Study - No Gastro Abnormalities in Autistic children

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Tests Show No Specific Gastrointestinal Abnormalities in Children with Autism

This doesn't surprise me in the least. I haven't heard too many complaints about it on these forums and I always thought GI was kind of a bizarre symptom when juxtaposed to the other symptoms, which are generally sensory in nature.

GI issues are quite common for people on the spectrum. This has been known about a long time

Autistic disorder and gastrointestinal disease Karoly Horvath, MD, PhD,* and Jay A. Perman, MD 2002

Frequent gastrointestinal issues may be early sign of autism, study says

Leaky gut/gut bacteria theories have been popular but never really proven. The study I linked to in the original post puts more doubt about these. Stress of bieng autistic seems to be a common sense explanation but since it is happening that young maybe not.

A somewhat longer summary is given here:
http://www.sciencenewsline.com/news/201 ... 50026.html
"Tests Show No Specific Gastrointestinal Abnormalities in Children with Autism."

It's amusing that in the sidebar of that page there's another paper published less than a year ago:
"Autistic Children More Likely to Have GI Issues in Early Life"
http://www.sciencenewsline.com/news/201 ... 70023.html

Good thing the science is now settled.

I'm not saying they aren't, I'm merely pointing out that all other issues with autism deal with the brain itself, even the sensory issues are manifested in the brain, not the organs that sense. GI disorders on the other hand are the red-headed step child, they are actual physical symptoms. I wouldn't be surprised if it turns out to be a common co-morbid but not necessarily caused by autism. Basically, all I've read on GI disorders (not near what you have of course, so please correct me if I'm wrong) is that it has a higher prevalence among autistic peoples. It may be a matter of perspective, I don't suffer from it, but it always seemed odd to me when placed next to all the other symptoms of autism. Also, with stress being an issue, I'm not sure, I think it would be hard to prove that autistics feel more/less stress than the next person since it's so subjective. I agree with your logic, assuming the GI is completely related, I just think it would be very difficult to prove.

As I recall, the gastro-abnormalities theory was tied to the vaccine-as-an-autism-cause hype. It doesn't surprise me that the collapse of one would lead to the collapse of the other.

It might be the similar thing to teething babies and nappy rash. There is no evidence that both go hand in hand, but they are often seen together
My son who is 22 and severely autistic suffers from chronic constipation and need 2 types of medication twice a day so he can go to the bathroom regularly.
I have heard of several people with ASD having similar problems.
Maybe its related or maybe its because they are not eating the correct amount of fibre or drinking enough fluids.
I think it's tricky to really know.

I go down on my knees and thank the Universe every day that my severely autistic son has a bowel movement.

He gets adequate fibre and I ensure that he gets his RDI for fluid intake every day, but we have never been able to resolve his constipation issues. Miralax has been my best friend for a while now.. so I absolutely don't agree that there are "NO GASTRO ABNORMALITIES in Autistic children". Check mine.

I have no doubt that your son has constipation problems, though my autistic daughter has no such problems. I have to think just because a symptom appears with autism, there doesn't have to be a connection.

I'm curious, how is his diet to other children, does he eat similar foods or does he need a special diet? I only ask because I've heard of a few members that couldn't eat a large variety of foods due to sensory issues and I recall there seemed to be a few classic autistics that had that issue. We don't have many classic autistics here (not all can type, but some can), and so that stuck out to me. I'm assuming you tried a diet change at some point, I'm merely asking for my own "data collection"-- more information helps me make more informed opinions. If you're not comfortable talking about this I completely understand as well, it's a fairly private issue and I don't want to intrude where I'm not welcome.

The next step will be to disprove the alleged link between autism and gluten intolerance.

I'd place a bet on the claim that eventually, all of the alleged links between autism and esoteric environmental factors will be thoroughly debunked, as will any alleged treatments and quack "cures" like swaddling, high colonics, and homeopathy.

I concur.

I would be of the opinion, based on studies I have seen and our family experience, that GI issues may be common to autism but not necessarily a cause. The study the OP cited stated that there were no *unique pattern of abnormal results* on multiple common GI tests. It didn't necessarily rule out that the two could still go hand in hand as a common thing.

I have gluten/dairy intolerance (self-diagnosed aspie), my diagnosed aspie son has a significant gluten intolerance as well as a peanut allergy, my dyslexic son had a wheat/soy/nut allergy of which he outgrew the wheat and soy allergies so far; my daughter with Tourettes syndrome has a mild gluten intolerance.

I find the GI issues of interest in what I have read about Tourette Syndrome--Dr. David Comings, who wrote the book "Tourette Syndrome and Human Behavior" outlines his research findings linking Tourette Syndrome, autism, dyslexia, ADHD, and several other disorders to a semi-recessive Gts gene which manifests differently depending on whether a child gets a copy from both parents or one parent, and what traits are manifested in other family members (the book explains it much better than I do). His research supports a link between serotonin metabolism in the digestive tract and the neurological findings in the aforesaid disorders.

Based on what I have read in this book (and it is well researched, documented, and footnoted throughout--Dr. Comings worked with 1500 Tourette patients and did detailed research on genetics and pedigrees of these people besides working with Tourette Syndrome and management of symptoms), it seems reasonable that, even if there are variations in how it manifests from individual to individual, that there would definitely be a link between GI issues, autism, and related neurological disorders.

Just because some tests don't find evidence of a unique pattern of GI findings in autistic people, doesn't mean that it is not there. Just means that those particular tests have not found it.

Last edited by probly.an.aspie on 27 Feb 2016, 7:59 pm, edited 1 time in total.

You would have to comprative surveys to indicate stress level differnces. And at the more severe levels the surveys could not be administered. There have have been studies showing at the Aspergers levels higher levels of depression and suicide ideation then even people with other disabilities. There has to a stress factor with this.

I don't think it is an issue of texture or a sensory thing for him. I think it is more that he has very poor oral motor skills, and probably has low muscle tone in the mouth and tongue, that prevents him from handling meat (he won't eat any meat except ground turkey -- we have tried to feed him almost all meats, except beef). In a nutshell, he has a self-imposed special diet of eating almost anything except "tough to chew" foods. If he is not being monitored during mealtimes, he simply tries to avoid chewing altogether by stuffing his mouth with so much food that he will reflexively swallow it all. So, most likely, if / when we can help him improve his oral motor skills, he probably will eat a larger variety of foods than he currently does.

In addition to meat, he avoids drinking plain water, but that can be circumvented by sweetening his water with a dash of apple juice or getting enough liquids into him in the form of soups, mandarins and grapes. He also gets a daily multi-vitamin. He has no known nutritional deficiencies, or any other GI challenges, aside from chronic constipation.

I am not saying that his constipation is caused by his autism or vice-versa, but I am not in agreement with this study's findings that autistic children do NOT have significant GI issues. Co-relation does not imply causation, of course, but absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.

I never had any GI problems in childhood or now.
My GI functioning is quite ideal.
I can also eat large amounts of gluten and dairy with no ill effects.
The only thing I have is a rare autoimmune disorder that is hereditary in my extended family as other family members have it too.