Ed…any updates on this topic? The Nature of Things with David Suzuki had an episode on gut bacteria and a possible link to autism. Do you have any more information on this?
And since I’m here (I’d forgotten I’d commented here before)….
…John, of all the possible causes of autism, it has been fairly conclusively demonstrated it is NOT the scheduled vaccines.
Helen…comments *are* the places for references. These are science-blogs, evidence-based blogs. You comment on something that is new, interesting, ground-breaking or goes against standard thinking to date, you need to post a reference so readers can tell if what you are saying should be taken seriously (e.g. reliable source cited, well done study, authors’ conclusions haven’t been misrepresented, etc). For example, since you suggested checking PubMed, see here regarding formula vs breast-feeding.
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22140499
Some differences but formula seems good–notice though that this is a formula with an innovative mixture of oligosaccharides, which have been added to many formulas to help mimic the effects of breast milk. Pubmed has many articles on this so if anyone makes a claim that breast-feeding is better than formula and results in healthier gut flora, they need to indicate what formulas they are talking about (the ones from the 60s, 70s, 2000s?)–if they fail to indicate the differences that may mean they don’t know there are differences and may mean they haven’t actually done any research on reliable sites, so their opinion may be based on very old research.
So when someone, like Judy, says formula-fed children develop less healthy bowel flora, but doesn’t indicate what formula types she is talking about, that sends up a red-flag. There were several other red flag statements, none of which mean she’s wrong but which do mean a closer look is warranted–and a closer looks reveals that while there are differences in gut flora between two groups, they are not labelled as healthy vs unhealthy (when it comes to oligosaccharide mixes). These differences in the long-run may indeed be unhealthy so not disagreeing there–I just want to see evidence that this is the case, and hence the need to post some references.
Another reason to post references is to educate. So, for John and others who may think vaccines are responsible, see….
antiantivax.flurf.net/
Be sure to follow his references to ensure he’s obtaining his information from reliable sources.
