Childhood Behavior Disorders, Vision Problems, and Nutrition
Are these connected?
Check this article for information on medications, behavioral and learning diagnoses, and interventions including nutrition. See Table 4 for information drawn from Special Needs Kids Eat Right.
Sensory Integration and Nutrition Check List
Get the most out of occupational therapy/sensory integration therapy for your child
Click download pdf below for a list of tips. Nutrition and sensory challenges are tightly linked. Using the right nutrition supports can make many sensory challenges easier for your child. Get more tips, strategies, and detail in Special Needs Kids Eat Right and Special Needs Kids Go Pharm-Free.
Urgency and Potential: The Nutrition Piece For Aspergers & Autism
Released in Therapy Times, a resource for your OT, PT, or ABA Specialist
Click here for "Urgency and Potential", Judy's article published in Therapy Times on how crucial it is for children on the spectrum to connect with good nutrition care. A great piece to share with the "Doubting Thomas" on your care team, whether it's an MD, behavior therapist, teacher, or family member.
"Avalanche of Studies" On Mercury-Autism Connection
On July 24, 2010, six studies published in one day
The causal role of mercury in autism was strengthened with the release of six studies on the same day on this controversial piece. Learn more here.
Clearing The Confusion On Allergy Testing
What are the right tests to do for food allergy in an infant, toddler, or child?
At Nutrition Care For Children, Judy has screened hundreds of children for food allergy and food sensitivity. Allergies are swift reactions mediated by an immune system protein called IgE. Your pediatrician may have used a skin prick test to screen for this already, or a blood test called RAST. Sensitivities are more slowly mediated reactions by an immune system protein called IgG. Symptoms associated with IgG reactions are different: Chronic versus acutely presenting; slower to mount versus swift; triggering of irritable mixed stool pattern or frequent wet stool/diarrhea; bloating; reflux; weak or picky appetite; stomachahes; headaches; sensory irritability. Research shows that infants and children with chronic IgG food reactions can suffer with lesser growth, weaker total food intakes, and more GI problems. Children can have both IgE and IgG reactions active at once. For a helpful (albeit lengthy) article on why it is important to test for both, click here. Note: Infants and children younger than about 18 months old have immune systems that may be too immature for accurate allergy/sensitivity testing. Contact Judy for more help with children in this age group, or for help sorting out what is next for your older child's special diet needs.
Yet Another Study Finds Hepatitis B Vaccine Injures Newborns
New data on infant primates
A study released in the September 30, 2009 issue of Neurotoxicology found that giving Recombivax, Merck's hepatitis B vaccine, to newborn rhesus monkeys injured a number of neurological reflexes necessary for normal feeding. This shot is still given routinely to newborn children. Throughout the 1990s it contained a 12.5 microgram dose of mercury, which exceeded EPA per pound limits for safety. The shot given the monkeys in this study contained only 2.5 micrograms of mercury.
Confused About Methylcobalamin?
Methyl B-12: Its Role In Autism
Cobalamin is vitamin B12. In our bodies, it occurs in a few different forms in order to complete its metabolic tasks. Most ordinary children's vitamins contain a form called cyanocobalamin. In autism, the methylated form may be in much higher demand. Here's a family friendly article to help you sort through the confusion on this promising nutrient in autism.
How To Tell If Your Child Should Be Gluten-Free
Why gluten sensitivity can be harmful, and how to know if it matters for your child
Gluten sensitivity is rising as one of the most under-diagnosed conditions in children and adults alike. Read this article to see if your child should be on a gluten free diet, and which lab tests are important to include when assessing this question.
Are Dietary Opiates Real?
Do wheat and dairy proteins act like opiates in autism?
While this may sound new and crazy, it's not. For at least 20 years, researchers have been aware of opiate like compounds that form from proteins during digestion. This happens when proteins are left only partly digested. They can then be absorbed in larger-than-usual chunks called peptides. Normally, most the protein we eat is absorbed as tiny fragments or amino acids. But some research shows that two GI issues accompanying autism are a lack of digestive enzymes, coupled with an intestine that is less selective than it should be. This can mean too much peptide is left in the gut, and it is easier for it to be absorbed - a possible double whammy for an unusually high uptake of peptides. These peptides resemble opiate compounds (like our own endorphins, or even morphine) enough to engage opiate receptors in the brain. The effects can include high pain threshold, constipation, and lesser expressive language. Click below for a pdf of peer-reviewed articles about dietary opiates.
Gastrointestinal Pathology in Autism: Description and Treatment
Arthur Krigsman MD
This is a free download of a paper / conference presentation on GI issues in autism and their treatment, from a pediatric gastroenterologist. Includes images of inflamed intestinal tissue, taken with endoscopy or camera. Content is suitable for laypersons as well as physicians. Click here to link to this document.
