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Talk About Curing Autism (TACA) provides general information of interest to the autism community. The information comes from a variety of sources and TACA does not independently verify any of it. The views expressed herein are not necessarily TACA’s. TACA does not engage in lobbying or other political activities.

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November 2010 #2

Here is your update on TACA (Talk About Curing Autism). If you are new to our site... WELCOME! This newsletter is produced two to four times each month.

We are an autism education and support group. We want to make this e-newsletter informative for you. As always, contact us your thoughts and/or questions so we can improve it.

We focus on parent information and support, parent mentoring, dietary intervention, the latest in medical research, special education law, reviews of the latest treatments, and many other topics relating to autism. Our main goal is to build our community so we can connect, share and support each other.

Talk About Curing Autism (TACA) provides general information of interest to the autism community. The information comes from a variety of sources and TACA does not independently verify any of it. The views expressed herein are not necessarily TACA’s.

1. Find a TACA Meeting

Come to a TACA Meeting!

TACA holds monthly meetings in many locations throughout the United States that feature educational speakers on important topics and allow family members to connect with one another and stay on top of the latest information in the autism world. Each TACA group maintains a resource library of the latest autism books, CDs and DVDs that can be checked out by members at no charge.

Check out our group listings: each contains information on TACA meetings and special events as well as a contact form.

Are you wondering what happens at a TACA meeting? Watch our video.

2. Join Us for Coffee Talk!

Come and receive some extra support or to

chat all topics related to autism and meet

other TACA families at these informal,

monthly get-togethers.

3. Teenagers with ASD Articles

By Holly Bortfeld

The future depends on what we do in the present. - Mahatma Gandhi

Ready or not, here it comes!

No matter which road you take on your autism journey with your child, one thing is an inevitable fact for us all - our kids become adults. Quicker than you can blink, your precious toddler is going to be a strapping young man or lovely young lady. Are you ready?

I am the parent of 2 teens with ASD, ages 15 and 17. It seems like just the other day that they were toddlers and "Poof!" I now have one heading to college and one deep in life skills training for his future. Time really does fly. Being prepared can be the difference between success and failure for your child, so roll up your sleeves and let's get started.

What are the most important things you can give your child? We give love, respect, education, health and time. With those things, every child can succeed. You will need a few things to survive this journey intact: the internet, coffee, unconditional love for your child and an unending sense of humor. With these things, you will be able to build a strong team to support your child and your family.

The building blocks for a happy, healthy, safe child are social skills and life skills, so let's begin there.

• Social Skills
• Life Skills
• Puberty: What to expect, seizures, anxiety, sexuality
• Biomed with an older child
• How to start the GFCFSF diet with an older child
• Self-Advocacy and Self-Esteem
• Keeping Your Teen Safe
• Transition IEPs
• Testing for Adolescents
• Extracurricular Activities
• Driving
• Siblings
• Preparing for college
• Been there, done that: Advice from parents

4. Pepsi Refresh - Vote for TACA today and everyday in November!

A vote for TACA is a vote for $50,000 of
Real Help Now for families affected by autism

You can help TACA provide financial assistance to these families to ensure that their child gets Real Help Now. Help us change the life of a child – one click everyday is all it takes.

Vote from your mobile phone

Text to 73774 and in the body of
the text put TACA Code: 103042.

Please help us spread the word!

• Forward this email to all of your family and friends.
• Send out reminders on Twitter.
• Promote on your Yahoo! groups.
• Put a widget on your website or blog.
• Vote every day!

5. Ante Up for Autism

Saturday’s star-studded fundraising event captured the hearts of its attendees as more than $220,000 (gross) was raised for families who are touched by autism. The 4th Annual Ante Up for Autism premier “Gala and Casino Night” benefited TACA.

Located at the luxurious St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort & Spa in Dana Point, Calif., the event included a VIP red carpet entrance, cocktails and hors d’ oeuvres on the resort lawn, a live performance by “One Tree Hill” actress and singer Kate Voegele, tournament poker, a dinner buffet, a live & silent auction and tips from poker stars.

Celebrity attendees included Clifton Collins Jr. of NBC’s new hit drama “The Event,” actor Johnathon Schaech, “Deal or No Deal” model Leyla Milani, Michael Ward (musician/author), actor Jacob Vargas, Cisco Adler (musician), Sevier Crespo (actor, producer and writer) and television host & model Renée Herlocker (red carpet MC for the event).

