Thursday 17 December 2015

The Role of Glutathione With Autism

Twenty years ago, approximately one in every 10,000 children were diagnosed with (ASD) Autism Spectrum Disorder. Today one in every 150 children have Autism.

One theory is that Autism is Genetic. But according to Dr. Daria Davidson, a medical doctor with 30 years experience, in twenty years genetics could not have changed that much. The other possibility is Mercury, however, vaccines today most are free of having mercury in them, Yet we are seeing an increased incidence of Autism. Contrary to what was thought a few years ago, vaccines are not the cause of ASD.
The theory about vaccinations being the culprit came from a study in 1998 that was released in the British Medical Journal with twelve children with behavioral problems that developed intestinal problems from vaccines. They made a correlation that maybe it was something in the vaccine for Measles, Mumps and Rubella.

Originally it was thought that autism was mainly from the brain, it is now found that there are three components of autism--the brain, immune system, and the intestinal track. It's not uncommon that children with Autism have intestinal disorders-maybe they are constipated or have certain food sensitivities that irritate their stomachs. Autism is now being related as an immune, neurological, and inflammatory disorder. Being that glutathione is the major anti inflammatory agent, its logical to question if the lack of glutathione is a major issue.

It has been discovered that there are vulnerable genes that in combination with the right environmental triggers do not allow the child to stay healthy. Is this an outgrowth of increased pollution and toxins in our food and air? If the child has a genetic disposition, then under the right environmental factors (or shall we say unhealthy factors) autism appears. These genetic variants are called polymorphisms. When theses genes are affected they disturb fundamental pathways in the body and the end result of autism is chronic inflammation through out the brain, digestive and the immune system. Fortunately inflammation is treatable. In the studies that have been done the correlation between low glutathione levels and autism is staggering. If you simply Google "autism and low glutathione" and you'll find many references to attest to this fact.

Jill James PhD. at the Arkansas Children's Hospital Research Institute where she is the director of the Metabolic Genomics Austin Lab and also professor for pediatrics at the same institute states in an article published in New Science of Health Sept of 09 page 75, "Children with Autism do not make as much of a compound called glutathione as nero-typical children do. Glutathione is the cells most abundant antioxidant and is critical for removing toxins. If cells lack sufficient antioxidants they experience oxidative stress which is often found with chronic inflammation."

The mitochondria use oxygen to help make ATP (adenosine triphosphate), but if the cell is deficient in glutathione the cell senses this and diminishes the production of ATP which will diminish the functioning of that cell-whatever its purpose. ATP is required to have the cell function optimally. One of ATP's functions is somewhat like lubrication is to an engine. Without lubrication, the engine ceases. Without sufficient ATP, the cell stops functioning.

In American Journal of Medical Genetics in 2006 Jill James found that common genes variants that support glutathione pathways may be associated with Autism risks. She says "We also plan to look at mitochondria dysfunctions. Since mitochondria are the powerhouses of the cells, this is also the place where the most free radicals are that play a role in oxidative stress are produced. If the electron transport chain in a mitochondria is faulty and you are not effectively making ATP. You'll produce more free radicals to deplete your glutathione."

If this hypothesis is correct we can do things to try to support the health of the mitochondria. She mentions Co-enzyme Q10 and mechanism to increase glutathione.

In December of 2006 Harvard researchers found that industrial chemicals may be impairing the brain development of children around the world. In November 2006 in University of California conference they discussed the implications of an environmental toxicology in Autism. They discussed the enormous effect of chemicals in our environment and how little we know of the "chronic low dose multiple exposure and their effects on diseases like Autism." Maybe the many autism cases we are seeing are a new illness of the current generation.

The researcher says, "We can address the disturbed pathways now before the gene hunters have definitive information" for only twenty or thirty thousand of the 85,000 chemicals made have been studied. "We can at the very least try to modulate Autism now by treating the tissue inflammation." This is something that can be done now rather than wait decades for all the studies to be completed and by then who knows-there may be another 50,000 chemicals to be studied.

There's a question about the Fragile X syndrome. Fragile X is a genetic predisposition to some neurological problems. Some are similar to Autism, but generally not the same, some are related to retardation. It has to do with the problem being carried on the male chromosome.

Boys get one x chromosome from their mom and the y from their dad. Female child get "X" from both. Fragile "X" is more common to be seen boys because they have one "X". Girls have 2 so if one is good they will never get Fragile "X". Two-to-six percent of all children diagnosed with Autism also have a Fragile "X" gene mutation and approximately 1/3 of all children with Fragile "X" also have Autism meaning there's good reason to deal with inflammation.

For children with Autism it's important to help them control their diet, the environmental toxins and do what we can to boost glutathione.

Diet generally means gluten and or casein free. It's based on the theory that children with autism are more likely to have allergies to gluten (the protein in wheat, oats, barley and rye) and casein (the protein in milk). Unfortunately most children with these allergies are drawn to foods with gluten-especially junk foods--and foods with casein. Making a change in diet is often very challenging for many families. If you Google "King Diet," you'll find a diet for parasite sufferers. Ironically it's an anti-inflammatory diet and will work wonders with inflammation. It's a three stage diet with Stage I being devoid of any milk or casein products. For the most part Stage II can be employed for Autism minus the casein products. Later on, one can be advanced to Stage III (again minus the casein unless casein is not a problem.) The other advantage is that this diet is rich in foods that contribute to the cellular production of
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.

Environmental toxins are not so easy to always "nail down" and most likely will take some research and testing.

Whereas most children under age 20 have enough glutathione, those with Autism have a problem with the mitochondria that uses up too much glutathione and they simply don't have enough glutathione.

In summary, inflammation plays an important role in Autism and glutathione is the major anti-inflammatory agent and anti-toxin agent in the cellular mechanism. Genetically there is a predisposition for certain children to be subject to certain environmental/food toxins which cause the mitochondria to produce more free radicals than normal which in turn uses up the cellular glutathione resulting in insufficient production of ATP. There is a strong correlation between children with Autism and the lack of glutathione. It makes sense to do whatever can be done to boost cellular levels of glutathione.

Information in this article is based on Dr. Daria Davidson's weekly calls published on her website.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6142872

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