kim

http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/hea...,1,831137.story TRIBUNE INVESTIGATION: THE MERCURY MENACE U.S. safety net in tatters Seafood shoppers are at risk for mercury exposure as regulators ignore their own experts, issue flawed warnings and set policies aiding industry Advertisement Seattle Sutton Corporate By Michael Hawthorne and Sam Roe Tribune staff reporters December 12, 2005 Shipped from Singapore, the swordfish entered the U.S. this year without being tested for the toxic metal mercury. When a fillet from that fish reached a display case at a supermarket in suburban Des Plaines, it carried no government warning labels, even though federal officials know swordfish often is so contaminated that young children and pregnant women should never eat it. And when the Tribune bought and tested this particular piece of fish, the results showed not just high amounts of mercury, but levels three times the legal limit. This repeated neglect by the U.S. government--the lack of mercury testing, the failure to adequately warn consumers,....... http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationw...ack=1&cset=true DuPont hit with $10 million fine Settlement with EPA for not disclosing data on toxin in Teflon By Michael Hawthorne Tribune staff reporter Published December 15, 2005 DuPont will pay a record $10.25 million fine for failing to tell the Environmental Protection Agency what the company knew about a chemical used to make Teflon, including studies that found the substance in human blood and said it should be considered "extremely toxic." Federal regulators hope the settlement will help solve an environmental mystery. Perfluorooctanoic acid, or PFOA, is turning up throughout the world, in polar bears near the Arctic Circle and toddlers in American cities. But no one is sure why. Until recently, very little has been known about PFOA and related chemicals outside of DuPont and a handful of other companies, even though the chemicals have been used for more than 50 years to make non-stick cookware, grease-resistant food wrappers, rain-repellent clothing and hundreds of other products. .

Ronna, Glad you seem to have figured out a combination that works well for your son. Here are a couple of articles that may be of interest to someone else, along with a question I have regarding the addition of Omega 6, which it seems is beneficial for some, and I wonder why everything I read seems to indicate that Omega 6 may be too high and part of the ratio problem. Wondering if anyone has an explanation. In the second article, the below statement appears. My question is in regards to using a combo Omega 3 6 9 supplement. If the 6's are already high in most diets, isn't it counterproductive to add more? In the typical Western diet, 20-25-fold more omega (n)-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) than n-3 PUFA are consumed, which results in the release of pro-inflammatory arachidonic acid metabolites. There has been a discussion on another board lately talking about cod liver, flax, flax seeds, and the fish oil. Something that was interesting was the discussion about needing to "front load" with the antioxidants. Apparently, fish oil (omega 3) needs the antioxidant levels high enough to not go rancid in the body (my simplistic interpretation). Is this why some report worsening of tics when taking fish oil, low antioxidant levels? I have started buying the Egg Land's Best All Natural Eggs they say High in Vit E, 100mg of Omega 3, 25%less Saturated Fat and Vegetarian Fed Hens, on the Carton. You can buy them in any grocery store. Don't know how helpful they are looking at the dosage of Omega 3 used in the studies, but they taste good anyway. I believe my 13 yr. old probably gets plenty of Omega 6 in his diet, but I'm starting to think that my 9 yr. old "non eater" could benefit from the combo Omega's. Currently my oldest son is taking 1 capsule per day of EPA/DHA (fish oil) that I order with the Bontech vitamins. Anyway here are the two articles. I know some here have kids that do have asthma. Fish oil can prevent airway constriction in asthma Last Updated: 2006-01-09 17:00:20 -0400 (Reuters Health) By Anthony J. Brown, MD http://www.reutershealth.com/archive/2006/...109elin035.html ********************************************* Mickleborough TD. Department of Kinesiology, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana 47401, USA. tmickleb@indiana.edu Asthma prevalence continues to increase despite the progress that has been made in the treatment options for asthma. Alternative treatment therapies that reduce the dose requirements of pharmacological interventions would be beneficial, and could potentially reduce the public health burden of this disease. There is accumulating evidence that dietary modification has potential to influence the severity of asthma and reduce the prevalence and incidence of this condition. A possible contributing factor to the increased incidence of asthma in Western societies may the consumption of a pro-inflammatory diet. In the typical Western diet, 20-25-fold more omega (n)-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) than n-3 PUFA are consumed, which results in the release of pro-inflammatory arachidonic acid metabolites. Eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid are n-3 PUFA derived from fish oil that competitively inhibit n-6 PUFA arachidonic acid (AA) metabolism and this reduce the generation of pro-inflammatory 4-series leukotrienes (LTs) and 2-series prostaglandins (PGs) and production of cytokines from inflammatory cells. These data are consistent with the proposed pathway by which dietary intake of n-3 PUFA modulates lung disease. This article will review the existing information concerning the relationship between n-3 PUFA supplementation and airway hyperresponsiveness in asthma. It includes studies assessing the efficacy of n-3 PUFA supplementation in exercise-induced bronchoconstriction. This review will also address the question as to whether supplementing the diet with n-3 PUFA represents a viable alternative treatment regimen for asthma. Publication Types: * Review PMID: 16036405

This contains tons of info. on supplements and things discussed here often. Also, page 27? gives some helpful information on values measured on the Great Plains OAT I believe. Not many of the values measured on the Metametrix OAT test were discussed. Lots of yeast/bacterial, dysbiosis, gut issues covered. http://puterakembara.org/rm/Dr_Jepson.pdf Another very informative paper http://www.autismwebsite.com/ari/dan/heavymetals.pdf I have recently started culturelle (probiotic) with the boys and am considering restarting the Houston enzymes in hopes of better digestion/less immune response to foods not being tolerated well, only adding the NoFenol this time to aid in yeast treatment, along with the culturelle. Kim

Chemar, Thanks Happy New Year to you too! I tried to delete, but when I click on edit it says "you must post a message to edit" so it appears I could delete the message but not remove it from the subject line on the openeing page. Am I missing a delete option? I found last night that the site works fine if I go through internet explorer instead of aol, so at least I can access the site without such a struggle again. Kim

I kept getting the "Website not responding message" Then all of a sudden, every attempt was there. I have tried clearing cookies, temp web pages, history etc. Don't know why, this is the only site I have been having problems with. Anyone have any suggestions?

