Autism and Aspartame

DublinWriter

Our little lad turns four soon and was diagnosed on the spectrum last year.

At the age of two he was referred by our local GP to Enable Ireland, and they couldn't have been better. It took several of their team, including Paediatricians, SLTs, OTs and Psychiatrists almost six months of evaluation to produce their comprehensive diagnosis.

My little lad's progress is on-going and is a story in itself.

However the one thing myself and my wife constantly worry the bone over is what exactly causes autism in the first place?

I undertook some very basic and preliminary research into the 'growth' of autism in the Western world. In the United States some argue that it's now reached epidemic proportions with one in every ten children displaying symptoms of ASD.

Data on the rates of growth of autism can be sketchy and open to subjective analysis, but the one thing I have noticed is almost a 'J' shaped curve going from 1982 to the present day.

Acting purely on a non-scientific hunch, I looked at rate of use of aspartame since initial approval for human consumption by the US FDA in 1981 and I saw the same 'J' shaped curve.

Before you jump all over me, I realise that this is a very subjective assumption, but there appears to be a correlation in the use of aspartame in foodstuffs and the numbers of children now presenting with ASD-type symptoms.

For the past seven years the wife and myself would have consumed about 1 to 2 litres a day on average of a particular diet beverage that uses aspartame.

I'd just like ask any parents out there with kids on the spectrum if they would have consumed aspartame before/during pregnancy either.

28064212

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Correlation_does_not_imply_causation

Global average temperature, world population, pylons per capita, inverse number of pirates, oil consumption, cars per capita, mobile phones per capita, video-game consoles per capita, bottled-water consumption, gps device usage, homeopathy etc. etc. all produce the same J-shaped curve to a greater or lesser degree over roughly similar time frames. You've just randomly picked one variable from a multitude

pwurple

Another theory is that many many children can be placed somewhere on the autism spectrum. Increase in official diagnoses does not mean the situation didn't occur previously.

byhookorbycrook

Everyone is somewhere on a spectrum. Aspartame, while not good stuff to be consuming has been linked to everything from autism to MS and I would be wary of jumping to conclusions based on the American system where everyone and everything has a "label."

eviltwin

I have an autistic child only diagnosed aged 15. It's natural to try and find a reason, that's what we do as parents but I would be wary of trying to blame one thing or other. For a long time I examined everything from the stress I was under when pregnant to her diet to pollution etc etc. I don't think long term its helpful, its better to accept the diagnosis and try and work with it as best you can.

Dravokivich

DublinWriter wrote: »

Before you jump all over me, I realise that this is a very subjective assumption, but there appears to be a correlation in the use of aspartame in foodstuffs and the numbers of children now presenting with ASD-type symptoms.

They've also tried to blame fluoride and MMR vaccines.

The issue around the rise in reports of Autism in the USA is due to the increasing range of what they consider signs of Autism over there. If Dyslexia wasn't an already known condition, they'd lump people who suffer it as Autistic.

Orion

Dravokivich wrote: »

They've also tried to blame fluoride and MMR vaccines.

In fairness it was one "scientist" who tried to blame MMR. His "research" was along the lines of: 99% of kids with autism had the MMR therefore the MMR causes autism in 99% of kids. :rolleyes:

Dravokivich

Orion wrote: »

In fairness it was one "scientist" who tried to blame MMR. His "research" was along the lines of: 99% of kids with autism had the MMR therefore the MMR causes autism in 99% of kids. :rolleyes:

Aye, but even though it's been discredited the damn thing still has legs and it pops up all over the place by "informed parents."

DublinWriter

Orion wrote: »

In fairness it was one "scientist" who tried to blame MMR. His "research" was along the lines of: 99% of kids with autism had the MMR therefore the MMR causes autism in 99% of kids. :rolleyes:

This "scientist" was a qualified medical doctor, fellow of the UK Royal College of Surgeons, a recipient of the Wellcome Trust travelling fellowship at the University of Toronto, senior lecturer and honorary consultant in experimental gastroenterology at the London Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine and one of the UK's leading paediatric gastroenterologists.

His "research" was published in The Lancet and suggested that more research needed to be done into the possible links between MMRI and autism.

Note I say "possible".

Like you, I initially believed all the BS the media peddled about Andrew Wakefield until I did my own research.

28064212

DublinWriter wrote: »

His "research" was published in The Lancet

And the Lancet have since formally retracted the paper. The BMJ published a conclusive demolition of his pathetic "research". Wakefield tried to sue the author, editor and BMJ and lost.

Wakefield is entirely discredited, and any reference to his sham research can be rejected out of hand

pwurple

Also, that lancet paper was based on 8 cases. Too low to be considered useful in any way.

Wakefield was struck off the medical register for "dishonest and misleading actions" for that autism debacle.

lynski

You should read this: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/274655.php

The team found that key genetic markers across multiple layers of brain cells were missing in the brains of autistic children.

This is a fascinating departure as they are saying that some toddlers can reverse the 'damage' it also, for me indicates how the mmr/autism connection could make sense to people as it probably matches the time when these areas become more active so the 'damage' is noticeable.
Also, on a purely speculative basis, i imagine if there are damaged patches in the brain that certain chemicals could multiple the problems?

Totally random, but a sonographer friend of mine told me 8 yrs ago that they could spot autism in pre-natal scans but it is not a tested/recognised diagnostic so it is not used.

