AUTISM’S GUT-BRAIN AXIS A Promising Approach to Healing by Emily Courtney
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that affects the brain, so ith the diagnoKids with ASD a whole-body approach sis of autism may have makes so much more spectrum disinflammation in the sense.” order (ASD) on the rise— brain, and we’ve From specialized diet now affecting one in every 59 school-age children, learned that it can and supplement regimens according to estimates be very much relat- to a variety of alternative therapies, parents have from the U.S. Centers for ed to inflammation a wealth of complemenDisease Control and Preof the gut. tary options from which vention (CDC) —identifying effective, integrative ~Kenneth A. Bock, to choose. One integrative approach, however, remedies is more imporM.D. is showing exceptional, tant than ever. research-backed promise: “You may have five healing the gut. kids with ASD that are very different in how they present and what contributes to the disorder, so one size and one treatment The Gut-Autism Connection Children with ASD frequently experience does not fit all,” says Kenneth A. Bock, M.D., of Bock Integrative Medicine, in Red gut issues such as constipation or diarrhea; Hook, New York, author of Healing the a review from the International Society for New Childhood Epidemics: Autism, ADHD, Autism Research indicated that nearly 47 Asthma, and Allergies. The Groundbreaking percent of autistic children exhibited at least one gastrointestinal (GI) symptom. And, the Program for the 4-A Disorders. more severe a child’s GI symptoms, the more ASD encompasses a range of disorsevere the autism, according to a study in ders characterized by repetitive behaviors and impaired social skills and communiBMC Gastroenterology. cation. Although it includes four distinct Not coincidentally, research is findconditions, one of its hallmarks is how ing that these digestive conditions and the much it varies from person to person and accompanying ASD may be connected how different the restrictions can be for to the gut microbiome, an ecosystem of each child. trillions of microbes living in the digestive The very nature of the condition tract. lends itself to integrative approaches that “Kids with ASD may have inflammacan be significantly effective, says Bock. tion in the brain, and we’ve learned that it “ASD is really a whole-body disorder can be very much related to inflammation
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