U. Padhye
Autism and other closely related disorders under Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) umbrella have grown exponentially in past 30 years in the United States. During the same period of time Iron consumed by infants rose exponentially. This research sheds the light on connection between increased iron consumption and autoimmune disorders such as Allergies, Eczema, Asthma, Autism and PDD disorders.
Introduction
Autism is a profoundly and poorly understood developmental disorder that impairs a person's social and communication abilities. Autism and other closely related disorders under Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) umbrella have grown exponentially in past 30 years. California alone has reported 273% increase in the number of persons with autism between 1987 and 1998 and nearly 2000% percent increase in the PDD category.1 Other childhood disorders such as asthma and allergies are also on rise. During the same period of time Iron consumed by infants rose exponentially. Excess iron can produce differing symptoms ranging from colic, constipation, diarrhea, eczema to PDD disorders. Following case study reports results of growth and development of our son from birth to 4 years of age and our daughter from birth to 2 years of age. Previous study by Singh et al have shown connection between autoimmunity and autism.2 In this study we have tried to explain the critical role of iron in immune response and its implications on nervous system.
Case Study
At one month of age my son was extremely irritable, itchy, could not sleep well and had rash all over his body and woke up at night with extremely laud cry. Since birth he was breast and formula fed. As he grew older his skin became extremely dry and itchy and was diagnosed with atopic dermatitis at the age of 2 months. By the age of one year his eczema was limited to hands and legs and dark itchy circles under the eyes. His stools were semi-solid till the age on 3 years and then he started having irritable-bowel syndrome. By three years of age he had several incidences of viral infections, had mild asthma and had two incidences of febrile seizures with high fever. His immune system reacted violently to infections with very high rising fever. He had above normal language and motor skill development but had obsessive behavior, was withdrawn with poor eye contact, aversion to touch and poor social skills.
My daughter was exclusively breast fed until 4 months of age after and then we started giving her combination of breast milk and whey based infant formula. Just within a week of starting this formula she started developing atopic dermatitis. She was extremely itchy and irritated and would bleed herself if left unattended. Her skin was dry and inflamed and she would scratched continuously all day. We tried several different of formula that exists in the market (soy based, lactose free, hydrolyzed) without any results. By the age of six months she was fed iron fortified rice cereal and whey based infant formula. By the age of 2 years she had delayed development and speech.
In our quest to cure the children we started experimenting with their diet and nutrients. We found out that both of them had undetected food allergies, they were allergic to most protein rich food (milk, wheat, peas, peanuts, eggs. etc). Whenever my daughter touched any allergic food the part of the body, which came in contact, got hot and inflamed. Nearing age of one year, I gave her a single dose of 5mg of Iron. This aggravated her symptoms and made life miserable for several days. After trying the experiment several times on both kids, we found out that excess iron in their diet was the root cause behind these allergies and intense immune responses. The hypothesis is that the allergic individuals have a fragile iron metabolism that gets easily overloaded by excess dietary iron. This excess iron increases the immune response to very intense levels and the immune system starts vigorously attacking food protein and in the process damages the surrounding tissue. The blood gets warm since the immune system is continuously attacking food protein. Without excess iron these immune responses to allergens would have gone unnoticed. Once the immune system is hyperactive, it is difficult to calm it down to normal levels. The treatment should include reducing dietary iron and eliminating allergens at the same time over several months. It is interesting to note that both the children have low blood hemoglobin (less than 10 gm/dl). It has also been reported that autistic individuals have low levels of ferritin 3, this suggests that the excess iron is not getting stored as hemoglobin or ferritin.
We learned that vitamin B6 was very effective in calming this immune response. Nearing age of two years I gave a single dose of 25mg of vitamin B6 to my daughter, this aggravated the symptoms but with in few days her symptoms improved and she started talking few words. I started giving vitamin B6 (10mg) dose once in two weeks to both children. After few days of giving B6 they would typically catch a respiratory infection, this was because B6 suppressed their immune system and made them more susceptible to infections. We noticed that vitamin B6 affects the immune system in opposing way to iron, and suppresses the immune system. Overloading the fragile metabolism with excess B6 proved to a bad idea. After experimentation I reduced the dose to 1mg and after a single dose I allowed several weeks for body to catch up and heal before repeating the dose. Several other studies have shown that vitamin B6 has positive results in autistic individual and helps calming violent behavior.4
At present both the children are on low iron (3mg/day) and low allergen diet. We eliminated protein rich food and only allow rice, fruits and vegetables and hydrolyzed formula. The allergies and other symptoms have improved dramatically, they are more energetic and less irritable and my daughter has started speaking sentences.
