Autism Epidemic?

[Babs]

Where is Jenny McCarthy now?

Um...she made a statement that parents should not allow this "media circus" to distract them, because the announcement this week is "much ado about nothing." Then she hinted that all the news this week was funded by the vaccine industry.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Um...she made a statement that parents should not allow this "media circus" to distract them, because the announcement this week is "much ado about nothing." Then she hinted that all the news this week was funded by the vaccine industry.

But of course. Don't you know anything about the great conspiracy by the medical industry? They want to keep us sick so that they can make more money.

[Babs]

But of course. Don't you know anything about the great conspiracy by the medical industry? They want to keep us sick so that they can make more money.

Exactly. It's just too bad the government destroyed all the evidence on 9/11!

[Uncle Ted]

Exactly. It's just too bad the government destroyed all the evidence on 9/11!

and let's not forget Colonel Sanders with his wee beady eyes and that smart look on his face!

[YOUTUBE]TPMS6tGOACo[/YOUTUBE]

[TheAzzuri]

This just gets better and better all the time.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/01/11...ex.html?hpt=T2

[Soccermom]

Jenny McCarthy convinces who knows how many that vaccinations cause autism and her son doesn't even have it. That's what you get when you take medical advice from a playboy centerfold.

http://graneyandthepig.wordpress.com...t-have-autism/

[wuapinmon]

Jenny McCarthy convinces who knows how many that vaccinations cause autism and her son doesn't even have it. That's what you get when you take medical advice from a playboy centerfold.

http://graneyandthepig.wordpress.com...t-have-autism/

She has led to a national increase in big boobs.

[Dwight Schr-ute]

Jenny McCarthy convinces who knows how many that vaccinations cause autism and her son doesn't even have it. That's what you get when you take medical advice from a playboy centerfold.

http://graneyandthepig.wordpress.com...t-have-autism/

That was the most confusing round of links I've ever followed. I'm no Jenny McCarthy fan, but the 'new' Time interview is from 2010.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[statman]

As I've probably mentioned before, I have a son who's pretty high functioning autistic. Our PCP called us up about a month ago because he thought we might be interested in having some genetic testing done on our son. There's a growing body of evidence on a significant link between an abnormal gene that codes for the enzyme that converts folic acid into the form that your body needs it to be in for it to be usable - l-5-methyltetrahydrofolate (usually just called l-methylfolate)(the enzyme is called MTHFR (methyltetrahydrofolate reductase)).

There are two fairly common MTHFR abnormalities, and since you get one copy from each of your parents, there are really four potential deformities that any individual could have on the folate-converting biochemical machinery.

It's been fairly recently discovered that the more MTHFR defects someone has, the more likely they score as having autism spectrum disorder, and the more defects they have, the more severe their autism is likely to be (MTHFR defects correlate positively with both in the incidence of autism and its severity).

Someone with 3 or 4 of the known defects (meaning that they don't have at least one fully functioning version of the MTHFR enzyme) is ~15X more likely to score with an autism spectrum disorder than someone with 0, 1 or 2 defects. 98% of autistic kids have at least one of the common MTHFR abnormalities.

It certainly doesn't explain everything about autism. And there are plenty of people who have 4 out of 4 defects who don't appear to be autistic. But the size of the odds ratios

BTW - having defects in the gene/enzyme doesn't mean that your body can't produce any l-methylfolate. But the defective enzymes only work at 5%-25% efficiency of the normal enzyme, depending on which defects are present.

Also - l-5-methylfolate is not readily available in foods, but unlike many nutrients that have to be metabolized to be usable in the body, it is readily absorbed through the GI tract. It's also pretty inexpensive to produce. A simple inexpensive dietary supplement could be a big help in treating many with ASD.

The sad thing is that even though the genetic defects to MTHFR have been known for a long time, because l-methylfolate is cheap to make, there has been very little in the way of research $ spent on it. This is especially sad because MTHFR isn't a trivial enzyme. It's not just an autism thing. Virtually any biological process that requires methylation gets the methyl group from l-5-methylfolate. It's 100% required in the production of myelin (in nerve cells), in the biochemistry that makes many neurotransmitters, and in the conversion of a number of amino acids in the body. A methylation reaction is also required any time that a gene is expressed - DNA uncoils, and the helix is held open while gene expression occurs by methylation of nucleotides on either end of the expressed gene. MTHFR is also needed to manufacture glutathione, which is one of the primary antioxidants in the body. MTHFR defects are also strongly correlated with depression and bipolar disorder, likely because of the enzyme's role in neurotransmitter production. In other words, this enzyme is hugely important in a bunch of crucial biological functions and defects in the gene that make it have been known for a long time, but since there's no money in researching it, there's been little research done.

