Parents, particularly mothers with MS or thyroid conditions, and many practitioners have suspected a link between autoimmune conditions and autism for many years. A new study published in Molecular Psychology is proving them right. There are over 100 autoimmune disorders including Crohn's disease, lupus. psoriasis, Graves' disease, multiple sclerosis, and rheumatoid arthritis.
2,700 mothers of children with autism participated in the study and 1 in 10 mothers have antibodies in their bloodstream that react with proteins in the brain of their babies. While the antibodies do not cross the blood-brain barrier in adult women, they do cross the blood-brain barrier in fetuses potentially allowing harmful antibodies to pass through to the babies' brains. Researchers suspect this is one of the causes of autism.
It is estimated that 37.5 million women in the United States have an autoimmune disorder. If the 1 in 10 number above is accurate, the number of autism cases that could result from this is staggering.