In addition, the following professional athletes attended the event: Jim Everett (former NFL quarterback), Brian Lopes (world champion cyclist), Felix Sanchez (Olympic gold medal hurdle winner), Ernesto Fonseca (Motocross racer), Mike Lansford (retired NFL player), Samuel Hübinette (professional race car driver and stunt driver), Stephen Murray (BMX Rider) and Brett Hughes (Lacrosse player).

During the event, attendees had a chance to learn poker from the following professional players: Kenna James, Michelle Lau, Annie Duke, Joe Reitman and Chad Brown. The winners of the poker tournament included Michelle Lau, Kenna James and Jim Everett.

TACA and the families we serve would like to thank the following sponsors for their support:

• MidWest insurance Company
• Buchanan Street Partners
• Inhouse IT
• Orange County Business Group
• Jim Everett Company
• Kirkman Group
• Oakley
• Oxyhealth
• Microsemi
• Global Languages
• NexGen Digital
• Adams & Associates
• Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth
• Amen Clinics
• Elizabeth McCoy, Esq.

TACA would also like to thank the following in kind donors:

• Commerce Casino
• Michael Voorhees Photography
• Cinematic
• Trey Jarvis
• Winspire

Last year’s Ante Up for Autism raised approximately $200,000 (gross).

We would like to extend our special thanks to our staff, volunteers and vendors for their help on this event.

6. Daily Autism Updates for Families

All news related to autism: AgeofAutism.com

7. Mercury Linked to Alzheimer’s Disease

“The Disease Destined to Bankrupt this Nation”

SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mercury likely plays a role in the development of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), according to a review of relevant scientific literature published this month in The Journal of Alzheimer's Disease. Dr. Joachim Mutter of Germany, Dr. Richard Deth of the United States, and other esteemed researchers collaborated on the groundbreaking article Does Inorganic Mercury Play a Role in Alzheimer’s Disease? A Systematic Review and an Integrated Molecular Mechanism, which clarifies the need for continuing research to understand the cause of neurological diseases such as Alzheimer’s.

“Mercury must seriously be considered as a causal agent of Alzheimer's. It is imperative that the National Institute of Health fund realistic research regarding the mercury Alzheimer's connection, which heretofore has for the most part been ignored.”

The authors of the review use numerous peer-reviewed studies to suggest that a genetic predisposition and exposure to a neurotoxin such as mercury have to co-exist for Alzheimer’s disease to manifest itself. Dr. Richard Deth, co-author and professor of neuro-pharmacology at Northeastern University in Boston, explains: "Since the brain is more vulnerable to oxidative stress than any other organ, it is not surprising that mercury, which promotes oxidative stress, is an important risk factor for brain disorders." Dr. Deth’s motto: “Mercury is bad for the brain.”

The research of the former chair of the University of Kentucky’s Chemistry Department, Dr. Boyd Haley, is congruent with Drs. Deth and Mutter’s findings. Dr. Haley, who has done research on the relationship between mercury and Alzheimer’s disease for more than twenty years, states: “Earlier research on the biochemical abnormalities of the Alzheimer’s Diseased (AD) brain showed that mercury, and only mercury, at very low levels induced the same biochemical abnormalities when added to normal human brain homogenates or in the brains of rats exposed to mercury vapor.”

Insofar as the genetic component, Haley contends: “The structure of the genetic risk protein for Alzheimer’s disease, called APO-E4, shows it has lost the ability to bind and remove mercury from the cerebrospinal fluid, the fluid that bathes the brain, when compared to the other forms of APO-E protein.”

Mercury has been the subject of controversy in various public health issues over the years, including its use in vaccines and dental amalgam fillings.

Norway, Sweden, and Denmark officially banned the use of mercury in dental fillings based on the Precautionary Principal, a protective doctrine requiring proof of safety -- a doctrine rejected by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Prior to these bans, the World Health Organization reported in 1991 that mercury fillings, routinely described as silver fillings to the public, are by far the greatest contribution to mercury in the human body.

This December, the FDA is expected to review scientific literature pertaining to the harmful effects of placing mercury fillings into the body. Scientists and experts in the field will present testimony regarding the relationship between mercury toxicity and neurological diseases, with a special focus on vulnerable populations including children and the unborn. Dr. Haley will be among the scientists presenting.

