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The research “validates a lot of what people think,” says Calliope Holingue, a psychiatric epidemiologist at the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Maryland and the Center for Autism and Related Disorders, whether the link between autism and the microbiome can be partially affected. diet. “That being said, I don’t think it completely eliminates the possibility that the microbiome has a role to play in autism itself.”
One criticism, he says, is that the research looked at a photograph in time, rather than in the long run. “Even though the authors did not find that autism itself was related to the composition or diversity of the intestinal microbiome, that does not mean that the microbiome was not involved at some point before the study, for example,” says Holingue. Yap agrees that in order to assess causality, longitudinal studies will be important.
While he has no exams so far shown decisively thus, early signs of a relationship between bowel and autism increased hope for treatment. For example, it was published by a research team at Arizona State University an examination in 2017 which, in turn, took 18 children from the autism spectrum, who also suffered from bowel problems, and had a fecal transplant. In 2019, the team released one two-year follow-up, and reported an almost 50 percent improvement in autism-related symptoms. But the study was not random, had no control group, was not comparable to a placebo, and had a small sample size.
Studies at Arizona State University have been a source of controversy in the area, Holingu says. “Some are big fans. And I think other people are very concerned because they do more harm than good, and they may not have a clear idea of what the goal is, “he says. Many autistic communities have spoken quite a bit saying that they don’t want to focus on research into autism cures or autism treatments, but rather the conditions that come together and the things that support them, ”says Holingue.
Although there is no specific evidence to support efficacy, early research has prompted clinics to offer treatments for autism, including interventions such as probiotics, prebiotics, and fecal microbiota transplants or FMTs (or, less commonly, “transpositions”). Fecal transplants — microbes from a healthy person’s stool that are given to the patient orally or orally — have been shown to benefit a number of conditions: Clostridioides difficile to treat colitis, often debilitating, sometimes fatal, resulting from overuse of antibiotics, eliminating the balance of intestinal bacteria. This success has become hype as more and more people are tested for treatment in conditions such as autism.
“People with autism or [their] families get the news that someone is autistic, they are left without effective support, ”says James Cusack, director general of the UK charity for autism research, James Cusack. “And that can be a very traumatic experience for families and people with autism.” This also means that a parent may feel compelled to find alternative ways to ensure that their child grows in the same way as their peers. (A 2015 study parents surveyed and found that nearly nine in 10 were looking for complementary and alternative medicine for their children’s autism.) These parents may be more likely to try things that are not based on evidence, Cusack says. “And it’s very sad that people are in that situation. What we should try to do is try to get people to understand the reasons for these decisions and help them take a different perspective. ”
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