Immune Responses to Food Proteins in Autism
How might these affect the brain?
The title of this research article is "Immune response to dietary proteins, gliadin, and cerebellar peptides in children with autism." It was published in Nutritional Neuroscience, June 2004: Volume 7, Issue 3, pages 151-161. It demonstrates that some persons with autism may produce auto-antibodies to brain tissue, a mechanism possibly triggered by gluten. Full text available here.
Autism and Gastrointestinal Symptoms
Karoly Horvath MD, PhD and Jay Perman MD
This review article appeared in Current Gastroenterology Reports (Volume 4, Issue 3, pages 251-258; 2002). The abstract is available here. If you would like a full text copy, it is available for purchase from the publisher (options available at link to abstract).
Fully Vaccinated Kids Still Got Chickenpox
During outbreak, two vaccine doses were no help
Click button below for citation and story on Arkansas kids who still got chickenpox even though they'd been vaccinated.
Signs of Autism in Monkeys Given US Schedule of Vaccines
New research takes a first-ever look at cumulative effects of the vaccine schedule
While it's well understood that over-using antibiotics is a bad idea, the medical community has been slow to consider what it may mean to over-use vaccines. Vaccines are tested and licensed individually. But what about effects of using all the dozens of vaccines now recommended in infancy? You and your doctor will want to review findings of this study. The first of its kind, it used primates - the closest research model we have to humans - to assess the cumulative effects of the vaccine schedule now in use in US infants. Effects on gut tissue, brain tissue, and development were examined. For a news report on this study, click here. You will also want to see the results of this survey, which sampled over 9,000 boys for vaccination status relative to learning and developmental disabilities. Boys age 11-17 were 158% more likely to have a diagnosed neurological disorder if they were vaccinated.
Fewer Vaccines May Mean Healthier Children
Do more vaccines encourage more infection and illness?
Many parents feel alarmed about vaccines - either too many shots are unsafe, or too few leave children vulnerable. Research is underway to assess whether so many vaccines are health promoting, or if they actually make children sicker, with more ear infections, colds, asthma, and other immune problems. So far, research on Prevnar, a pneumococcal vaccine for ear infections, shows that it only protects against ear infections about half the time - as long as the cause of infection is a strain of bacteria in the vaccine. Otherwise, it offers nearly no protection against ear infections at all - that is, it can't protect against ear infections from all types of bacteria. Worse, children given Prevnar harbor more diverse and more virulent strains of bacteria in their sputum compared to those who do not take Prevnar shots. The researchers concluded that vaccination with Prevnar was opportunistic for more, not fewer, ear infections in children, and that using Prevnar may create more antibiotic resistant infections. In other words, the Prevnar vaccinated children may harbor and spread infection, not the unvaccinated children. Similar problems have arisen with use of chickenpox and DTP vaccines. To read about Prevnar failure in Pediatrics, click here for the abstract. For a user-friendly, easier to read discussion of this research, click here.
Hepatitis B Vaccine Increases Developmental Disability In Boys...
New study: 9 times greater risk for disability in boys who received newborn Hepatitis B shots -
Six years after Judy Converse published When Your Doctor Is Wrong: Hepatitis B Vaccine & Autism, a study has been published that echoes concerns raised in her acclaimed book. Click here to read the abstract and order the full text of the study, published in the September 2008 issue of Toxicological and Environmental Chemistry Reviews.
And...Hepatitis B Vaccine Increases Risk For Autism
Another study: 3 times greater risk for autism in boys receiving it in first month of life
In the September, 2009 issue of Annals of Epidemiology, findings were published to show that US baby boys vaccinated in the first month of life with hepatitis B vaccine had a 3 fold higher risk of developing autism than boys given this vaccine later or not at all. Details here; you can also see the original citation and/or purchase this research article from Annals of Epidemiology here.
What About the MMR Controversy?
You and your doctor may want to read these studies
Like any medication or medical treatment, vaccines have risks. Do the risks outweigh the benefits for some children? Thousands of parents believe they have witnessed developmental and physical injuries in their children, shortly after MMR or other vaccinations. But government research keeps telling us that the MMR vaccine is completely safe, and that there is no link between regressive autism and injected measles virus. Is this true? Help your doctor review the independent research - that is, research done without direct or indirect funding from makers of vaccines. Click here to see what 30 independent studies have shown.
Urine Porphyrins as a Screening Tool for Mercury Toxicity
A simple way to screen for mercury toxicity in children
Porphyrins are a metabolic marker for exposure to toxic heavy metals. Click download pdf below, for the study that found that children with autism had elevated urine porphyrins more often than typical peers. Chelation therapy (removing lead and mercury) lowered porphyrins in the test subjects. You can learn more about using this test for your child here. If you'd like to use it, contact Judy for more help.