Lamenting that Alzheimer’s has reached epidemic proportions, California’s first lady Maria Shriver, in a recent interview with ABC’s Diane Sawyer, vehemently expressed the need to find the cause of AD, expressing concern that AD “will bankrupt every family in this country.” The Alzheimer's Association estimates 172 billion dollars in annual costs to maintain AD patients, which makes it imperative for the cause of AD to be found.

Mutter and Deth’s research sheds strong light on the possible root of the sixth leading cause of death in America.

Dr. Matt Young, President of International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology (IAOMT), an academy of dental, medical, and research professionals dedicated to safety in health care, which has held a continued focus on mercury’s effects, said, "Mercury must seriously be considered as a causal agent of Alzheimer's. It is imperative that the National Institute of Health fund realistic research regarding the mercury Alzheimer's connection, which heretofore has for the most part been ignored."

8. Doctors' ties to drug industry remain strong, study finds

Fewer physicians say they've accepted samples, gifts and travel expenses from pharmaceutical companies, but 84% still report some type of relationship.

By Judith Graham, Chicago Tribune

Fewer doctors report accepting drug samples, gifts, meals and all-expenses-paid trips from drug companies, according to a study published this week that comes amid mounting concerns over the potential for conflicts of interest in medical practice.

Still, arrangements between physicians and the pharmaceutical industry continue to be common; 84% of physicians reported some type of tie with drug companies in 2009, compared with 94% in 2004.

The report in the Archives of Internal Medicine is based on a survey filled out last year by 1,891 family physicians, internists, pediatricians, cardiologists, surgeons, psychiatrists and anesthesiologists. A similar survey was completed by 1,662 doctors in 2004.

Comparisons show especially sharp drops in the number of physicians that reported being paid by drug companies for continuing medical education or attending meetings in expensive or exotic locations; 18% of doctors reported receiving those reimbursements in 2009, down from 35% in 2004.

Also, fewer doctors report speaking on behalf of drug companies (8.6% in 2009 versus 16% in 2004), consulting for pharmaceutical firms (6.7% versus 18%) and participating in drug company advisory boards (4.6% versus 9%).

The results "may be signaling the slow death of the primary marketing model for drug companies, which is paying doctors to influence their behavior," said study leader Eric Campbell, director of research at the Mongan Institute for Health Policy at Massachusetts General Hospital.

The physicians most likely to have relationships with drug companies practiced in independent groups; those least likely were employed by hospitals or medical schools, many of which have adopted policies cracking down on gift-giving by pharmaceutical representatives.

"As more physicians move out of mom-and-pop shops and into larger institutional settings, expect to see this trend continue," said Dr. John Santa, director of the health ratings center for Consumer Reports.

Among specialties, cardiologists were most likely to have some kind of relationship with drug companies (92.8%) and psychiatrists the least likely (79.8%).

Jeff Francer, assistant general counsel for Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, said many activities tracked — such as giving drug samples to physicians — were "appropriate and in the interest of patients."

Last year, the industry group adopted voluntary guidelines calling on companies to stop giving doctors free pens and mugs and reiterating restrictions on giving tickets to entertainment events. The American Medical Assn., Assn. of American Medical Colleges and American College of Physicians have recommended that physicians stop accepting gifts, meals and free travel to educational conferences.

jegraham@tribune.com

9. ADHD Rates Soar in U.S. Kids: Study

Better diagnosis and screening may play a role in increase, researchers say

By Steven Reinberg, HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, Nov. 10 (HealthDay News) -- The number of U.S. children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) jumped nearly 22 percent in a recent four-year period, meaning nearly one in every 10 kids is now diagnosed with the disorder, U.S. health officials report.

"Based on our parent surveys, there has been an increase in parent-reported ADHD diagnosis among their children," said lead author Susanna Visser of the U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"This increase was from 7.8 percent in 2003 to 9.5 percent in 2007," she said. "When we project that to the American population, that means that a million more children were diagnosed with ADHD in 2007 as compared to 2003. That's a substantial increase in four years."

About 5.4 million children have ADHD in the United States, according to their parents, and 2.7 million take medication for the condition, the CDC survey of 4- to 17-year-olds found.

"There are probably more children out there who have not received a diagnosis and we can't determine how many more children there are based on these data," added Visser, lead epidemiologist of the child development studies team at the CDC's National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities.

