Imagine being the parent of a young child who is not acting normally and being told by your doctor that your child has autism, that there is no known cause, and there is no known treatment except, perhaps, some behavioral therapy. That is exactly what Jackson's parents were told as their 22-month old son regressed into the non-verbal psychic prison of social withdrawal, disconnection, and repetitive behaviors typical of autism.
While we don't have all the answers, and more research is needed to identify and validate the causes and treatment of autism, there are new signs of hope. A study just published in the
Journal of the American Medical Association by researchers from the University of California, Davis called "Mitochondrial Dysfunction in Autism"(
i) discovered a profound and serious biological underpinning of autism - an acquired loss of the ability to produce energy in the cells, damage to mitochondria (the energy factories in your cells), and an increase in oxidative stress (the same chemical reaction that causes cars to rust, apples to turn brown, fat to become rancid, and skin to wrinkle). These disturbances in energy metabolism were not due to genetic mutations, which is often seen in mitochondrial problems, but a condition the children studied acquired in utero or after birth.
Bottom line, if brain cells cannot produce enough energy, and there is too much oxidative stress, then neurons don't fire, connections aren't made and the lights don't go on for these children. In fact, this problem of energy loss is found in most chronic disease and aging - from
diabetes to
heart disease to
dementia. Brain function and neurodevelopment in particular are highly dependent on energy.
This is exactly the problem I documented and found in Jackson when I first saw him. He had a profound loss of energy in his cells (particularly his brain cells), and indicators of severe oxidative stress. This is the same problem many other researchers have found in similar studies.(
ii) Despite the evidence, most physicians don't test for mitochondrial dysfunction, oxidative stress or other myriad factors commonly found in autistic children.
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