James B. Adams, Ph.D.
Summary of Biomedical Treatments – available for free at http://autism.asu.edu

Nutrition Research
2004: pilot study: vitamin/mineral supplement improves sleep and gastrointestinal problems
2006: Low lithium in children with autism and their mothers
2007: Essential Fatty acids help reduce autistic symptoms in children and adults with low fish consumption
2008/2010 Nutrition study:

1) Many abnormalities in nutritional and metabolic status, including low glutathione, increased toxic metals, low ATP, abnormal neurotransmitters, and more
2) Vitamin/mineral supplement greatly improves most nutritional and metabolic abnormalities, including glutathione, ATP, neurotransmitters, and more
2011 Carnitine study finds that supplementation with carnitine provides some benefits in 50% of children with autism

Toxic Metals
2003: children with autism excreted 3-6x more mercury than typical children after chelation
2007: 2-3x higher mercury in baby teeth
2007: higher amounts of toxics in children’s hair
2008: abnormal mercury in baby hair
2009: amount of toxic metals strongly correlates with severity of autism
2009: chelation with DMSA safely removes toxic metals, improves glutathione, reduces inflammation, and improves symptoms

Gastrointestinal Problems
2008/2010 study found severity of gastrointestinal problems strongly correlated with severity of autism; also, much lower short-chain fatty acids, indicating abnormal gut bacteria
2010: study will use novel DNA-based methods to identify and quantify roughly 400-600 different gut bacteria in children with autism vs. typical children

Treating Inflammation
2007 study found that ACTOS, an FDA-approved anti-inflammatory medication, was able to reduce autistic symptoms
2009 study found increased platelets, a general marker of inflammation, and found that chelation therapy resulted in 50% improvement

Seizures
2010 - National survey with Dr. Richard Frye (neurologist at Un. Texas) on treatments for seizures – over 1000 respondents
Identified which treatments were likely to decrease seizures, with least chance of side-effects

Funding support from the Autism Research Institute and the Zoowalk for Autism