My sons also have tics and we recently had IGg testing done through MAYO labs. As I understand it, they send this testing on to IBT labs. I spoke with someone at MAYO who said this is Flouroenzyme Immunoassay testing. I'm wondering if anyone can comment on the reliability of this type testing? My insurance covered this test so I went for it, but my Pediatrician is unable to help with the results, as he had no idea what it even was. 13 year old son tested positive to wheat, barley, rye, oat 9 yr. old egg, peanut, pork and cow's milk. Under reference range, there was only <2. Most of the results were 5 and 6's except 9 yr. old who is an extremely limited eater had a 13 for peanut (peanut butter is one of about 4 foods he'll eat). I also had the Organix Dysbiosis Profile done on youngest son through Metametrix. His D-Arabinitol was 51 which put him in about the 75-80% range? I take it this means that 75% of the children 12 and under had a lower reading? Again, I'm wondering how many people have used this test and if you felt the results were reliable as an indication of a yeast problem. Any comments would be greatly appreciated. Kim Reply.........(from another parent) Dear Kim, The amazing fact is that the body is "believing" that the food is something bad. When there is a bad digestion process, food molecules are not well broken (hydrolyzed) and due mainly to its size, the body can not see those molecules as food but as an bad invader (antigen). Once those big and bad food molecules enters to the body through the intestinal wall, the body defense mechanism is to put a "flag" on them in order to indicate to defense cells (leukocytes) that those molecules shall be destroy. The "flag" to signal the invader molecules is the Antibody called IgG Immunoglobulin G. So if your test is indicating that you have more than 2, it means that recently the body has detected some invader molecules and is having a "lot of flags" circulating around ready to bind another invader big molecule. IgG test basically means that some of the food molecules that gives high values were detected in the blood and are being processes as antigens. So for example, in the case of peanut high value, it indicates that the body is "processing" the peanut by using the immune system. Sometimes the body mechanism is to use the enzymes of the immune system to end digestion of big molecules. It seems to be the indication of this high value. This is bad because those enzymes are there for eliminating bacteria, yeasts, virus and bad cells, not for doing digestion. Oral enzymes are going to help you for two basic points: - Improve hydrolysis of food molecules, in the way the body will not recognize them as antigen. - Reduce the high values of circulating antibodies. Regards, VICTOR > Victor, > > Thank you so much for the reply. The high reading for peanut gave this test > credibility in my mind because it's one of the things conventional allergy > testing showed a mild reaction to, and again, because it's one of the few > foods he eats. The pork reaction confused me, because he hasn't eaten any meat > of any kind since baby food dinners. I can't imagine where he would even get > trace exposure to pork. > > One of my main concerns was that this test would miss a sensitivity to > something like dairy or wheat (he will eat 1 type of cracker and pretzels), orange > juice etc. I would hate to feel ok about giving these things if this test > was not as reliable as ELISA or other tests it seems like most have done. > > I was wondering if I could have your permission to post your reply to > another group? Since this was a test that my insurance covered, and I was able to > get reg. Ped to order it, I thought others on a TS/tic board might be > interested too. Again, thank you! > > Kim REPLY Kim, Thanks for your answer. Maybe you do not have to analyze the lab results in such detailed way. Because, what the antibody flags is sometimes not so easy to catch. Antibody is very small and can just bind very small parts on a food molecule. For example it can happens that as your kid is not eaten meat, then the antibody was confusing the pork meat because it is having the same molecule part that it binds elsewere. Anyway, by looking the results what is evident is a framework of general bad nutrition in which the body is sensing several foods as antigens (fortunatelly not as allergens). It can be more like a diagnosis of leaky gut. If you start with enzymes, you will eliminate the bad framework, the leaky gut and the running antibodies. You can place my message in other places. Regards, VICTOR

