What is Autism and what are its causes?
Autism is a term that refers to a collection of neurologicallybased developmental disorders in which individuals haveimpairments in social interaction and communication skills,along with a tendency to have repetitive behaviors or interests....
...The severity of autism varies greatly, from individuals withlittle speech and poor daily living skills, to others whofunction well in most settings. Approximately 70 to 75 percentof individuals with autism are believed to have mentalretardation. Some adults with autism live independently.A variety of factors could be associated with some forms ofautism, including infectious, metabolic, genetic, neurologicaland environmental factors. There has been a growing concernamong parents that the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine cancause autism and a study published in the Journal of theAmerican Association of Physicians and Surgeons examinedextensive data on vaccines in children. The astonishingconclusion: Children who receive just three vaccines containing themercury-based preservative thimerosal are 27- times more likelyto develop autism, compared to children who get vaccinationscontaining no thimerosal. This was no surprise to the many researchers who have recognized that mercury- exposure tochildren through vaccines dramatically increased over the past15 years, while the rate of autism jumped from 1 in 10,000 to 1in 150 over the same period. What are the symptoms of Autism and how is it diagnosed?Autism is typically diagnosed during the toddler or preschoolyears, although some children are diagnosed later. Languagedelay or lack of appropriate social development may causeparents or teachers to seek an evaluation.Some children may have a period of normal development before theonset of symptoms and may even lose some earlier acquiredskills, such as early words or social smiling.Currently, there is no blood test or other medical testavailable to diagnose autism. Correct diagnosis depends onextensive and accurate developmental history, as well asobservations of the child's social, communicative and playbehaviors.In autistic children, the inability of brain cells tocommunicate properly manifests physically in a parallel way.Autistic children often have difficulty with verbalcommunication, and in their inability to participate well (if atall) in a conversation.Gestures and facial expressions, known as non-verbalcommunication, are also difficult. They have trouble relatingsocially to people and their surroundings, and often preferplaying alone because they don't know how to make friends. Theirplaytime may be very systematic and orderly, and not veryimaginative.A compromised immune system is common for these children,including other autoimmune diseases. Autistic children are oftenmore susceptible to infections, viruses in the colon, colds, earinfections, allergies and asthma.Is it true that nutrition can make a difference in my child'sautistic behavior?Good nutrition is particularly important for children andespecially important for children with any type of healthchallenge. Your child's body was not designed to be ill- andthat's good news. This means you need to give your child thefuels he or she needs to help heal and correct their bodies.In an article written by Dr. Steve Nugent, NMD, Phd and JaneRamberg, MS called "Reassessing the Need for Dietary Supplementsfor America's Children", the following is stated: "Studiesindicate that poor nutrition in childhood can have irreversibleefffects, ranging from mild to serious, affecting braindevelopment, skeletal structure, and height. If malnutritionoccurs during the critical period of high brain growth velocity (between the last trimester of pregnancy and age 2),deleterious (harmful) effects on brain development arepermanent."There should be no question that what your child eats willaffect his or her health. The only question is what can I learnabout my child's nutrition and what can I do to improve it? WHAT NUTRIENTS DOES MY CHILD NEED?The best way for your child to obtain good nutrition is byconsuming a healthy well balanced diet of protein,carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, and minerals. It's also importantto get Phytonutrients/Antioxidents (nutrients from plants,vine-ripe fruits, & vegetables); Phytohormones which supportproper organ health; and Glyconutrients, the newest class ofnecessary nutritrients.Glyconutrients are required for complete cellular communicationand probably the most important nutrient for a child with anytype of chronic health challenge.Why are some nutrients considered necessary for proper body andimmune system functioning and others are not considerednecessary?In a nutshell, if you understand how a basic computer works, youknow that there is certain software, called the operatingsystem, that is required to make the computer run. Then thereare other software, like games and word document programs, thatuse the operating system in order to function. The same appliesto your child's body. There are necessary nutrients (asdescribed above) that are essential to make the human bodyfunction and then there are supplemental nutrients (like herbs)that are useful when all of the essential nutrients are present.Unlike pharmaceutical drugs, the most reassuring thing aboutnecessary nutrients is that they are non-toxic. Your child'sbody will accept nutrition naturally without the toxic andsometimes life threatening side affects of pharmaceutical drugs.What would your rather have your child try first to improve hisor her health challenge?
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