Autism and Alzheimer’s—the answer lies in the gut

When autism was first formally identified as a special condition in the 1930’s, it was generally considered a mental health problem. At that time—there was no field connecting psychoneuroimmunology. The brain was treated separately from the body. There is no medical test for autism. The current criteria for diagnosing autism are based solely on behavior and noticeable outward symptoms. This means that if an individual shows certain predetermined behaviors then he/she is given a diagnosis of Autism, ADD/ADHD, Alzheimer’s, etc. These are “spectrum” disorders; named because of the myriad of possible symptoms and their degree of severity. But what if …read more