My sons also have tics and we recently had IGg testing done through MAYO labs. As I understand it, they send this testing on to IBT labs. I spoke with someone at MAYO who said this is Flouroenzyme Immunoassay testing. I'm wondering if anyone can comment on the reliability of this type testing? My insurance covered this test so I went for it, but my Pediatrician is unable to help with the results, as he had no idea what it even was. 13 year old son tested positive to wheat, barley, rye 9 yr. old egg, peanut and pork. Under reference range, there was only <2. Most of the results were 5 and 6's except 9 yr. old who is an extremely limited eater had a 13 for peanut (peanut butter is one of about 4 foods he'll eat). I also had the Organix Dysbiosis Profile done on youngest son through Metametrix. His D-Arabinitol was 51 which put him in about the 75-80% range? I take it this means that 75% of the children 12 and under had a lower reading? Again, I'm wondering how many people have used this test and if you felt the results were reliable as an indication of a yeast problem. Any comments would be greatly appreciated. Kim Reply.........(from another parent) Dear Kim, The amazing fact is that the body is "believing" that the food is something bad. When there is a bad digestion process, food molecules are not well broken (hydrolyzed) and due mainly to its size, the body can not see those molecules as food but as an bad invader (antigen). Once those big and bad food molecules enters to the body through the intestinal wall, the body defense mechanism is to put a "flag" on them in order to indicate to defense cells (leukocytes) that those molecules shall be destroy. The "flag" to signal the invader molecules is the Antibody called IgG Immunoglobulin G. So if your test is indicating that you have more than 2, it means that recently the body has detected some invader molecules and is having a "lot of flags" circulating around ready to bind another invader big molecule. IgG test basically means that some of the food molecules that gives high values were detected in the blood and are being processes as antigens. So for example, in the case of peanut high value, it indicates that the body is "processing" the peanut by using the immune system. Sometimes the body mechanism is to use the enzymes of the immune system to end digestion of big molecules. It seems to be the indication of this high value. This is bad because those enzymes are there for eliminating bacteria, yeasts, virus and bad cells, not for doing digestion. Oral enzymes are going to help you for two basic points: - Improve hydrolysis of food molecules, in the way the body will not recognize them as antigen. - Reduce the high values of circulating antibodies. Regards, VICTOR > Victor, > > Thank you so much for the reply. The high reading for peanut gave this test > credibility in my mind because it's one of the things conventional allergy > testing showed a mild reaction to, and again, because it's one of the few > foods he eats. The pork reaction confused me, because he hasn't eaten any meat > of any kind since baby food dinners. I can't imagine where he would even get > trace exposure to pork. > > One of my main concerns was that this test would miss a sensitivity to > something like dairy or wheat (he will eat 1 type of cracker and pretzels), orange > juice etc. I would hate to feel ok about giving these things if this test > was not as reliable as ELISA or other tests it seems like most have done. > > I was wondering if I could have your permission to post your reply to > another group? Since this was a test that my insurance covered, and I was able to > get reg. Ped to order it, I thought others on a TS/tic board might be > interested too. Again, thank you! > > Kim REPLY Kim, Thanks for your answer. Maybe you do not have to analyze the lab results in such detailed way. Because, what the antibody flags is sometimes not so easy to catch. Antibody is very small and can just bind very small parts on a food molecule. For example it can happens that as your kid is not eaten meat, then the antibody was confusing the pork meat because it is having the same molecule part that it binds elsewere. Anyway, by looking the results what is evident is a framework of general bad nutrition in which the body is sensing several foods as antigens (fortunatelly not as allergens). It can be more like a diagnosis of leaky gut. If you start with enzymes, you will eliminate the bad framework, the leaky gut and the running antibodies. You can place my message in other places. Regards, VICTOR

My sons also have tics and we recently had IGg testing done through MAYO labs. As I understand it, they send this testing on to IBT labs. I spoke with someone at MAYO who said this is Flouroenzyme Immunoassay testing. I'm wondering if anyone can comment on the reliability of this type testing? My insurance covered this test so I went for it, but my Pediatrician is unable to help with the results, as he had no idea what it even was. 13 year old son tested positive to wheat, barley, rye 9 yr. old egg, peanut and pork. Under reference range, there was only <2. Most of the results were 5 and 6's except 9 yr. old who is an extremely limited eater had a 13 for peanut (peanut butter is one of about 4 foods he'll eat). I also had the Organix Dysbiosis Profile done on youngest son through Metametrix. His D-Arabinitol was 51 which put him in about the 75-80% range? I take it this means that 75% of the children 12 and under had a lower reading? Again, I'm wondering how many people have used this test and if you felt the results were reliable as an indication of a yeast problem. Any comments would be greatly appreciated. Kim Reply.........(from another parent) Dear Kim, The amazing fact is that the body is "believing" that the food is something bad. When there is a bad digestion process, food molecules are not well broken (hydrolyzed) and due mainly to its size, the body can not see those molecules as food but as an bad invader (antigen). Once those big and bad food molecules enters to the body through the intestinal wall, the body defense mechanism is to put a "flag" on them in order to indicate to defense cells (leukocytes) that those molecules shall be destroy. The "flag" to signal the invader molecules is the Antibody called IgG Immunoglobulin G. So if your test is indicating that you have more than 2, it means that recently the body has detected some invader molecules and is having a "lot of flags" circulating around ready to bind another invader big molecule. IgG test basically means that some of the food molecules that gives high values were detected in the blood and are being processes as antigens. So for example, in the case of peanut high value, it indicates that the body is "processing" the peanut by using the immune system. Sometimes the body mechanism is to use the enzymes of the immune system to end digestion of big molecules. It seems to be the indication of this high value. This is bad because those enzymes are there for eliminating bacteria, yeasts, virus and bad cells, not for doing digestion. Oral enzymes are going to help you for two basic points: - Improve hydrolysis of food molecules, in the way the body will not recognize them as antigen. - Reduce the high values of circulating antibodies. Regards, VICTOR > Victor, > > Thank you so much for the reply. The high reading for peanut gave this test > credibility in my mind because it's one of the things conventional allergy > testing showed a mild reaction to, and again, because it's one of the few > foods he eats. The pork reaction confused me, because he hasn't eaten any meat > of any kind since baby food dinners. I can't imagine where he would even get > trace exposure to pork. > > One of my main concerns was that this test would miss a sensitivity to > something like dairy or wheat (he will eat 1 type of cracker and pretzels), orange > juice etc. I would hate to feel ok about giving these things if this test > was not as reliable as ELISA or other tests it seems like most have done. > > I was wondering if I could have your permission to post your reply to > another group? Since this was a test that my insurance covered, and I was able to > get reg. Ped to order it, I thought others on a TS/tic board might be > interested too. Again, thank you! > > Kim REPLY Kim, Thanks for your answer. Maybe you do not have to analyze the lab results in such detailed way. Because, what the antibody flags is sometimes not so easy to catch. Antibody is very small and can just bind very small parts on a food molecule. For example it can happens that as your kid is not eaten meat, then the antibody was confusing the pork meat because it is having the same molecule part that it binds elsewere. Anyway, by looking the results what is evident is a framework of general bad nutrition in which the body is sensing several foods as antigens (fortunatelly not as allergens). It can be more like a diagnosis of leaky gut. If you start with enzymes, you will eliminate the bad framework, the leaky gut and the running antibodies. You can place my message in other places. Regards, VICTOR

