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Autism & Gastrointestinal

 Disclaimer: Making sure that you know I am not a doctor which means I cannot provide a diagnosis or treatments. My opinions are my own and do not represent Donato's.

The studies are pretty solid concerning the role of the gut to the brain, aka as the gut/brain axis. They know that many neuropsychiatric conditions are related to the gut, particularly what bacteria are growing too strongly (e.g. bad bacteria) and generally, not enough good bacteria are growing. In terms of neuropsychiatry, this would refer to Alzheimer's, dementia, depression, anxiety and autism. 

The gut was once thought to be just a disposal vessel but now it is understood to be a very dynamic system that involves quite a few functions that mitigate to the rest of the body including the brain. 

A large part of the immune response resides in the gut - they estimate this to be 70% of the immune system. Of course, with immunity, inflammation comes. Inflammation is really a byproduct of immune activation. 

The brain also has cells that create inflammation such as microglia and astrocytes. The activation of these can cause various problems such as anger, mood swings, depression, withdrawal, anxiety, brain fog etc. 

They now know that the gut ecology can trigger the brain through these pathways.

Back to the microbiome - this simply refers to the vast array of different organisms that stay in the gut - mostly bacteria. There are good bacteria and bad bacteria. The bad bacteria do bad things to the body and obviously, the good bacteria help the body.

In recent studies, they know that the microbiome is the center of the issue concerning autism. Overgrowth of bad bacteria and not enough good bacteria are impacting the neurological system. Here are a couple of links to read. 

https://www.news-medical.net/news/20250402/New-study-explores-link-between-gut-microbiome-and-autism-spectrum-disorder.aspx .

https://www.sfari.org/2023/06/26/new-research-clarifies-connection-between-autism-and-the-microbiome/

I will stop here and can pick up some other concepts I feel important, those would include some interventions, just let me know. 

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