NY times article on autism and immune response

[Hopeny]

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/26/opinion/sunday/immune-disorders-and-autism.html?_r=1&smid=fb-share

[Ozimum]

Thanks for posting this. So interesting.

[nicklemama]

I am currently in the middle of reading the book Infectious Behavior by Paul H Patterson, the doctor mentioned in the article.

 

He is going to on a live chat this afternoon.

 

3pm EDT live chat presented by Autism Speaks with Dr.Paul Patterson...https://www.facebook.com/autismspeaks?sk=app_226961267321617

Edited August 29, 2012 by nicklemama

[EAMom]

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/26/opinion/sunday/immune-disorders-and-autism.html?_r=1&smid=fb-share

 

interesting...

 

They didn't mention tylenol (and the fact that we no longer use aspirin) as part of the puzzle.

 

copy and paste this: www.altmedrev.com/publications/14/4/364.pdf

 

and http://www.foodconsumer.org/newsite/non-food/drug/tylenol_linked_to_increased_risk_of_autism_0702101053.html

 

Consider that pregnant mothers are told to take Tylenol when they have a fever/infection (I was). So maybe it's not just the infection, but the tylenol we take when we have an infection. (Since as the article even admits, the infection theory doesn't explain the rise of autism.)

 

And the article is seeming to contradict itself...first saying autism is triggered by maternal infections (but it doesn't explain the rise of autism), then mentioned the hygiene hypothesis (we don't have enough dirt/infections)...then goes on to talk about inflammatory response.

 

Remember aspirin is anti-inflammatory

Tylenol is not (plus it does other weird stuff).

 

BTW, the IOCDF conf. Swedo also wondered if the decline of Aspirin use had something to do with the rise of PANDAS.

 

Personally, I think there is something to the hygiene hypothesis (as the author states), but tylenol and vitamin d are also players.

 

vitamin D http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=vitamin-d-and-autism

some people also think "low fat" diets may be part of the problem (the author is my neighbor's mother, a researcher at MIT) http://stephanie-on-health.blogspot.com/2008/11/sunscreen-and-low-fat-diet-recipe-for.html

Edited August 29, 2012 by EAMom