This is week three in my new series dedicated to raising awareness about Autism. Again -- 1 in every 91 children today have Autism! -- awareness is desperately needed! Thanks for reading these posts!

Today I'm going to share some amazing and very recent info that has come out of a research program at ASU. This info was shared by Dr. James Adams -- the director of the program -- at a recent Autism Research Breakfast Fundraiser I attended. It has to do with the causes of Autism. It has been accepted that the causes of Autism are multiple and varied. If there was one single cause, the answer would be simple and easily pinned down. But just as the children with Autism vary greatly as to the severity of their symptoms and issues, so do the causes of Autism likely vary. There is much work still to be done to find out more about the causes of Autism, but I'm greatly encouraged by the findings that have recently come out of the ASU research program.

At the breakfast Dr. Adams shared a list of contributing factors to Autism and the percentage of children with Autism who show signs of these contributing factors. I frantically scribbled it down and have yet to find it somewhere online, but when I do, I'll definitely link to it. Here is the list and percentages:

Single Factor
5-10% -- Single Genetic Mutation
12% -- Maternal antibodies to fetus' brain

Major Contributing Factors
45% -- Abnormal maternal glutathione/methylation (treatable)
50% -- Excessive Oral Antibiotics
80% -- Toxic metals
50% -- Gut problems (these tend to be the most severe cases)
25% -- Low lithium in mothers & children
50% -- Viral exposure
30% -- Adverse reaction to vaccines

Some of what is written above is Greek to me but there are a few things I gather from these findings:

1. Progress is being made and the causes of Autism are knowable and many of them are treatable and preventable.
2. The majority of these causes are biomedical in nature which again points to Autism being treatable and preventable.
3. There is evidence that 30% of children with Autism had an adverse reaction to vaccines.

I'm going to delve more into some of these causes in future posts, but for now, if you'd like more information, you can look at the following sources:

ASU Research Program Website
What can be done to prevent Autism now
Autism is treatable

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