The good thing is that it's starting to catch people's attention. Our son's MTHFR testing was paid for by a grant. He's 4 for 4 on MTHFR defects - which means that both my wife and I have at least 2 defects - and at least one copy of our MTHFR that's got two defects. As of Monday, we're all taking the supplement - available OTC for about $15 per person per month. There's also a "pharmaceutical food" version of it, that you need a prescription for (strange loophole in pharmacy law), but our insurance requires a pre-authorization to fill it. Eventually they'll pay - at which point our cost will go down to $4 a month.

[Donuthole]

As I've probably mentioned before, I have a son who's pretty high functioning autistic. Our PCP called us up about a month ago because he thought we might be interested in having some genetic testing done on our son. There's a growing body of evidence on a significant link between an abnormal gene that codes for the enzyme that converts folic acid into the form that your body needs it to be in for it to be usable - l-5-methyltetrahydrofolate (usually just called l-methylfolate)(the enzyme is called MTHFR (methyltetrahydrofolate reductase)).

There are two fairly common MTHFR abnormalities, and since you get one copy from each of your parents, there are really four potential deformities that any individual could have on the folate-converting biochemical machinery.

It's been fairly recently discovered that the more MTHFR defects someone has, the more likely they score as having autism spectrum disorder, and the more defects they have, the more severe their autism is likely to be (MTHFR defects correlate positively with both in the incidence of autism and its severity).

Someone with 3 or 4 of the known defects (meaning that they don't have at least one fully functioning version of the MTHFR enzyme) is ~15X more likely to score with an autism spectrum disorder than someone with 0, 1 or 2 defects. 98% of autistic kids have at least one of the common MTHFR abnormalities.

It certainly doesn't explain everything about autism. And there are plenty of people who have 4 out of 4 defects who don't appear to be autistic. But the size of the odds ratios

BTW - having defects in the gene/enzyme doesn't mean that your body can't produce any l-methylfolate. But the defective enzymes only work at 5%-25% efficiency of the normal enzyme, depending on which defects are present.

Also - l-5-methylfolate is not readily available in foods, but unlike many nutrients that have to be metabolized to be usable in the body, it is readily absorbed through the GI tract. It's also pretty inexpensive to produce. A simple inexpensive dietary supplement could be a big help in treating many with ASD.

The sad thing is that even though the genetic defects to MTHFR have been known for a long time, because l-methylfolate is cheap to make, there has been very little in the way of research $ spent on it. This is especially sad because MTHFR isn't a trivial enzyme. It's not just an autism thing. Virtually any biological process that requires methylation gets the methyl group from l-5-methylfolate. It's 100% required in the production of myelin (in nerve cells), in the biochemistry that makes many neurotransmitters, and in the conversion of a number of amino acids in the body. A methylation reaction is also required any time that a gene is expressed - DNA uncoils, and the helix is held open while gene expression occurs by methylation of nucleotides on either end of the expressed gene. MTHFR is also needed to manufacture glutathione, which is one of the primary antioxidants in the body. MTHFR defects are also strongly correlated with depression and bipolar disorder, likely because of the enzyme's role in neurotransmitter production. In other words, this enzyme is hugely important in a bunch of crucial biological functions and defects in the gene that make it have been known for a long time, but since there's no money in researching it, there's been little research done.

The good thing is that it's starting to catch people's attention. Our son's MTHFR testing was paid for by a grant. He's 4 for 4 on MTHFR defects - which means that both my wife and I have at least 2 defects - and at least one copy of our MTHFR that's got two defects. As of Monday, we're all taking the supplement - available OTC for about $15 per person per month. There's also a "pharmaceutical food" version of it, that you need a prescription for (strange loophole in pharmacy law), but our insurance requires a pre-authorization to fill it. Eventually they'll pay - at which point our cost will go down to $4 a month.

tl;dr

[Copelius]

My 7yo son has been recently diagnosed with Aspergers syndrome. Do you have any information on how to get that test?

[statman]

My 7yo son has been recently diagnosed with Aspergers syndrome. Do you have any information on how to get that test?

It was done by a place called Health Diagnostics Laboratory in Richmond, VA. You'd have to get a physician to order the test for you - blood draw in the office that is sent off for testing. They did a whole battery of blood tests - the genetic testing was just one of many. We haven't seen a bill yet - they submitted it to insurance to see what they'd pay, but were told that after insurance pays its portion, a research study would be picking up the remainder. If you're in Utah, the doctor that ordered the test for our son (and got it so that it's free) is at Alpine Family Medicine - Dr. Dan Egan. We've been going to him for the entire 7 years we've lived in the area - so we like him...

[Copelius]

Thanks. We are in Sandy so not too far.