Posted on 05/30/2006 3:10:17 PM PDT by blam
Heavy metals may be implicated in autism
30 May 2006
From New Scientist Print Edition.
URINE samples from hundreds of French children have yielded evidence for a link between autism and exposure to heavy metals. If validated, the findings might mean some cases of autism could be treated with drugs that purge the body of heavy metals.
Samples from children with autism contained abnormally high levels of a family of proteins called porphyrins, which are precursors in the production of haem, the oxygen-carrying component in haemoglobin. Heavy metals block haem production, causing porphyrins to accumulate in urine. Concentrations of one molecule, coproporphyrin, were 2.6 times as high in urine from children with autism as in controls.
Autism is thought to have a number of unknown genetic and environmental causes. Richard Lathe of Pieta Research in Edinburgh, UK, says he has found one of these factors. "It's highly likely that heavy metals are responsible for childhood autistic disorder in a majority of cases," he claims. The study will appear in Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology.
Lathe says these porphyrin metabolites bind to receptors in the brain and have been linked with epilepsy and autism.
The researchers restored porphyrin concentrations to normal in 12 children by treating them with "chelation" drugs that mop up heavy metals and are then excreted. It is not yet known whether the children's symptoms have eased, but Lathe cites anecdotal reports suggesting the drugs might do some good.
From issue 2553 of New Scientist magazine, 30 May 2006, page 21
I knew that kind of music was bad for your brain.
Would one of these heavy metals be ... MERCURY???
Duuuhhhhhh!
Mercury is normally taken care of not by regular chelators [like EDTA] but by polymercaptans [pretty specialized type of things], even by egg white.
Saw the movie, bought the CD of the music. Still going strong.
Very interesting. Any reference links for further ed?
Where can you get more info on this? I also understand that regular ingestion of celantro (about a teaspoon a day) causes most heavy metals to be moved from the interior to the outer cell walls, but that something else is needed to fully metabolize them...
A thinking man's rock band.
Nor Donald Fagen (Steely Dan). More jazz than rock, but not heavy metal.
Well, do a google on "mercury toxicology" and a big bucket of info will come up. Being lazy, I merely quoted a book which was within 3 feet from me, so I didn't have to do any more searching. The only way to deal with metals is to complex them to something else, and then excrete.
Ping.
All this syndrome creep has made it impossible to know just what is and what isn't autism these days.
No real way to tell if the numbers are increasing or not.
No mention of genetic component thus not very credible.
Back with ping list later.
Parents of autistic children Tuesday launched an organization called Generation Rescue based on their conviction that flushing mercury out of children's bodies improves and in some instances reverses autism.
Generation Rescue believes that childhood neurological disorders such as autism, Asperger's, ADHD/ADD, speech delay, sensory integration disorder, and many other developmental delays are all misdiagnoses for mercury poisoning.
When you know cause, you can focus on cure.Thousands of parents are curing their children by removing the mercury from their children's bodies. We want you, the parent, to know the truth.
In a 1996 study from the Archives of Environmental Health, the relationship between hair lead levels of children and their attention-deficit behaviors in the classroom [showed an] even stronger relationship existed between physician-diagnosed attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and hair lead in the same children."
In the April 7, 1993 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, Dr. Ruff published a study that reported on the reversal of intelligence decline among children with high lead levels when steps are taken to reduce their body burden.
Heavy metals poison us by disrupting our cellular enzymes, which run on nutritional minerals such as magnesium, zinc, and selenium. Toxic metals kick out the nutrients and bind their receptor sites, causing diffuse symptoms by affecting nerves, hormones, digestion, and immune function. There seems to be a higher level of heavy metal toxicity in children in the Autistic spectrum. The evidence suggests that some children in the autistic spectrum build up more of these toxic metals because of an inability to excrete them. When they become lodged in the brain the brain does not function normally, causing autistic symptoms and learning disorders. The relationship of the heavy metals and children with autistic symptoms is being researched from every angle thought of. One team of investigators reported damage to the intestinal mucosal layer , in the form of increased permeability, in over 40% of autistic children tested. This gastrointestinal dysfunction would allow greater amount of toxins to penetrate the gut barrier into systemic circulation, and thus increase the toxin burden in children unable to properly process this onslaught of toxin agents.
. . .right. . .I wonder what percentage of autistic children - stats increasing yearly on this condition - have not been innoculated. Of course, there are other ways to have toxic exposure; but surely, vaccines have carried their share of mercury. . .including children's flu vaccine - not all. . .but some. Perhaps it depends on where manufactured and when. . .
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.