Our team at the Toxicant-Induced Loss of Tolerance (TILT) Program at UT Health San Antonio wanted to share an important external article and podcast episode:
“The Autism Surge: Lies, Conspiracies, and My Own Kids” by Jill Escher in The Free Press and “Jill Escher” on The Hamilton Review on Apple Podcasts.
These pieces feature Jill Escher. She is president of the National Council on Severe Autism, past president of Autism Society San Francisco Bay Area, and a prominent autism research philanthropist through the Escher Fund for Autism.
Escher’s article laments the rise of autism and the decline in efforts to find causes and solutions.
With so little to show after decades of research, the mood is certainly one of shoulder-shrugging resignation …
… To my mind, however, there remain conspicuous stones waiting to be overturned regarding the origins of autism, and specifically its very mysterious missing heritability. Though we think of heritability as rigid and genetic, the truth is it can, in some cases, be malleable. While this is hardly the forum to discuss finer points of molecular reproductive toxicology, suffice it to say that some of us are proposing innovative hypotheses that could help explain at least part of the autism surge, relating to how some exposures could disturb the programming of our gametes, resulting in increased autism risk in our offspring.
But for now, science’s tragic inability to find causal routes, and its growing ennui, gives us little opportunity to flatten autism’s alarming upward curve or for prospective parents to consider risks and preventive measures, all while diminishing the likelihood of finding meaningful treatments.
This issue is important for people who suffer from chemical intolerance (CI), said Dr. Claudia Miller, allergist/immunologist, professor emeritus, and leader of the Hoffman TILT Program at UT Health San Antonio.
Mothers with chemical intolerances are two to three times more likely than other women to have a child with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), according to Dr. Miller’s research.
Miller’s study included 282 mothers of children who had ASD and 258 mothers of children diagnosed with ADHD. The control group consisted of 154 mothers whose children had no developmental disorders.
Results showed:
- Children with ADHD were 1.7 times more likely than control children (ASD were 4.9 times more likely) to have had multiple infections requiring prolonged use of antibiotics.
- Children with ADHD were twice as likely as control children (ASD were 1.6 times more likely) to have allergies.
- Children with ADHD were twice as likely (ASD were 3.5 times more likely) to have had nausea, headaches, dizziness or trouble breathing when exposed to smoke, nail polish remover, engine exhaust, gasoline, air fresheners or cleaning agents than control children.
- Children with ADHD were twice as likely as controls (ASD were 4.8 times more likely) to have strong food preferences or cravings for cheese, chips, bread, pasta, rice, sugar, salt and chocolate.
“Chemically intolerant mothers were three times more likely to report having a child with ASD and 2.3 times more likely to have a child with ADHD,” according to a news release about the study.
How can you find out if you are chemically intolerant?
Answer these three questions from Hoffman TILT’s Brief Environmental Exposure and Sensitivity Inventory (BREESI):
- Do you feel sick when you are exposed to tobacco smoke, certain fragrances, nail polish/remover, engine exhaust, gasoline, air fresheners, pesticides, paint/thinner, fresh tar/asphalt, cleaning supplies, new carpet or furnishings? By sick, we mean: headache, difficulty thinking, difficulty breathing, weakness, dizziness, upset stomach, etc.
- Are you unable to tolerate or do you have adverse or allergic reactions to any drugs or medications (such as antibiotics, anesthetics, pain relievers, X-ray contrast dye, vaccines or birth control pills), or to an implant, prosthesis, contraceptive chemical or device, or other medical/surgical/dental material or procedure?
- Are you unable to tolerate or do you have adverse reactions to any foods such as dairy products, wheat, corn, eggs, caffeine, alcoholic beverages, or food additives (e.g., MSG, food dye)?
If you answer YES to any of these three questions, take the Quick Environmental Exposure and Sensitivity Inventory (QEESI) and share the results with your doctor!