ADHD, a neurobehavioral disorder, is characterized by levels of inattention and activity that are developmentally inappropriate. The condition can persist into adulthood.

Among older teens, the rate of ADHD soared 42 percent, the researchers found. This suggests that health care providers may be managing a larger and different population of children than they were four years ago.

"We don't know as well how to manage ADHD among older teens," Visser said. "Regardless of why we are seeing this, the end result is that health care providers are going to modify their care approach to consider the needs of older teens," she said.

The 53 percent increase in ADHD diagnosis since 2003 among Hispanics means providers are going to have to be sensitive to the needs of this group as well, Visser added.

Much of the increase may be driven by better screening programs and more awareness and diagnosis, Visser said.

The report is published in the Nov. 12 issue of the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

One expert isn't surprised by the numbers.

"I believe the findings are generally accurate and consistent with most research in detailing the rapid and rather disconcerting rise in the diagnosis of ADHD in U.S. children," said John D. Ranseen, an associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine.

The rapid rise in diagnosis, which is not necessarily equivalent to a rise in the actual condition, must be due in part to cultural factors -- a willingness to label certain symptoms as indicating ADHD, increased cultural acceptance of doing so and increased dissemination of information labeling ADHD as a "condition," he said.

Other, more vague, cultural factors may also play a role, Ranseen pointed out.

"For instance, increased stress to complete as much schooling as possible within a lousy economy," he noted.

"Another very uncomfortable issue is the role of pharmacological companies in all of this since it is very much in their interest to increase the diagnosis and treatment of this condition. The last thing they have any interest in seeing is a drop in the diagnosis and treatment," Ranseen said.

"One would hope that such findings might give the mental health field pause to wonder and worry about why we are seeing increases in virtually all psychiatric conditions -- autism, depression, ADHD, bipolar in children -- for instance, what does this say about our society?" Ranseen added.

But another ADHD expert, Dr. Jeffrey Brosco, professor of pediatrics at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, said parent-reported studies make it hard to ascertain true figures.

Whether the number of children with ADHD is actually increasing or whether the increase is a product of increased awareness isn't known, Brosco said.

"I don't know and I don't think anyone can really tell you based on this study," he said. "There is no doubt that over the last 30 to 40 years we have become much more sensitive to behavioral differences," Brosco said. "Whether there is truly a change -- whether kids in the 1970s are really different from kids in the '90s or the 2000s -- there's not any way to tell that."

10. Making Sense of Death and Autism

By LISA BELKIN

It’s been three years since Liane Kupferberg Carter lost her father. While time has dimmed the pain, it hasn’t really helped her explain things to her son, Mickey, who misses his grandfather.

Mickey is 18 and has autism. She has written often on Motherlode of the distinct challenges of parenting an autistic adult. Talking about death, as she writes in a guest blog today, is one of those challenges. Especially when you really don’t understand it yourself.

WRESTLING WITH ANGELS
by Liane Kupferberg Carter

“Do you miss your parents?” my 18-year-old son Mickey asked me last week.

“Yes,” I said. “Every day.”

“Me too,” he said, and sighed.

His grandfather died three years ago. In the past few years we have lost most of our elderly relatives, and Mickey asks about them too. “Does Aunt Tessie still love me?” he will ask. Like many children with autism, he is very literal.

We were supposed to have Sunday brunch with my father the day in July he died. Driving out to Long Island that morning, I telephoned repeatedly to say we were on our way, only to hear the answering machine pick up again and again. By the time we tore into the parking lot I was frantic. “You stay in the car with Mickey,” Marc said, racing into the lobby. Minutes later, he reappeared and motioned me out of the car. “I called 911,” he told me, wrapping his arms around me as I struggled to stifle my cries. Mickey flew from the car.

“Grandpa is dead?” he said.

We could hear the rising wail of sirens, saw a stroboscope of flashing red lights as cars and cruisers careened into the courtyard. I drew Mickey tight and covered his ears.

Two days later, I clutched hands with Marc and my older son Jonathan as we buried my father. Mickey was home with Milagros, the sitter who has loved and cared for him since he was an infant. He had already seen too much. Friends and family followed us home for the ritual lunch. Baskets of bagels, bowls of hard-boiled eggs. Round objects, to symbolize the eternal circle of life. Mickey wandered solemnly from room to room, stopping in front of a group eating at the kitchen table.

“Are you here because you’re sad about my grandpa?” he asked.

