Studies Show Consistency In Autistic Gut – It’s All About The Poop!

“There is a unique fingerprint of the gut bacteria that defines autism. When you look at the gut microbes and you do an analysis of those bacteria that live within the gut. The autistic gut, the autistic stool specimens, have a unique signature,” says Dr. David Perlmutter. 

{We are taking a leap of faith and have added a donate button instead of using advertisers. Advertisements have been removed from this page to make your reading uninterrupted. If you learn something here, please donate so we can keep offering these posts. This post contains affiliate links, which sometimes pay for this site}.

As an MD, Perlmutter is most famous for his book Grain Brain where he links digestive health to our brain. His newest book Brain Maker focuses on the function of healthy brain and how we can improve our cognitive results.

Perlmutter says, “When you look at the brain as disassociated from the gut it isolates the powerful approached we can take because it’s very narrow minded. Looking at the body as basically a machine has not served us well in any way.” He says connecting the brain and gut can help resolve some of the most powerfully devastating conditions.

The overgrowth of claustridia is consistently abundant in those with autism. 

“We’re now seeing a dramatic increase in claustridia in humans causing a disease called clostridium difficle. Thirty to forty thousand Americans are hospitalized each year with what is called C. diff,” he says. “Interestingly enough, it’s now been demonstrated that the most powerful approach to treating C. diff has been fecal transplantation, taking fecal material from a healthy person and transplanting that into the C. diff patient to reestablish balance. That’s been seen to be 92-96 percent effective in treating C. diff.” Click here to hear more. 

Currently over 150 hospitals are doing fecal transplants and seeing remarkable results.

Perlmutter goes on to say, “Much less effective is the standard treatment that has been used for a long time, antibiotics which is about 28 percent effective.”

Claustridia has many subgroups. Claustridia histaliticum is the strain seen in autistic patients. In his book Brain Maker Perlmutter describes a case study of an autistic patient who underwent fecal transplant. Afterwards he became, almost without evidence of abnormalities, fluid in speech and social interactions. 

The NIH reported a study of 58 autistic children showing the same pathogenic strains overpopulating the gut saying, “Gastrointestinal symptoms were strongly correlated with the severity of autism.”

The specifics showed, “Children with autism had much lower levels of total short chain fatty acids, including lower levels of acetate, proprionate, and valerate; this difference was greater in the children with autism taking probiotics, but also significant in those not taking probiotics. Children with autism had lower levels of species of Bifidobacter and higher levels of species of Lactobacillus, but similar levels of other bacteria and yeast using standard culture growth-based techniques. Lysozyme was somewhat lower in children with autism, possibly associated with probiotic usage.”

They concluded, in BMC Gastroenterology, “The strong correlation of gastrointestinal symptoms with autism severity indicates that children with more severe autism are likely to have more severe gastrointestinal symptoms and vice versa. It is possible that autism symptoms are exacerbated or even partially due to the underlying gastrointestinal problems.”

Seeing the success rates of the fecal connection, the University of Arizona is currently seeking autistic patients for fecal transplants as treatment. 

“It’s not just the foods we eat but how the food balance gut bacteria,” Perlmutter says. “Ninety-five percent of the neurotransmitter is manufactured in the gut. The balance of gut bacteria influences our risk of diabetes and cancer. This opens up vast possibilities well beyond the brain. Looking at fermented foods like yogurt, kefir, kimchi, sauerkraut or prebiotics like jicama, dandelion greens, garlic, onions that enhance the growth of good bacteria.”

Perlmutter says, “At this time, the FDA has not approved Fecal Transplant, so it is still an emerging field, yet we have seen intriguing results thus far.” 

Click here to find a functional medicine doctor near you. 

 *If you learned something from this post share it so others can do the same. To support the efforts of this blog shop the affiliate links above like this one. You pay the same shopping through Amazon while the author receives a small referral fee from Amazon. This offsets the costs of this site.

*Nourishing Plot is written by Becky Plotner, ND, traditional naturopath, GAPS who sees clients in Rossville, Georgia. Since her son was delivered from the effects of autism (Asperger’s syndrome), ADHD, bipolar disorder/manic depression, hypoglycemia and dyslexia through food she continued her education specializing in Leaky Gut and parasitology through Duke University, finishing with distinction. This is not a news article published by a paper trying to make money. This blog is put out by a mom who sees first hand the effects of nourishing food vs food-ish items. No company pays her for writing these blogs, she considers this a form of missionary work. It is her desire to scream it from the rooftops so that others don’t suffer from the damaging effect of today’s “food”.

Dr. David Perlmutter spoke in an online conference June 24, 2015.