My sons also have tics and we recently had IGg testing done through MAYO labs. As I understand it, they send this testing on to IBT labs. I spoke with someone at MAYO who said this is Flouroenzyme Immunoassay testing. I'm wondering if anyone can comment on the reliability of this type testing? My insurance covered this test so I went for it, but my Pediatrician is unable to help with the results, as he had no idea what it even was. 13 year old son tested positive to wheat, barley, rye,oat 9 yr. old egg, peanut and pork. Under reference range, there was only <2. Most of the results were 5 and 6's except 9 yr. old who is an extremely limited eater had a 13 for peanut (peanut butter is one of about 4 foods he'll eat). I also had the Organix Dysbiosis Profile done on youngest son through Metametrix. His D-Arabinitol was 51 which put him in about the 75% range? I take it this means that 75% of the children 12 and under had a lower reading? Again, I'm wondering how many people have used this test and if you felt the results were reliable as an indication of a yeast problem. Any comments would be greatly appreciated. Kim Reply.........(from another parent) Dear Kim, The amazing fact is that the body is "believing" that the food is something bad. When there is a bad digestion process, food molecules are not well broken (hydrolyzed) and due mainly to its size, the body can not see those molecules as food but as an bad invader (antigen). Once those big and bad food molecules enters to the body through the intestinal wall, the body defense mechanism is to put a "flag" on them in order to indicate to defense cells (leukocytes) that those molecules shall be destroy. The "flag" to signal the invader molecules is the Antibody called IgG Immunoglobulin G. So if your test is indicating that you have more than 2, it means that recently the body has detected some invader molecules and is having a "lot of flags" circulating around ready to bind another invader big molecule. IgG test basically means that some of the food molecules that gives high values were detected in the blood and are being processes as antigens. So for example, in the case of peanut high value, it indicates that the body is "processing" the peanut by using the immune system. Sometimes the body mechanism is to use the enzymes of the immune system to end digestion of big molecules. It seems to be the indication of this high value. This is bad because those enzymes are there for eliminating bacteria, yeasts, virus and bad cells, not for doing digestion. Oral enzymes are going to help you for two basic points: - Improve hydrolysis of food molecules, in the way the body will not recognize them as antigen. - Reduce the high values of circulating antibodies. Regards, VICTOR > Victor, > > Thank you so much for the reply. The high reading for peanut gave this test > credibility in my mind because it's one of the things conventional allergy > testing showed a mild reaction to, and again, because it's one of the few > foods he eats. The pork reaction confused me, because he hasn't eaten any meat > of any kind since baby food dinners. I can't imagine where he would even get > trace exposure to pork. > > One of my main concerns was that this test would miss a sensitivity to > something like dairy or wheat (he will eat 1 type of cracker and pretzels), orange > juice etc. I would hate to feel ok about giving these things if this test > was not as reliable as ELISA or other tests it seems like most have done. > > I was wondering if I could have your permission to post your reply to > another group? Since this was a test that my insurance covered, and I was able to > get reg. Ped to order it, I thought others on a TS/tic board might be > interested too. Again, thank you! > > Kim REPLY Kim, Thanks for your answer. Maybe you do not have to analyze the lab results in such detailed way. Because, what the antibody flags is sometimes not so easy to catch. Antibody is very small and can just bind very small parts on a food molecule. For example it can happens that as your kid is not eaten meat, then the antibody was confusing the pork meat because it is having the same molecule part that it binds elsewere. Anyway, by looking the results what is evident is a framework of general bad nutrition in which the body is sensing several foods as antigens (fortunatelly not as allergens). It can be more like a diagnosis of leaky gut. If you start with enzymes, you will eliminate the bad framework, the leaky gut and the running antibodies. You can place my message in other places. Regards, VICTOR

Carolyn, Just wanted to tell you that I had 4 impacted wisdom teeth removed at the same time. I was fully awake for the whole thing, but they did give me a shot of valium. That was nice. I really wouldn't have cared if they took the teeth out with a chainsaw due to that shot. I don't think it would have been necessary though, the removal was really not that bad at all. Good luck with your appt. and I'm waiting for news on the results of your specks. Thanks for all of the helpful updates on your progress. Kim

Claire, Can you tell me if you plan on doing the OAT/yeast through Direct/Metametrix, or Great Plains? I have the results from my 9 yr. old's Organix Dysbiosis Profile from Metametrix with a D-Arabinitol reading of 51. This puts him at almost the the 5th quintile and the edging the 80% reference interval. My Alternative Dr. said it is one indicator of a yeast problem, but we have not done any treatment for it yet. Just got the results back for a blood yeast, which was negative, as I had I expected, but Chemar had mentioned a blood test that was helpful for her son regarding overgrowth, so we did it. I have not heard the theory that you mentioned, about the yeast/mercury connection, ie the yeast being a necessary or helpful thing?????? Is anybody recommending that yeast overgrowth NOT be treated? As alway, it's great to read one of your informational posts! Kim

