficult to analyze since it's pretty much a black box that varies wildly between people.

callalex 3y ago
Really? _Most_ diseases seams like a gross overstatement.
- alphazard 3y ago
  It's really not. The gut contains most of the immune system, and is most of the surface area in contact with the outside. The microbiome controls how much contact the immune system has with the gut lumen (intestinal permeability) and the chemical products it has to neutralize (like LPS). Through cytokines or movement through the lymphatic system, immune cells in the gut set the tone for the immune system systemically. When you consider how many diseases are related to a dysfunctional immune system, "most" isn't really an exaggeration. It's especially not an exaggeration if you weight diseases by how common they are.
mwbajor 3y ago
It has long been noticed that many people with mental issues also have digestive issues. Imagine if the prescription for alot of health problems was to "eat a good diet and no amount of alcohol is beneficial"? People don't want to make lifestyle changes, they want a pill and the pharmaceutical industry is happy to supply it.
- justin_kempton 3y ago
  One of the issues with Autism is a total refusal to eat certain healthy foods. The argument for a pill, or better, gut flora transplant, would be for people unable to make informed decisions for themselves. Once the flora were in place, theoretically, repulsion of healthy food would be reduced, allowing the child to feed his gut naturally, and hopefully improve mental health over time. This would be the holy grail, I hope more research is done in this area.
  - mwbajor 3y ago
    "One of the issues with Autism is a total refusal to eat certain healthy foods" I have to disagree because "total refusal to eat healthy foods" is another one of the many subjective observations that muddies the definition of autism, which is as loose of a definition as you can get in my opinion. Are they autistic because they don't eat right or do they not eat right because they are autistic?
    - justin_kempton 3y ago
      Not all autistic kids have food intolerance. But food intolerance is such a common thing in kids on the spectrum that it's part of the evaluation. Autism is a loose definition! My wife and I have had this discussion many times, with therapists, teachers, etc. If you look into it, being diagnosed with ASD, means that you answered yes to enough questions on a long list. That's basically it. The fact that the definition is so broad leads you to conclude they don't know why it is, or how to change it, or even cause it. Even the definitions of ASD, and or Aspergers has changed. Many who would not have qualified for the diagnosis 30 years ago would qualify now. Money is involved, at the schools, and the schools are the ones doing the testing. But, there is a real need for it. These kids are smart, but the environment is blocking them from learning or expressing. What is needed is some kind of scientific, measurable, and conclusive understanding of the condition. Until then we are all just grasping in the dark, without even a brain scan. I think we are the early days of Neuroscience.
  - MonaroVXR 3y ago
    > One of the issues with Autism is a total refusal to eat certain healthy foods Not me, oh and do sports, but ive hidden it very well.
smohare 3y ago
[dead]
go_elmo 3y ago
Thats how homophobia develops too Ive heard, and cancer too, people in hiroshima died because thw radiation destroyed their biome which killed them, not their dna!

j16sdiz 3y ago

It can be reverse: People with ASD prefer some food that promotes a specific biome

zeroCalories 3y ago
i sure love my tendies
Jacky4Chan 3y ago
Yeah, researchers are so dumb they haven't thought of this possibility. Thank you for being a genius.
- h4l 3y ago
  Maybe take a break if you feel like making toxic comments like this.
justin_kempton 3y ago
Exactly what I was thinking. In my own sons case, 8, his food preferences are extremely limited. We've pushed to expand this, even slipping many things undetected into his oatmeal. I've even wondered, were it possible to do a gut flora transplant, easily, what would be the result. Since early intervention is the name of the game, if the root cause were as trivial as the biome of your gut, every parent in the world would be signing up. Sadly, these results do not seem game changing. Keep going!
- scottyah 3y ago
  > were it possible to do a gut flora transplant, easily There is a way to do this, it's been tried before and had dramatic results but is a bit unorthodox. You basically take the fecal matter of a person with a healthy gut biome, blend it up and put it in pills for the other to swallow.

dragonwriter 3y ago

> Surprisingly, researchers identified a strong microbial signature for autism spectrum disorder, challenging the idea that autism is a primarily genetic condition and suggesting that environmental factors may be behind the sharp rise in ASD It doesn't really challenge anything without some evidence for causation from microbiome to ASD beyond correlation, since causation from ASD (or its genetic determinants) to microbiome is also consistent with a correlation.

epcoa 3y ago

Correlation is not causation.

Gupie 3y ago

It is doubtful there is any rise in ASD, just more awareness and diagnosis: https://www.statnews.com/2023/03/23/autism-epidemic-cdc-numbers/#:~:text=In%20a%20pair%20of%20new,This%20increase%20may%20sound%20scary https://www.statnews.com/2023/03/23/autism-epidemic-cdc-numb....

concordDance 3y ago
That's not a good article, doesn't seem to link to studies making the case that it's changing diagnoses.
MagicMoonlight 3y ago
That's true to a degree but I don't think we had the level of moronity we currently have. You get children that are just mindless creatures who only know tiktok and biting. That doesn't feel like something that was underdiagnosed or unnoticed before