Monday, May 6, 2019

Reading the Research: Second Brain

Welcome back to Reading the Research, where I trawl the Internet to find noteworthy research on autism and related subjects, then discuss it in brief with bits from my own life, research, and observations.

Today's article is a little gross to think about, but I wouldn't be surprised if it becomes a normal treatment in the future.  There's been increasing amounts of research into the effect of the intestinal tract on the brain.  Including, in fact, the discovery that there are neurons in there.  A whole lot of neurons.  Enough neurons to allow for an enthusiastic person to insist that the gut includes a second brain.  

I've harped on this sort of thing before, though not in those exact words.  Regular readers may remember I take probiotics in addition to various nutritional supplements.  They do help my mood, and when I've abused my gut by feeding it too much sugar, I can tell it's affecting me.  I have a really hard time eating a low sugar diet, though.  

So like many studies I've posted, this one has a definition problem.  What one team of researchers accepts as "autism" might to others simply be social disability due to stressors on the body and brain.  If your gut isn't properly digesting your food, you may not receive proper nutrition even if you're eating very well.  As a result, your brain won't function at its highest capacity, and things like noise, touch, and social expectations will exhaust you more quickly.  

Looking at their choice of research participants, I'm really not surprised they achieved such high results.  Each chosen participant had gut issues from infancy.  Doing a fecal transplant from a healthy human's gut bacteria would re-establish a healthy gut in the participant, which would allow them to receive proper nutrition and filter out toxins better.  With those important things handled, the brain would of course be free to handle the demands of life better, which leads, in this context, to being called "less severely autistic."  I imagine the results wouldn't be quite so impressive if they were merely done on a cross-section of autistic people.  Still, it's a promising lead for at least one group of autistic people.  

(Pst! If you like seeing the latest autism-relevant research, visit my Twitter, which has links and brief comments on studies that were interesting, but didn't get a whole Reading the Research article about them.)

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