Environmental Toxins, Micronutrient Deficiencies and

1
Environmental Toxins, Micronutrient Deficiencies
and Autism
Putting the Puzzle Together

• Anne Kelly, MD, MPH, FAAP
• Board Certified Pediatrician
• President, Nutrition Ignition Inc.

2
Food and Health

•   "The doctor of the future will no longer treat
  the human frame with drugs, but rather will  cure
  and prevent disease with nutrition.
• Thomas Edison

3
Post WWIIThe Modern American Diet

• Processed Foods
• Synthetic chemicals, preservatives and food
  colorings
• Genetically modified crops, round-up ready soy
  beans, pesticides, herbicides and fungicides.
• Microwave, irradiation of food, aluminum cans,
  endocrine disrupters in plastics and a range of
  industrial pollutants in our water.

4
Chemicals in food and behavior disorders

• Artificial Food Colorings (AFC)
• A 2004 review examined 15 double-blind,
  cross-over trials using similar artificial food
  coloring.
• Under an AFCs-free diet, the average behavioral
  improvement was significant for both normal and
  ADHD children.
• Bateman B et al.(2004) The effects of a double
  blind, placebo controlled, artificial food
  colorings and benzoate preservative challenge on
  hyperactivity in a general population sample of
  preschool children. Archives of Disease in
  Childhood 89 506-511.

5
Mercury Rising

• Study using the U.S. Centers for Disease Control
  and Prevention's National Health and Nutrition
  Examination Survey (NHANES)
• 6,000 American women
• 1999-2000 inorganic mercury detected in the
  blood of 2 of women aged 18 to 49
• 2005-2006 the level rose to 30
• http//health.usnews.com/health-news/family-health
  /womens-health/articles/2009/08/24/blood-mercury-l
  evels-rising-among-us-women

6
Mercury in Fishtip of the iceberg

• Minnesota Health Department Guidelines limit
  consumption of fish from local lakes
• mercury, dioxin, PCBs, PFCs and pesticides
• With many toxins 1 1 3

7
Newborns Chemically Polluted

• Newborn umbilical cord blood analysis - an
  average of 200 industrial chemicals and
  pollutants.
• Environmental Working Group 2005

8
Toxins and the Food Chain

• Explosion of unregulated chemicals after WWII
• Bioconcentration accumulation in organisms
  tissues
• Biomagnification an increase in concentration
  up the food chain
• DDT in water 0.000003 ppm
• DDT in osprey 25 ppm

9
Toxins Rising in the Food Chain

• Human and animal milk is very susceptible to
  effects of biomagnification and bioconcentration.
• Fish from Minnesota Lakes common in the diet of
  Minnesota Native Americans and some immigrants.

10
Vulnerability Triad

• Genetics detoxification genes
• Nutritional Status
• Toxin exposure/weight

11
Micronutrient Deficiencies on the rise

• Minnesota - reduced sun exposure leads to
  vitamin D deficiency.
• Minnesota - Midwest Goiter Belt.
• Low soil iodine levels inland
• Reduction in iodized salt
• Reduction in iodine added to baking products
• Supplementation of iodine often overlooked when
  we restrict salt in our diet.

12
Iodine levels declining

• The National Health and Nutrition Surveys
  (NHANES) have monitored urine iodine levels over
  the last 33 years. The following shows the median
  urinary iodine concentration levels from each of
  the NHANES surveys in adults and reproductive
  women.
• Adults
• 1971-1974 median UIC 320mcg/L
• 1988-1994 median UIC 145mcg/L
• 2001-2002 median UIC 165mcg/L
• 2003-2004 median UIC 160mcg/L.
• Women in reproductive years
• 2001-2002 36 of reproductive women were below
  100mcg/L 15 were below 50mcg/L
• Iodized Salt A Low Iodine Source in the U.S
  Iodized Salt May Not Prevent Iodine Deficiency
  Disorders http//vitamins-minerals.suite101.com/ar
  ticle.cfm/low_iodine_content_of_salt_in_united_sta
  tesixzz0eyHgVlVY

13
Micronutrient Deficiencies Common in Autism

• A number of research studies have found macro
  and micronutrient deficiencies in children with
  autism
• Low Zinc
• Low Vitamin D
• Low Essential Fatty Acids
• Low Magnesium
• Low antioxidant levels
• Low amino acid levels

14
Toxic Metal Burden and Nutrition

• The Severity of Autism Is Associated with Toxic
  Metal Body Burden and Red Blood Cell Glutathione
  Levels. Adams et al. 2009
• Heavy metal burden
• Glutathione reflects nutrition and antioxidant
  status.

15
North American Water Office (NAWO) study
Indigenous Women's Mercury Investigation
Minnesota

• Minnesota Special Education Data for White Earth
• 2000 2007 Autism increased 24 each year (365
  overall)
• Nutrition survey of 319 children and their
  parents from White Earth tribe.

16
NAWO Study Results

•  Fish consumption in excess of the Health
  Department Guidelines
•  A lack of fresh fruits and vegetables
• Highest rate of behavioral problems in children
  with fish consumption plus dental amalgams.
• Sacred Water, Water for Life (c) 2010  Lea
  Foushee et al www.nawo.org

17
Toxic Exposures and NutritionMost Vulnerable
Periods

• Maternal
• Nutrition
• Toxin exposures
• Genetics
• Prenatal
• Neonatal
• Infant
• Toddler

18
Potential Concentrated sources of toxins
ininfant diets

• Breast Milk bioconcentration of maternal toxins
• Cows milk bioconcentration of maternal toxins
• Fruit juices with highest concentration of
  pesticides apple and orange

19
Key Points

• Our bodies metabolic system and enzymes detoxify
  harmful substances, including pesticides, heavy
  metals and some chemicals.

• Poor quality diets may result in micronutrient
  deficiencies critical enzymes need key nutrients
  to function, including zinc, selenium, B vitamins
  and others.
• Deficiency in nutrients and/or excessive exposure
  to toxins can contribute to changes in behavior
  and other symptoms.

20
Public Health ResponseStuck on Yellow

• Public health response to E. Coli outbreak versus
  autism
• People are sick and often hospitalized
• Infectious etiology
• Healthcare and public health system trained and
  interconnected when solving infectious disease
  puzzles

21
Stuck on Yellow

• Acute encephalopathy is treated as a medical
  emergency.
• Autism is treated as a behavioral health problem.

22
Autism label shifts response

• Referred to Mental Health system for diagnosis.
• As a result Medical and PHS are less involved.

23
Public Health SystemHome of the Disease
Detectives

• Minnesota Health Department ? ? ? ?
• Mandates and financial resources needed to fund
  an autism public health program.