So so sorry for your loss. You may be interested in this http://www.enzymestuff.com/magnesium.htm The psycholeptic sedative effects of darkness, like those of magnesium, rely on direct membraneous and oxidant actions, neural mediated effects (i.e. stimulation of inhibitory neuromodulators such as GABA and taurine), and on antagonism of neuroactive gases (CO and NO). Darkness therapyper se, partial substitutive therapy with melatonin and with their mimicking agents (Mg, L-Tryptophan,Taurine) apply to all the chronopathological forms of magnesium depletion with decreased production of melatonin: sleep disorders, migraine, chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, some forms of asthma and of sudden infant death syndrome. Further research should assess the importance of the chronopathological forms of magnesium depletion in the physiopathology of these disorders.

Mom, You might want to check out this link http://www.independent-media.tv/item.cfm?f...nder%20Reported Just have something on hand for stomach upset! I largely ignored this connection when I started looking for alternative ways to improve tics for my 2 sons but eventually, I started to READ these articles that I kept coming across, and it got pretty hard to ignore. Kim

Thought I would share this from another bd. The poster who wrote to this gentlemen refers to him as Dr. Jon Pangborn. Here is his response to her question regarding the use of carnosine. **************************************************************************************** I still have the same concerns about carnosine use as a supplement for autistics. I have spoken to Dr. Chez directly about it. I'm aware that it has helped many autistics, especially those with seizure conditions, and Dr. Chez confirms that the best responses he has seen are for seizure cases. I'm also aware of a number of disasters with its use - extreme hyperactivity, worsening of autistic traits, and week-to month periods of recovery after using carnosine for only one day. Autistics are individuals who have considerable variability when it comes to biochemistry that's on the periphery of that which pertains directly to autism itself. Carnosine is not central to autism; it is on the periphery. Carnosine is a peptide composed of histidine (a conditionally essential amino acid) and beta-alanine (often a troublemaking amino acid). Some manufacturer claims that I've seen exhibit total ignorance when they say carnosine is histidine plus "alanine". Alanine is fine, beta-alanine is definitely not fine. So, if you want to try carnosine as a nutritional option, do so with the knowledge that adverse effects can occur. I must continue to advise against its use by clinicians until certain analytical (lab) measurements are negative for contraindication. Analytical contraindications for carnosine use are: elevated carnosine and/or beta-alanine in blood/urine, and high taurine (wasting) in urine. A further contraindication would be worsening of the blood copper/zinc ratio with carnosine despite co-supplementation with zinc. You may post this on the Internet. Jon Pangborn

USEFUL WEBSITE FOR CHECKING TOXIC COMMUNITIES http://www.scorecard.org/ http://www.ombwatch.org/article/articleview/3117/1/396 EPA's Proposed TRI Rule EPA Proposes Collecting Less Information on Toxic Pollution EPA recently announced plans that would essentially dismantle its Toxic Release Inventory (TRI), the nation's premier tool for notifying the public about toxic pollution.

ADHD advice secretly paid for by drugs companies By Daniel Foggo (Filed: 09/10/2005) http://telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml...9/ixportal.html Support and advice groups for parents of children with so-called behavioural disorders are being secretly funded by pharmaceutical firms, it can be revealed.

plsrn96, Just wanted to say welcome, and that both of my boys take the bontech vitamins. We have seen wonderful results with them. We also use her EPA/DHA, and additional mag. taurate occasionally. If you have any questions that you feel I could help with, please feel free to ask! kim

