A new study, carried out by researchers from the US, has found that children with autism have higher levels of toxic metals in their blood and urine, as compared to other children. This discovery could have big implications for autistic children’s wellbeing, as these toxic metal levels could be responsible for impairing their brain activity.
James Adams, a professor of materials science and engineering at Arizona State University, led the study, the results of which were published in the journal Biological Trace Element Research. For their investigation, Adams and colleagues looked at 55 autistic children aged between five and 16 years, comparing them with 44 non-autistic children of similar age and gender.
The results were that the children whose wellness was affected by autism had more than 41% levels of lead in their red blood cells, which was significantly higher than their non-autistic counterparts. In their urine, again the levels were severe with high amounts of lead (74%), thallium (77%), tin (115%) and tungsten (44%). Arizona State released a statement saying that lead, thallium, tin and tungsten are toxic metals that can impair your child’s brain development and function. Further, these toxic metals can also interfere with the normal functioning of their other body organs and systems.
The researchers then carried out a statistical analysis of the results, to determine how the levels of toxic metals affected your child’s chances of developing autism. They found that 38-47% of the variation of autism’s severity was linked to the level of several toxic metals in your child’s blood. Of all of the toxic metals, cadmium and mercury were most strongly associated with the condition.
Adams advised, ‘We hypothesise that reducing early exposure to toxic metals may help ameliorate symptoms of autism, and treatment to remove toxic metals may reduce symptoms of autism; these hypotheses need further exploration as there is a growing body of research to support it.’ But how can you improve family wellness in this way?
According to a previous study, also carried out by Adams, an FDA-approved drug, known as DMSA (Dimercaptosuccinic acid), was shown to be an effective treatment for removing toxic metals. Adams’ study also found that it was generally safe and improved some of the symptoms of autism. The biggest improvement that he found was in children who had the highest levels of toxic metals in their urine.
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