My boyfriend's sister has two children w/autism. One child is more severe than the other. Does this mean there is a good chance that our future children will have autism? Does anyone know if autism is genetic? I am a parent of a child on the spectrum and am also a clinician and researcher. Contrary to one answer you received, there does appear to be a genetic component involved in autism. At the most recent conference I attended, there was a huge amount of data presented indicating that we may be experiencing the interaction between genetics and environment, and that the manifestation of autism in a particular child may be related to alterations in DNA depending on the location and occupation of their ancestors.
For those who don't know this, it's not "autism," it's "autisms." Autism looks different, depending on what country you live in and in the U.S., it is different depending on what area of the country you live in. It also depends on where your parents and grandparents lived and where their parents lived and what they did for a living.
If anyone knows anyone who has "chemical sensitivities," you may know that once someone has been exposed to a toxin, that person is more likely to experience a stronger aversive response if a second exposure occurs. This appears to be what is happening with children who are hyper-sensitive to environmental toxins. Children whose parents and grandparents have histories of lead poisoning (gas station owners, construction workers, people who worked in or lived near battery smelting plants, or anyone who grew up in California near a freeway in the 1960s) are going to be more vulnerable to heavy metal toxicity.
Lead stores in bone and soft tissue and is passed from generation to generation. The increase in bipolar disorder is directly related to this same issue. If you remember anything from chemistry and the periodic table (which I didn't - I had to look it up), each element has a particular charge (positive or negative). If the body stores certain things, this is going to change the overall charge of the body, resulting in a "magnet" effect, making it more likely that the child will have heightened damage from subsequent metals and toxins at lower levels than what the government maintains as "safe."
Likewise, people whose ancestors grew up in the midwest and had high exposures to pesticides like DDT are going to react differently to different toxic exposures. The overall result is the same - the body burden is too high and the entire system becomes overwhelmed.
This is why Gluten-Free/Casein-Free diets work. Gluten comes from wheat, which is grown in soil that is polluted with pesticides that, even though they are no longer legal to use, do not degrade. They are still there. When you grow a plant in contaminated soil, the plant is also contaminated and pesticides do not degrade in wheat even when cooked.
Casein is the protein in cow's milk. The problem with cow's milk is not just the casein, it's the antibiotics, the growth hormone, and the toxins in the food that is fed to the cows.
Lest you think soy milk is a good alternative, read on:
Children who are eventually diagnosed with autism often have difficulty digesting cow's milk as infants. They are also very often switched to soy formula, which contains a high concentration of manganese, compared to breast milk (80-200 times more, depending on the source). Manganese is an important trace mineral but too much causes manganese madness - a term initially used to describe what happens when miners breathe too much of the dust. When babies are fed soy formula as their exclusive form of nutrition, they are getting WAY too much manganese AND estrogen - think about what we advise for women as natural estrogen replacement. It would be interesting to see how many boys later diagnosed with autism were fed soy formula as infants.
Too much estrogen causes cancer and increases oxidative stress in the body. We now know that oxidative stress is one of the major contributors to autism. I was glad to see the reference to early stress in the child as a contributing factor to later diagnosis of autism. This is because stress hormones alter the balance of the internal environment.
Okay, enough.
Number one suggestion before you think about having children: Get a hair analysis done on both you and your boyfriend, and follow that with a urine provocation test. Do not be fooled if hair analysis shows low levels of lead, mercury, or other toxins; that often means your body is just holding onto them. You need to have the urine provocation test to see what comes out when you are given a small dose of medicine used to chelate heavy metals.
Second: Clean up your diet. Read labels. If you can't pronounce an ingredient, odds are, your body won't be able to figure it out either. If it's not food, it's toxin and it adds to the total amount that your body has to handle. If you drink soda, stop. Soda is one of the main contributers to osteoporosis and to the leaching of lead from bone because phosphorus interferes with the body's ability to utilze calcium and adequate calcium is essential if you've ever come in contact with lead (and I assure you, you have).
Third: Cut out artificial anything. Red dye is what makes brown soda brown. Think about what you crave. If you can't live without twizzlers, you probably have an issue with red dye.
Finally, educate yourself and seek help before you accept anything anyone else says - including me. It's your body and your baby and the outcome of your decisions will be long-term.
Marcella Piper-Terry, M.S. thinking ahead are we? Testing can help you out in that department I would say. Um I would say they are high, but not that high. I do believe the woman is the carrier, so he wouldn't be a carrier. A predispostion for autism is genetic in some cases. Here is a list of genetic things that make a child predisposed:
Precociousness at birth (genius)
Low tolerance for frustration
Frail physical constitution
Blindness
Allergies to milk
Physical beauty
Following are environmental determinants for a predispostion to autism:
Caesarean birth.
Premature birth.
Being born a twin
Severe illness before age two.
Surgery before age two.
Gastrointestinal problems at time of toilet training
Psychological shock before age two.
Any physical trauma before age two.
And (for the benefit of "Mom who Knows") Mercury poisoning before age two. Wow, marcella brought up some great insight on ancestors, lead, ect...
I just wanted to say before you have children, you should detox, do a cleanse. Renew life has some excellent cleanses. And I agree 100 percent with marcella...clean up your diet if you need too. Only eat real foods!! Take an excellant multi/vitamin and mineral. Oh, and don't overlook controlled medical labor...don't go that route look into a midwife. When you give birth they give you too many options to screw up your child from the beginning. Try not to get a epidural....could result in decrease oxygen to baby. And do not let them induce you....petocin is horrible! It says on package insert that it can cause brain damage,and alter central nervous system...um sound like that is something you want expose your kid too. Anyways my son was autistic since birth, but he also had hep B vaccine2 hours after born, 2 epidurals, petocin, heavy pain drugs in breast milk after birth....poor kid...I should of known better and ran from the doctors to protect my baby! Anyways do hire a midwife or aleast have one attend the birth to reduce them messing with your baby with dangerous pharms that are not proven safe for newborns!! I wish you luck, and a good advocate when you have your child. And marcella is right on soy, it was the worst thing I gave my son (doctor's advice to give soy)...it caused hormonal inbalance problems. And you can look into raw cow's milk this is very good, even for people on spectrum. Gluten is horrible...it causes so many behavior problems for people on spectrum, as well as many other disorders.
I seriously would not worry about having a child with autism, just try to have a natural birth as possible. Delay vaccinations...don't bother going to well check ups. The well check up is just to vaccinate...delay this until child immune system is strong...and then pick and chose what vaccinations to get off of good research only get one at a time and wait a month or two inbetween. Learn to feed child whole food diet, gluten free alternatives are very good! Only get organic milk if you decide to give milk....rice milk or almond is a wonderful alternative. Their is just so many things you can do to decrease if not eliminate the chances of autism in your child :) You cannot test for Autism. According to the DSM-IV-TR you cannot diagnose Autism until the age of 3.
To answer your question. I don't know. Currently, the cause of Autism is unknown. However, most professionals believe that it is leaning towards genetics. Evidence likely points Autism as a result of a genetic disposition with an environmental onset.
Again, there is no empirical evidence to show absolute support, but as a professional in the field of Autism, I will say that there is a chance of your future children having Autism due to family history. |