Hilary Downing from ASD_Solutions- Biochat Notes Speaker Susan Owens Q: Can you tell us what oxalates are, and the basics of the diet? A: Oxalates are two carbons joined together with 4 oxygens. It’s a structure similar to sulfur. There are a lot of problems with sulfate chemistry in autism, so it’s interesting that the oxalate structure is so similar. Dr. Rimland did some studies (16-18) that showed B6 was affected in autism. B6 is key for the sulfur chemistry, and for oxalates. When you have inflamed gut, Crohn’s for example, very few oxalates are absorbed. So since autistic kids often have inflamed gut, it made sense to have a low-oxalate diet. We did a pilot study with 7 kids. All 7 were high in oxalates, and started the diet. They had problems with frequent urination, GI pain, etc. within a couple hours of eating. They had changes in behavior following eating. Things started changing with the diet. A lot of the things we’ve been calling yeasty behaviors go away with a low-oxalate diet. A lot of these kids had trouble taking DMG and TMG, glycine in general. We saw problems with constipation/diarrhea in these kids before the diet, even after being treated by GI docs. A lot of these children had trouble when introducing nuts, legumes, soy. A lot of these kids craved high-oxalate foods. Q: What foods are high in oxalates? A: Nuts, legumes, green leafy vegetables, spinach, chard, black raspberry, soy, pecans, refried beans, almond, beet, okra, sweet potatoes, chocolate, cocoa, a lot of different teas, black current, dried fig, canned fruit salad, concord grapes, rubarb, tamarillo, tapioca are all extremely high in oxalates. If you google ‘oxalate contents of food’ you should find all the details of high-oxalate and medium-oxalate foods. It makes sense to try low-oxalate diet for at least a week before moving to medium-oxalates. Q: My son only eats PB&J, sugary juice, pretzels, milk, and chocolate. I have tried to limit his diet, but he refuses to eat longer than I can hold out. Any ideas on how to get him off this diet without starving? A: Some of the food preferences of these kids are changing on the diet. Rice/corn caused one child to break out – now that she’s on a low-oxalate diet, those same foods aren’t making her break out anymore. Chocolate and peanut butter are high in oxalates, jelly might be too. Milk is generally ok, but soy milk is extremely high in oxalate. Oxalates are very easily produced by sugar. If you eat a lot of sugar, it depresses thiamine chemistry. Enzymes then turn things into oxalates. So don’t eat a lot of sugar. Q: My son is SCD legal, but still does not have a healthy appetite. Do you have any advice on how I can increase his appetite? A: Is he trying a low-oxalate diet yet? (no, just scd, no juice, lots of proteins). There are children that are eating an awful lot of food, and not putting on weight, and they act starved all the time. When on a low-oxalate diet, they stopped acting starved, gained weight and height. I went on the low-oxalate diet myself a few months ago. I found that foods taste better now. Oxalates deplete glutathione in a big way. Oxalates may be changing the trafficking of zinc. Oxalates and inflammation seem to go hand in hand, more research needs to be done on oxalates and inflammation. Oxalates induce oxidative stress and reduce glutathione, could possibly affect TH1 to TH2 shift. Q: Hi Susan, thanks for taking my question. Do you recommend doing a low oxalate diet with a gfcf diet? What is your web site? A: I think when you start the diet, it’s a good idea to keep in place what you are already doing, and see if getting off the oxalates changes your sensitivity to certain things. Some folks who couldn’t tolerate rice or corn can now tolerate. Another person has reintroduced gluten and casein, and is doing well. You can sign up to the yahoo group Trying_Low_Oxalates. You can sign up as “no email” and not be overwhelmed by the mail. Q: Would you discuss B vitamins and oxalate chemistry...We are SCD but I have been reading LOD yahoo board and caught bits and pieces of discussion regarding thiamine and biotin. I am interested because I am unable to get my son on B vitamins without alot of hyperactivity. A: The rules about intolerances to different supplements are changing. Zinc is depleted with oxalate. A lot of kids have been on very high zinc. Now they’re reducing their zinc on the low-oxalate diet. The parents trying this diet move low and slow (low dose, go slow with changes). Q: Might the oxalate issue be more important than GFCF issues for some kids? Do kids who respond to GFCF tend to be the same ones who respond to this diet? Are oxalates related to metals at all? A: Gluten is metabolized towards oxalates. Casein is not a problem – but lactose might be, because that can be metabolized towards oxalates. Oxalates are related to metals – they are very potent in their chelating abilities. Not sure how this relates to DMSA or DMPS, but ALA seems to reduce oxalates. So while we might have thought it was a great chelator, perhaps the effect we’re seeing is from the reduction of oxalates. ALA is anti-oxalate, noone has ever thought to test the other chelating agents to see if they are. Q: We've been LOD for about 1 month. I tried it because my son urinates constantly. However, I haven't adjusted supplements. Are there supplements that we should avoid? We are starting td-ALA soon. A: The ALA should help. There are quite a few supplements that are helpful. Taurine is anti-oxalate, give more taurine. Oxalates bind beta-alanine. If your son is urinating constantly, this diet might very well help. Q: Hi. My son had an allergic reaction after 12 weeks to the DMPS. We are now using DMSA. I am worried he may have reacted to the sulfur. DO you think the low oxalate diet could help him not react to sulfur? A: I do think there is a possibility that some of the kids with sulfur-sensitivity could be the oxalate kids. A few parents reported that on the diet they were seeing sulfur-sensitivity diminish. Children eating swiss chard and spinach every other day don’t see the differences from day to day – it may be because their bodies have so many oxalates, they’re not seeing the difference. Q: My daughter is taking custom amino acids after being tested through Metametrix. She was quite low in her profile across the board. Do you have experience with these types of products? I don't know if it is helping A: I’ve been looking at the reference ranges on urinary tests. The creatinine doesn’t seem stable enough. Also the reference ranges are based on adults, and the kids doing these tests are 2 and 3. Write me off list. Q: What are some indicators that LOD might help a child...you have said problem with sulfur supplements, urinary issues, what else? A: Issues in speech (that’s the area we see improve the quickest); a lot of yeasty behaviors; if you’ve been on a lot of antibiotics. Q: Can you tell us more about your work as a thinktank member? What is that like? How do the members get together to share ideas? A: It’s been fabulous. There are a lot of totally dedicated people in the think tank. The doctors compare notes, compare success stories, listen to how other doctors solved problems for their patients, etc. We’re getting past our growing pains, and really accomplishing a lot. The internet really helps, and the working relationship between doctors and parents. Q: I give my son 1 peeled pear and several peeled apples/ day - do you know if oxalate levels are lower without the peels? It seems like some lists are conflicting. Also, I've heard that food high in phosphate (such as peas i think) may also cause problem. What would indicate that? A: There may be issues with phosphate with some kids, I haven’t looked at it very closely. Even different varieties of the same type of fruit/vegetable will have different oxalate content. Kiwi fruit has 100+ varieties. The oxalates vary greatly between each variety. It may also vary depending on the soil it was grown