Discussion
Mothers milk contains 0.3 to 0.5mg/L of iron, assuming that 50% of this iron gets absorbed, a typical breast fed infant would get 0.15 to 0.25mg of iron. It has been observed that some term infants who are exclusively breast-fed may remain iron-sufficient until 9 months of age.5 Typical infant formulas contain 12mg/L of iron and Iron-fortified cereals contain approximately 30 to 50 mg per 100 g of cereal. Allergic infants have more permeable gut and absorption rates could be much higher than previously estimated. Most of the readily available fruit juices are fortified with Vitamin C, which further helps Iron absorption. Thus a typical infant gets several times more iron than what mother nature intended it to be for optimum development. In addition parents give supplemental vitamins and iron. Previous studies have shown that 50% of children less than two years of age in the United States receive multivitamins and mineral supplementation.6 PARENTS magazine advises parents that it is reasonable to give children a vitamin and mineral supplement three or four times weekly, particularly if they are finicky eaters.7
The decreased incidence of iron deficiency anemia in the United States since 1969 has been attributed to the increased and longer use of iron-fortified formulas, an increase in breast-feeding and the use of iron-fortified infant cereals.8,9 Per capita consumption of iron in the U.S. has been on the rise ever since 1960's and has increased nearly 90% in past 30 years.10 This excess Iron produces intense autoimmune reactions that responsible for variety of developmental disorders.
The relationship between iron, Vitamin B6, Allergic food and brain function is shown in figure 1. The hypothesis is that in genetically predisposed individuals, the immune system is continuously attacking allergic proteins mostly from food sources. At low levels of iron the immune response is low and the immune system takes its time to remove the allergic protein that migrate into various organs including brain. This is the classic anemic condition and mind is feeble and less confidant. The mind gets easily confused and dizzy especially after eating gluten, casein and other protein rich foods. As the levels of dietary iron increases, the immune function starts vigorously attacking food protein and the confusion, dizziness goes away and mind becomes more alert and confident. This is the optimum level of performance for that individual. As the iron levels go up even more the immune reactions get more violent and the mind gets angry, violent and hyperactive. These violent reactions are the root cause of nerve damage. Once the levels of stored iron are high eliminating dietary Iron anole will not show immediate results. In order to see any significant results the person should be on low iron and low allergen diet for several months along with Vitamin B6 to suppress the immune reactions. We recommend that mass medication of the population with excessive nutrients in not suitable to all individuals and the practice for fortification of infant food should be immediately stopped.
Referances
1. Changes in the population of persons with Autism and Pervasive Developmental Disorders in California's Developmental Service System: 1987 through 1998: A report to legislature, 1999, Department of developmental services.
2. Vijendra K. Singh, Sheren X. Lin, and Victor C. Yang, "Serological Association of Measles Virus and Human Herpesvirus-6 with Brain Autoantibodies in Autism," Clinical Immunology and Immunopathology, Oct 1998, Vol. 89, No. 1, p 105-108.
3. A. Latif, P. Heinz, R. Cook et al: Iron deficiency in autism and Asperger syndrome. The International Journal of Research and Practice, Volume 06 Issue 01, 2002.
4. Bernard Rimland: Vitamin B6 (and magnesium) in the treatment of autism. Autism Research Review International, Vol. 1 (4), 1987.
5. Siimes MA, Salmenpera L, Perheentupa J: Exclusive breast feeding for nine months: a risk
of iron deficiency. J Pediatr 1984; 104: 196-199
6.Looker AC, Sempos CT, Johnson CL et al. Comparison of dietary intakes and iron status of vitamin-mineral supplement users and nonusers, aged 1-19 years. Am J Clin Nutr 1987;46:665-72.
7. Anon. Parents Magazine. July 1995.
8.Yip R, Binkin NJ, Fleshood L et al: Declining prevalence of anemia among low-income
children in the United States. JAMA 1987; 258: 1619-1623
9.Yip R, Walsh KM, Goldfarb MG et al: Declining prevalence of anemia in childhood in a
middle-class setting: A pediatric success story? Pediatrics 1987; 80: 330-334
10. Nutrition Insight: The U.S. Food supply series and dietary guidance, Nov. 1998
Remove wheat, milk products from diet. We suggest a low Allergen and low Iron (1mg/day) diet. A strict diet of rice and vegetable for several months gives the best results. Give Vitamin B6 (2mg/day) dose once a week.
Suggestions
In order to prevent the epidemic of Autism/Allergies and other immune related disorders FDA should ban fortification of food with Iron
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