Months later, as I stowed away Mickey’s summer clothes, I noticed that he had taken all his photos of his grandfather and put them in the closet, facing the back wall. I returned them to his book shelf. A day later, they were back in his closet. I asked him why he had put them there.

“No no no. No talking,” he said.

I understood. It is all I can do, some days, to look at those pictures myself.

*******

“Do people come back from heaven?” he asks repeatedly. Over and over, I tell him no.

“Do they come back from shopping?”

I say yes, of course.

“What about James’ parents?” he asks.

I know who he means. He’s talking about the book James and the Giant Peach. On the first page, James’ parents go shopping in London, where they are eaten by an angry rhino, and James has to go live with his wicked aunts. Is this why Mickey often waits up late at night when we go to dinner and a movie?

Sometimes he’ll look up at the sky and ask if Grandpa is up there.

“I don’t want him to be dead,” he’ll say. “Make him come back.”

“He can’t come back,” I say.

“But I want him to!” he cries.

Other times he asks for concrete details: “Who buried him? Is it with sand or dirt?”

*******

He plays Nintendo games endlessly, watching characters who “die”, only to be reborn in the next game level. A high-tech version of Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner, forever chasing each other through an undulating landscape of cliffs and chasms. Or he pores over my wedding album. The married pictures, he calls them. Pointing out all the relatives who’ve died, asking me to name them. Inexplicably, he finds the name “Bernie” hilarious, repeating it to himself again and again for days. When we drive by a cemetery, he will ask, “is that a cemetery? Are strangers buried there?” I think of Elizabeth Kubler-Ross’s Five Stages of Grief. They’re not unlike the stages you go through when your child is diagnosed with autism. I’ve learned that grieving isn’t linear; I cycle through each stage again and again. Just as Mickey is doing. How can I explain death to him? I can’t explain it to myself. Often I wake in the dead of night, awash in a wave of nausea. How will he cope with my death? Who will love him when I am gone?

********

Mickey writes stories. He began doing this a few months before his grandfather died, when we took my increasingly frail father out to eat at Bruce’s Deli. Waiting for food, Mickey busied himself by writing stories about his grandpa on the back of a paper place mat, filling every available bit of white space with inky words. Now he writes stories whenever we go out to eat. The stories are all the same. Always about someone who has died. In each one, a zoo animal escapes, invades that relative’s home and makes a big mess. The animal breaks the computer, the dishwasher and TV. It eats everything in sight. Every story has a title: “Aunt Tessie and the Bison.” “Aunt Harriet and the Panther.” “Grandma and the Warthog.” The stories don’t vary much. The syntax is off. He will only write them on a piece of paper torn from a small spiral notebook in my purse. And yet, these stories are powerful, filled with action and anger. Most of them end along the lines of, “Aunt Tessie yelled get out you ugly mean bison. But that bison didn’t listen. That bison at Aunt Tessie’s house forever. The End.” Sometimes he resolves them with: “Uncle Jack has to call 911. The police arrest the monkey to put the monkey to jail. The End.”

*********

A year later, when we hold the unveiling, the Jewish tradition of honoring the deceased with a marker or headstone, we take Mickey with us to the cemetery, thinking that seeing the grave may answer some of his questions. Surprisingly, he walks through the group of gathered relatives, shaking hands, happily greeting people by name. As social as a politician working a crowd. Standing front and center by the grave, he eyes the unfamiliar rabbi. “Hi, I’m Mickey. Who are you? Are you helping us pray?”

**********

We are driving home after getting Mickey a flu shot when he asks suddenly, “Who buried Martin Luther King?”

I say, the people who work in the cemetery.

“Can God make people alive again?”

I say no.

“But he has to!” Mickey says, now angry.

“People’s bodies die. But we still love them, and think about them, and talk about them. Our thoughts and feelings about them will always be in our heads and hearts,” I say.

“My family is in my heart?” he says.

“Yes.”

He thinks a moment. “Are they buried in my stomach?” he asks.
###

He stacks his stories in a cubby hole in his desk. “Sit with me, Mom,” he says one afternoon, and I perch on the bed beside him. He wants to nap, so I cover him with a quilt. “Mom,” he says. “You’re being like a flight attendant.”

I smile. “I’m right here,” I say.

“Mom?” he says. “When are my cats going to die?”

“Not for a very long time,” I say.

Then one day, at City Limits Diner, he looks up from the story he is writing and says, “Are people in stories alive?”