in. Some foods are always high; others vary. Q: How long is it taking for kids to respond to the diet? Are any kids reacting badly to the diet? What is the difference between oxalates and "oxidants"? A: Astonishingly some kids show improvements in just a day or two. Occasionally a child will start and have worse behavior. If you’ve been really high oxalate and you remove them, oxalates get trafficked to the gut and cause really high oxalates there. We’ve been experiencing with calcium citrate and magnesium citrate, which are both anti-oxalate. The calcium is important in the gut – if there is calcium in the gut, the oxalates won’t be reabsorbed in the body, they’ll stay in the stool. Oxalates are oxidants. And oxidant creates oxidative stress. Molecules that are not supposed to be bound together get bound together during oxidative stress. Proteins work differently when under oxidative stress. Q: Do you know of any thing that may become an "enzyme" or "helper" for oxalates? Like Petizyde helps with cross contamination gluten... Also, what about IP6 - that helps break apart kidney stones??? A: We have to rely on our bacteria – it breaks oxalates apart. There is a company trying to make a probiotic, but it is about a year out. The enzymes available are not what we need to break oxalates. Acidophilus is an oxalate eating species, but if you get too much oxalate it kills off acidophilus. I’m not familiar with IP6. Q: I have heard the NAC is helpful in detoxing poisons such as mercury (not a chelator but aids in ridding the body of these chemicals) My daughters doctor said there are too many negative side effects but I recently realized that she takes NAC 100mg a day in her D-Hist supplement for allergies. She seems fine should I look into giving her more NAC since it seems that she is tolerating it with the D-Hist? Also is LDN something that is helpful? My daughter is 6 and non-verbal autistic. A: We have had folks doing both LDN and low-oxalate diet. One of our parents had such good results on low-oxalate that she stopped LDN. It may be they’re working on a similar system, it’s too early to know. The one consistent thing in autism is that sulfur is below the reference range. We need to explore the role of oxalates. Q: On the diet, is the ultimate goal to do LO foods and then you may have a certain percentage of MO foods that child tolerates and never high oxalate? A: We’re trying to let the children tell us. We know oxalates are a problem, but from child to child there are different levels of absorption and other differing factors. We do know that the kids that stick to low-oxalate foods are doing very well. Q: Do you know if whey is high or low oxalate and if it can help with oxalates? Also, you mentioned using calcium and magnesium citrate at first. Should the child get regular doses or megadoses? A: We’re learning about the cal and mag citrate. Start low and slow. There was one child that started having worse seizures after the cal citrate, but overall she had less seizures on the low-oxalate diet. It seems the kids do better to be on the diet several weeks, then start the cal citrate. If you start the low-oxalate diet and see behavior issues, you might want to try low dose cal citrate. Q: You mentioned issues with speech. Have you had non-verbal children begin talking on the diet? A: We haven’t had someone non-verbal try it yet. We had a child who could speak a few words, and a week into the diet was talking in 4-word sentences and making good eye contact. Q: Can you talk a little more about children who have problem digesting fats and oxalates? A: The idea of taking calcium in the meal is to bind the oxalate so it’s not absorbed. The bound calcium in spinach is not a problem, it’s the free oxalate that is a problem so take calcium with it. Even better, leave out the foods with high oxalate altogether. Q: 1) what might help with dyspraxia and motor planning? 2) how are people deciding what might be low oxalate if there isn't a test on that food? A: We have a scientist willing to test foods that are common in the autism community. You can list the food that you want tested on the yahoo group website, and he will test. We have had children improving in motor skills. We totally did not expect that gain. One of the children went to see his grandparents, and they were astonished at his motor skill improvements, and all his improvements. Scientists have shown there are oxalates in the brain. There are probably certain areas of the brain that are more vulnerable. The autistic kids might have areas of the brain influenced by oxalates. If your oxalates are higher outside the cell, you might be dragging sulfates out of the cell. These are the areas you would expect to see more functional problems. Hippocampus and cerebellum are two areas that are problem areas in autism…and have high oxalates. Q: Are pumpkin seeds particularly good for oxalates? Are oxalates related to autoimmune? A: Most seeds are a problem with high oxalate, but for some reason pumpkin seeds are not. Some of our moms grind up pumpkin seeds to make flour. Autoimmunity relates to the body making antibodies to bind things that the body will get rid of. If you have an injury, the body makes antibodies to do a clean up. In autoimmunity, something keeps the reaction going, the clean up keeps going. It could be that a lot of these processes could be cut back if we reduce oxalates. Q: Would a GRADUAL transfer to LOD possibly avoid the potential release of oxalates from the tissues in to the gut that causes initial worsening of symptoms. A: I don’t know, it’s kind of a tradeoff. Like chelation, some folks go slower then others. Q: My son had a urinalysis which showed urine cloudy, crystals-present and _morph Ur 4+ is any of this significant-he's 8 yrs. old. A: It could be calcium oxalate. There are a lot of internet sites where you can look up, but calcium oxalate is one of the major ones. Certain crystals will dissolve certain substances added to them. If you refrigerate urine and it gets cloudy, it’s probably crystallizing something. Q: Can you talk more about how the cerebellum is affected? My son has mild hyperplasia of the cerebellar vermis so I am interested A: The cerebellum is a modulator of info for the rest of the brain, a traffic cop. You can actually get by without one (a cerebellum), but if the one you have isn’t working right, it can really mess you up. One of our best responders did really well for a month, then had a bad diaper and terrible behavior one day. Afterwards he said his words were stuck. Maybe the reason some of these kids aren’t talking is not that they don’t have language, they just can’t get it out. Q: Susan, thank you so much for your work in this area. We think we're seeing the light at the end of the tunnel for GI pain in our daughter! Will this be a topic at the next DAN! ? A: The oxalates will be mentioned by Maureen McDonald, and Jacquelyn McCandless, but it will not be a feature this time at DAN! The first tests were in June, and the conferences are planned well in advance, so this is a little too new. I am going to do a session, there will be a room set aside to talk about issues that are not part of the main conf. I’ll be in that room. Q: Have kids who were not able to tolerate TMG before the diet able to tolerate after? A: I don’t know that we’ve had anybody that happened to, I don’t recall anyone saying that. If excess glycine was causing a backup, that might not be addressed by the diet. Some kids have GI issues and inflammation; they are absorbing more oxalates from their diet. Some kids have weaknesses in pathways; they might be producing more oxalates. This will take a lot of sorting out. I’m not satisfied with current testing either, so we need to recruit scientists, laboratories. There is also work needed to characterize enzymes that were studied in the 50’s and 60’s. The research is so old, the studies need to be redone. This will take fundraising and serious organizational push.