The aspartame thing i know little about, but i do not drink it or other artificial sweeteners and i dont give to my children. I know that my friends child has had a massive behavior improvement with a gfcf diet, and medication.

Good luck with the little man, it is tough enough managing children without added challenges.

D1stant

Have a child with autism and have consumed aspartame in the past and probably whilst pregnant but to no great degree - possibly 3-4 diet glasses of a diet drink over the whole course of pregnancy. I have always been aware of aspartame and am quite aware of what ingredients are in processed food and would be very careful about what I and the family consume.
There are new theories cropping up all the time. After my son was diagnosed, I spent hours researching what could possibly have caused it and still do to some degree, keep an eye on new research papers. But I realised that I was looking for something that I could never find a. a reason for it and b. a way of reversing it once that reason was found. I wish I had spent those long nights in front of a screen (4am and sometimes all-nighters) trying to get some sleep and being more alert during the day. I also realise that it was part of the grieving process and my way (and most people's) way of processing the diagnosis.
Focus on him - he has a window and the more input he gets at this stage, the better. The results will be amazing.

CaraMay

Distant can I ask what diagnosis you got and how you got the amazing results?

Nanazolie

I've heard it all....

You didn't really want a second child (actually.... I DID WANT 3 minimum. Had to stop at 2 because I just no longer have the energy to cope)

You had a bad diet during pregnancy (nope)

It's aspartam

It's the vaccines

It's the fluoride in the water

It's the sugar, the hydrogenated oil, the mobile phones, the microwave, the video games, the Internet. IT'S THE ALIENS, THEY ARE INVADING OUR KIDS MINDS!!!

It's all the mum's fault

It's all the dad's fault

It's the fecking dog down the street's fault...


I know you want to understand why, why my child. Why one and not the other. At the same time, think of all the kids that were considered loonies 30 years ago. Today some may say 'we are labelling the kids in the womb', but at least that label saves them from just being loonies. They are given options, support, materials that fit their needs.

Metroid diorteM

There is a cause though. We just don't know what it is yet.

DublinWriter

Nanazolie wrote: »

IT'S THE ALIENS, THEY ARE INVADING OUR KIDS MINDS!!!

You can be flippant about it as much as you like. We parents of children with autism are less likely to take the 'Meh' attitude and are more concerned with causation.

I totally agree with the previous poster regarding chance co-relationships and the desire to make square pegs fit round holes, but seeing as experimentation on live human embryos is completely off the agenda, all we have left are a posteriori methods of debate and research.

Consider Thalidomide. It was withdrawn internationally on November 1961, but still continued to be prescribed and was still available in Ireland by late 1962.

Excuses used for babies born malformed from the use of Thalidomide at the time ranged from poor prenatal diet to the proliferation of nuclear weapons testing...and probably aliens too.

Obliq

I don't see what she said was flippant at all and I totally agree with her. It's incredibly sickening to be told (as if it's fact) that x, y and z is to blame for your child's ASD, all (or most) of these "facts" reflecting badly on the parents (whether it's for their parenting, their pregnancies, their choices ie. vaccines or dentistry). As the latest scientific research shows that autism is developed before birth, the well-intentioned (and not so well-intentioned) band wagon jumpers will doubtless focus on anything that can be brought to bear on the parents.

Sperm too old?
Parents had vaccines?
Parents have mercury fillings?
Eggs too old?
Poor nutrition in parents?
Parents not compatible?
Bad vibes, man...?
Smoked?
Drank?
Ate biscuits?
Allowed aspartame in their drinks?

Honestly, it would wear you out. I am SO sick of all the WOO that is basically a fault-finding mission causing trauma to people who are often too tired to fight back. Bleurrghhh. Rant over. For now.....

DublinWriter

Obliq wrote: »

I don't see what she said was flippant at all

Blaming aliens, the Internet, the 'dog down the street'?, etc? To me as the parent of a child with autism, that's both flippant and offensive.

All I wanted with this tread was to start a collegial debate as to what peoples' suspicions to the cause of their childrens' autism.

Obliq wrote: »

It's incredibly sickening to be told (as if it's fact) that x, y and z is to blame for your child's ASD,

Again, all I wanted was to start a friendly dialogue into what parents of autistic children thought. I'm not stating anything as fact, I'm just putting it out there for discussion.

Andrew Wakefield's sin was to state in his original Lancet article that more research needed to be done. Apparently we should just draw down the mental shutters, forget about it and get on with the incredibly hard task that we face.

Obliq wrote: »

Sperm too old?
Parents had vaccines?
Parents have mercury fillings?
Eggs too old?
Poor nutrition in parents?
Parents not compatible?
Bad vibes, man...?
Smoked?
Drank?
Ate biscuits?
Allowed aspartame in their drinks?

Let's apply a very simple scientific technique called "Occam's Razor" to eliminate the improbable.

The rates of autism as reported by the WHO in North America are reaching almost epidemic proportions. For the trollers who consider that we're all 'a bit autistic' let me establish that my baseline of autism here is that of a of non-verbal nappy wearing ten year old.

Considering that the statistics present a 'J-Curve' since 1982, I think we can happily eliminate Mercury fillings (around since the early 1900's), Fluoride (introduced into Ireland the early 1970's), biscuits, tobacco and all the rest from the radar.

I'm asking the question, what specifically happened circa 1982 that was the 'new' thing into the Western dietary equation.

January

That's for the Health Sciences forum I reckon...

I'm closing this thread now.