High levels of estrogen in the womb linked to autism

Medical XPress ^ | July 29, 2019 | University of Cambridge

[ConservativeMind]

Scientist have identified a link between exposure to high levels of oestrogen sex hormones in the womb and the likelihood of developing autism.

The discovery adds further evidence to support the prenatal sex steroid theory of autism first proposed 20 years ago.

In 2015, a team of scientists at the University of Cambridge and the State Serum Institute in Denmark measured the levels of four prenatal steroid hormones, including two known as androgens, in the amniotic fluid in the womb and discovered that they were higher in male foetuses who later developed autism.

Today, the same scientists have built on their previous findings by testing the amniotic fluid samples from the same 98 individuals sampled from the Danish Biobank, which has collected amniotic samples from over 100,000 pregnancies, but this time looking at another set of prenatal sex steroid hormones called oestrogens. This is an important next step because some of the hormones previously studied are directly converted into oestrogens.

All four oestrogens were significantly elevated, on average, in the 98 foetuses who later developed autism, compared to the 177 foetuses who did not. High levels of prenatal oestrogens were even more predictive of likelihood of autism than were high levels of prenatal androgens (such as testosterone).

Professor Simon Baron-Cohen, who led this study and who first proposed the prenatal sex steroid theory of autism, said: "This new finding supports the idea that increased prenatal sex steroid hormones are one of the potential causes for the condition. Genetics is well established as another, and these hormones likely interact with genetic factors to affect the developing foetal brain."

[Bob434]

yeah but how high? Some women I think have higher levels- or take more- than they get their kids innoculated later, the child has down syndrome, and they blame it on the vaccination- but now there seems to be a connection between ‘High’ levels of estrogen and autism

[Albion Wilde]

Don’t eat soy products if you are thinking of becoming pregnant, ladies. High in estrogens.

Also if you or your family has Irish ancestry or a history of thyroid troubles.

[Albion Wilde]

As the prevalence of ASD has risen in the last sixty years, so has the prevalence of the usage of the oral contraceptives and other modern hormonal delivery methods.

And also the vegetarian/vegan sanctimony with lots of soy ingestion. Both are terrible for fetal development.

[Albion Wilde]

This thread calls for your point of view...

[Albion Wilde]

they get their kids innoculated later, the child has down syndrome, and they blame it on the vaccination

Down syndrome and autism are two entirely different things. Down syndrome is present at birth; it is a chromosomal disorder. Autism's origin is less well known, with some researchers thinking it can be "caused" by various phenomena in early childhood, and others looking at the prenatal environment.

[Albion Wilde]

There was an article in Wired magazine almost two decades ago that sought to link autism to high levels of engineering (or "math-and-tech") aptitude in both parents, or even in grandparents. When dual-nerd couples in Silicon Valley began reproducing, someone studied them after noticing a perceived high incidence of autism among their offspring.

I think this is the article: The Geek Syndrome

[Bob434]

ok autism then- I’m wondering if the mothers are blaming vaccinations when in reality they might have been caused by high estrogen

[definitelynotaliberal]

Down Syndrome is a chromosomal abnormality. A lot of people incorrectly ascribe autism (different than Down Syndrome) to vaccinations, it’s true.

[definitelynotaliberal]

Are researchers still studying it as Asperger’s? I thought that it had been subsumed into the larger Austism Spectrum Disorder argument.

[tired&retired]

In the DSM-5 Asperger’s Syndrome is recatagorized in Autism Spectrum Disorders.

However it is still called Asperger’s for working purposes.

[FrdmLvr]

Interesting idea. The Pill contains high levels of estrogen. I wonder if there could be a correlation between autism and the Pill? The Pill came on the US market in 1960 or 61, I think. Soy products (high in estrogen) became popular in the 60s with the onset of vegetarianism. I think that’s about the same time autism began surfacing among American children, too, in the 1960s.