Carolyn, Isn't it amazing what you are paying attention to now, that you never would have thought about before? When you mentioned the feeling of being unable to concentrate, I thought about an article that I had copied to favorites a long time ago. http://www.drlwilson.com/Articles/copper_t...ty_syndrome.htm. Don't know when the feeling came in relationship to your testing with an "ok" level for copper, but the article may be interesting anyway. Kim

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/auto...ons/monday/news _34047d86c12622e600c7.html Concern grows over secrecy at CDC Scientists want agency to provide data on flu to help with vaccines By Rebecca Carr WASHINGTON BUREAU Monday, October 3, 2005 WASHINGTON -- Scientists are accusing the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of hoarding crucial data that could help vaccinations at a time when there is growing concern about a possible influenza pandemic. .

Biochat tonite...please see message above. Just found this article by Jackie McCandless posted on ASD solutions Great biomed overview http://www.theherald.co.uk/features/48058.html

Tonight on the live chat accessible from Dr. Neubrander's site- www.drneubrander.com--we will have guest speaker Susan Owens. See the information below and please come join us!! Tuesday October 4, 9:00pm EST SUSAN OWENS Since completing her masters degree at the University of Texas in Dallas, Mrs. Owens has lectured widely in the U.S, including the Center for Disease Control and the National Institute of Health in Bethesda. She has also lectured as far afield as Scotland, England, Australia, and Norway. She brings into her lectures information she has gained from ten years of interacting with parents and doctors of children with autism while she maintained an intense study of the medical literature, including literature that we need to understand today's issues, but which got lost in earlier decades. This effort has been directed mainly at finding the basic science that can tell us how the sulfur system works: how it is integrated, how it matures, and how it interacts with other systems. Oxalates appear to be part of that system, but their role outside the role of binding to calcium and incidentally forming kidney stones, is little understood. As a member of the Defeat Autism Now! Thinktank (a project of the Autism Research Instiute), she continually dialogues with physicians and scientists who treat children with autism. She also consults with sulfur scientists and other basic scientists who are on the cutting edges of their fields, attempting to recruit them into studying autism, but also attempting to cross-pollinate information that generally stays behind disciplinary barriers. She does extensive analysis of labwork, specializing in studying ratios and their meaning in the plasma amino acid tests and studying correlations within other tests. By comparing the findings and reference ranges from labs all over the US and world on different tests, she has developed some concerns about the suitability of how reference ranges are calculated for urinary tests on young children. She is working actively at getting some policy changes in place to assure more accurate testing for this age group. Two years ago, in order to gain from the experience of those outside autism circles, she began an internet list where people discuss successes and failures they have had with sulfur-related supplements at sulfurstories@yahoogroups.com. It now has over 720 members. She recently opened a new group called Trying_Low_Oxalates, with 170 members, currently, where people can learn how to implement a low oxalate diet. She is delighted to be here to talk about the amazing improvements children are experiencing on the low oxalate diet. *My plans for this evening have just changed-kim

Hi Fuschia, Just wanted to say welcome too. This bd. is an amazing place for people who are interested in treating ts/tics and the conditions that sometimes accompany, without medication in most cases. I wanted to give you a link to a web site where I order vitamins, fish oil and magnesium taurate for my boys. http://www.bonniegr.com/Interview%20with%20Bonnie.htm This site has some really wonderful information, even if you decide to do individual supplements. I started these vitamins before I knew much of what I know now, and they have worked soooo well for my son's ages 8 and 12. I do want to say though, that many people have found testing and supplementing with what the individual needs are, to be more successful. I liked Bonnie's vitamins because she knew how to balance things, as many vitamins are dependent on others. I wanted to see if there was any effect, and then I thought I would decide how to proceed. There was an effect all right! We did find that 1/2 of the recommended dose was enough though, and my son's are still using these vitamins. As Giselle said, be sure to ask, if you have questions. Kim

Giselle, Thanks for posting about this. I will be very interested to hear what results you see. Hope your little creative one is doing well! Sounds like his flair settled quickly. So happy to read that. Kim

Carolyn, I have read many times on the autism bds. about the body weight plus 20, however in my 8 yr.olds case, this would be approx. 100mgs. and that seems like an awful lot. I have started to rotate 50mgs one night and about 25 the next. When I started him on Bonnies vitamins he was getting only 5 mg of zinc compared to his old multi with 15 mgs. and no copper with bonnies. The white spots have definitley gotten worse (did you have any of those btw?) I'm also wondering if FJ or Claire recommended how often you should have these levels checked with blood serum. His last blood work showed 76 and that was when he was taking regular multi, so on Bonnies vits he probably would have dropped. Unfortunately, copper wasn't checked. If your copper level is low at this point, is there a danger of it dropping too low with the increased zinc? I am assuming that your Dr. will have your levels checked. Do you intend to supplement the copper? I also have to wonder why spectracell would not show zinc low. If it was ok at the cellular level, what changed, or is the test not reliable and you should look at the serum level? Sorry for all of the questions Kim