It's all in the gut?

 

The brain gut stuff has really been taking off recently. Beforehand, it was only in the sidelines of research but over the last couple of years bigger studies have been looking into it.

Basically, the non-hysterical side of this research says that some people with autism do have what they call “gut problems” i.e. diarrhoea, constipation, stomach cramps etc. And this is true. The question is why. Now, our beloved Andrew Wakefield really brought out the idea that the gut problems were a part of the whole “poisoned by vaccines” thing. So a lot of this kind of research has focused on how autism is actually a gut thing and if you cure the gut you cure the autism. This is obviously wrong, and used by alternative therapists to sell anything they can, including my current favourite, camel milk. But also the gluten free diet.

Now this is where it gets complicated. Some people with autism do have “gut problems”. Some people with autism do respond well to the gluten free casein free diet. But we don’t know why, and how to predict who would have them and who would respond. Like everything else, it’s likely to be different for different people. So for example, it is logical that people with pica may have resulting gut problems. Similarly, anxiety is associated with gut problems. Ironically, a number of vitamin supplements and alternative medicines cause gut problems, so chicken and egg happen’s.

My stance on this is:

Gut is not cause of autism

Curing gut does not cure autism

If someone has any form of gut problem, of course this should be treated, because it’s a human right to receive medical care.

Understanding the gut problems is important in the scope of understanding autism as a whole.

Unfortunately, a lot of the research is incredibly biased. So it is very difficult to know what is true and what is not true.