“Not exactly,” I say. “People who have died stay dead. But it’s very good to write about them.”

“Will they come back?”

“No,” I say.

And then he smiles radiantly. “But they’re alive in my stories!” he says.

“Yes,” I say, and give him a hug. “Yes. Absolutely. They are.”

11. Urinary Porphyrin Excretion in Neurotypical and Autistic Children

Comparison of Urinary Porphyrins in NT and AU Children

Our findings suggest that mean concentrations of uro- and precoproporphyrins are comparable between NT and AU children of the same age ranges. In contrast, the concentrations of all remaining porphyrins, particularly hexacarboxyl-, pentacarboxyl-, and coproporphyrins, were significantly higher in AU children than NT children, especially in older age groups. Several possibilities might account for these differences. Of initial concern, Hg exposure appears unlikely to play a role in this effect, because no significant differences were observed between NT and AU subjects for indices of past exposure to Hg from dental or medical sources, as reported by parents/caregivers. Additionally, urinary Hg concentrations, measures of recent Hg exposure, were very low among all subjects in this study (Table 2), and no significant differences between diagnostic groups were observed. As noted recently (Woods et al. 2009a), incipient although statistically nonsignificant changes in urinary porphyrin concentrations were seen among children with urinary Hg concentrations derived from prolonged dental amalgam Hg exposure on the order of 3.2 µg/g creatinine. This is nearly 10 times the mean urinary Hg concentration observed among children in this study. Similar findings describing very low blood Hg levels and insignificant differences between NT and AU children have recently been reported (Hertz-Picciotto et al. 2010). These observations do not preclude a possible role of Hg exposure from sources not measured or validated in the present study, especially during the perinatal period, in the etiology of autism or related neurodevelopmental disorders in some children, particularly in relation to genetic variation that may predispose to increased risk of the neurotoxic effects of Hg as Hg0 as reported in adults (Echeverria et al. 2005, 2006, 2010; Heyer et al. 2009). Our findings indicate instead that porphyrin metabolism, particularly in preadolescent children, may be too disordered or differently regulated to permit detection of the Hg-mediated changes in urinary porphyrin excretion apparent in adult subjects. Further studies using a substantially larger population, such as the National Children's Study now in progress (National Children's Study 2010), are required to resolve this question.

Environ Health Perspect. 2010 Oct;118(10):1450-7. Epub 2010 Jun 24.

Urinary porphyrin excretion in neurotypical and autistic children.

Woods JS, Armel SE, Fulton DI, Allen J, Wessels K, Simmonds PL, Granpeesheh D, Mumper E, Bradstreet JJ, Echeverria D, Heyer NJ, Rooney JP.

Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98105, USA. jwoods@u.washington.edu

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Increased urinary concentrations of pentacarboxyl-, precopro- and copro-porphyrins have been associated with prolonged mercury (Hg) exposure in adults, and comparable increases have been attributed to Hg exposure in children with autism (AU).

OBJECTIVES: This study was designed to measure and compare urinary porphyrin concentrations in neurotypical (NT) children and same-age children with autism, and to examine the association between porphyrin levels and past or current Hg exposure in children with autism.

METHODS: This exploratory study enrolled 278 children 2-12 years of age. We evaluated three groups: AU, pervasive developmental disorder-not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS), and NT. Mothers/caregivers provided information at enrollment regarding medical, dental, and dietary exposures. Urine samples from all children were acquired for analyses of porphyrin, creatinine, and Hg. Differences between groups for mean porphyrin and Hg levels were evaluated. Logistic regression analysis was conducted to determine whether porphyrin levels were associated with increased risk of autism.

RESULTS: Mean urinary porphyrin concentrations are naturally high in young children and decline by as much as 2.5-fold between 2 and 12 years of age. Elevated copro- (p < 0.009), hexacarboxyl- (p < 0.01) and pentacarboxyl- (p < 0.001) porphyrin concentrations were significantly associated with AU but not with PDD-NOS. No differences were found between NT and AU in urinary Hg levels or in past Hg exposure as determined by fish consumption, number of dental amalgam fillings, or vaccines received.

CONCLUSIONS: These findings identify disordered porphyrin metabolism as a salient characteristic of autism. Hg exposures were comparable between diagnostic groups, and a porphyrin pattern consistent with that seen in Hg-exposed adults was not apparent.