Have you heard the latest news about autism? Healthy Child, Healthy World announced this month that a new scientific study links autism to environmental exposures.
Healthy Child, Healthy World reports:
On Monday, the story broke that researchers at the University of California at San Francisco and Stanford University conducted a study of 192 pairs of twins and found that genetics account for about 38 percent of the risk of autism, and environmental factors account for about 62 percent. The study will be published in November in the November issue of Archives of General Psychiatry.
If you’ve needed some motivation to live a greener lifestyle, I hope this information is helpful to you! Autism is America’s fastest growing disability with 1 in every 100 children affected (1 in every 70 boys). Although the link between environmental exposures and autism is not surprising to me, it is a very loud reminder that we are doing the right thing by prioritizing living as greenly as possible. Of course, we can’t control so much of how the environment affects us, but that just makes it all the more important to take control of the aspects of the environment’s impact on our families that we do have power over.
Who wants to live in a safer, greener world? I do!
Besides, living as greenly as possible, what else can we do to decrease the risk of autism in our families?
Healthy Child, Healthy World also reports:
Meanwhile, a study published this month in the journal Epidemiology showed that taking prenatal vitamins at the time of conception decreased the risk of autism in children by almost half, Environmental Health News reported. This is another critical study emphasizing how small lifestyle changes can have huge impacts.
For some easy ways to reduce the affects of environmental exposures on your family, please check out the following:
5 Easy Steps for Creating a Healthier Home
Antibiotics: Are they overused and in my food? What can I do?
Cleaning the Natural Way
What is BPA? Why is it bad? What can I do?
If you are interested in learning more about autism:
I am currently doing a joint giveaway of the book, Lonely Girl, Gracious God: A Mother’s Story of Autism’s Devastation & God’s Promise of Enduring Love, with Natural Parents Network.
Enter to win 1 of 2 copies or purchase the book yourself for a window into the affects of autism on a family.
Are you surprised by this news? Does it impact your lifestyle choices at all?
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{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
wow, what a revelation!!!!!!!!!!!! did they say which toxins caused this? a dear friend of mine (and client) died from CLL Leukemia due to environmental exposure…ie, fertilizer! She was a landscape architect for years. So sad…yet this news is not suprising.
Jessica | Cloth Diapering Mama recently posted..Eco-inactivism at the bulk bins…#CTWW…make cloth bags!
Powerful information – knowledge is power! I immediately thought of Baby crawling in our grass/weeds yesterday. Yesterday I was thinking about the weeds and missing our once green grassy lawn. After reading this, I’m thinking how happy I am that Baby was crawling in a chemically untreated covering.
I have a hard time swallowing these last two studies. Yes I have twins with autism and yes I fall into the category that wasn’t consistent in taking pre-natals. I was too sick. I was so sick I could barely eat or drink and spent much of my pregnancy running into the hospital for IV fluids. I think one of the largest groups that falls under the “no prenatals” category would be women with hyperemesis, like me. There is (to my knowledge) no rise in autism for women with hyperemesis. You’d think that if there was going to be a connecton between prenatals and autism, there would be a huge rise in autism for this group of women. I want to see THAT study. Also a twin study that looks at what kind of “environment” we are looking at from the get-go- didi, mono/di, momo.
I agree i had sever hyperemesis with my youngest and was concidered very high risk. shes 2 years old now and has pdd-nos. i wasnt able to take any vitimins or iron ontop . i was sick like that with my oldest child (not as sever) and she has had issues her whole life and now were getting her re-evaluated to see if she is also on the spectrum. Autism and learning disabilities runs in my family and sever morning sickness/ hyperemsis always seems to have accompanied those pregnancies. but i can never find any reserch done on early child autsim and pregnancy. i dont doubt that environmantal factors can play there role but fetal development in reguards to how we start out in life needs to be looked at as well. if there was a way i could have known and safe guarded my kids i would have
Good post. These are all things to think carefully about. I appreciate you bringing them to my attention today.
The Damsel in Dis Dress recently posted..old school field trip–bustin’ hay
I am not surprised at all. My nephew is autistic and also has Turret’s Syndrome. He was having big problems even on medications. We were told to change his diet to less grains and dairy….more natural. He will never be cured, but he is doing so much better.
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I think many things can cause autism. Perhaps it is a combination of things, too – genetic predisposition, toxins in the environment, infections, viruses, etc. A body overloaded and unable to handle it. I have a genetic mutation that causes me not to absorb B12 – I have to take at least three times the amount of someone who doesn’t have this mutation to get the same protection from a prenatal. I didn’t know that when I was pregnant with my twins and frankly I might have well not bothered with the prenatal for all the good it did and they are fine. My mutation isn’t particularly rare (about 10% of the population) so who knows how many people are taking a prenatal but not getting any benefit and how many of those women have autistic children? We are only scratching the surface with this research. So much more needs to be done to understand.
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What a great, insightful post!
Now, you know that I am a sustainability and anti-toxic-chemicals in our environment advocate but the researcher in me has some concerns about the article you linked to….
First there is a correlation but that doesn’t necessarily mean causation. There may another unknown factor at play that just happens to be present in these types of environments.
Secondly, the prenatal vitamins thing doesn’t have face validity. If prenatal vitamins were necessary to reduce the incidents of autism, then we should be seeing an inverse relationship–autism would have been an epidemic BEFORE women were encouraged to take the vitamins and now that they are, the rate of autism should be going down. But the evidence doesn’t show that. So, again, there is another factor that is play that hasn’t been determined yet.
As a former special ed teacher and now an educational psychologist, I understand the desire of parents, family, and friends to hope that the latest research has found the answer. But, in terms of neuropsychology, autism is still brand new. There is still much, much research ahead of us.
Sorry to be the mean old professor here. But, still, live sustainably and reduce the chemicals you use and ingest. We just don’t know what that stuff can do to us.
DrJulieAnn aka The Modern Retro Woman recently posted..And the Jacob Bromwell Camping Cookware Goes To….
Nice post. How amazing would it be if we really could reduce the likelihood of babies being born without disorders just by changing our environment!?! Stumbled from BlogFrog!
Renee Huggins recently posted..Sand Art Activity with My Kids
I’m afraid we’re going to learn about more & more diseases related to our environment, and it’s so easy to make changes! stumbled
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