Treating autism by targeting the gut
A review of more than 150 papers on ASD and gut bacteria found that since the 1960s, scientists have been reporting links between the composition of bacteria in the gut and autistic behaviour. The review highlights many studies showing that restoring a healthy balance in gut bacteria can treat ASD symptoms. "To date there are no effective therapies to treat this range of brain developmental disorders," explains Dr Qinrui Li of Peking University, China. "The number of people being diagnosed with ASD is on the rise. As well as being an expensive condition to manage, ASD has a huge emotional and social cost on families of sufferers." The link between the gut and ASD is well-known among sufferers: problems like diarrhea, constipation and flatulence are commonly reported. The root of gastro-intestinal problems like these is an imbalance of "good" and "bad" bacteria in the gut. A cheap and effective treatment? Many of the papers reviewed su...