Scientists: Chemicals "scrambling brain development"..study shows "autism-like condition in rats

[AikidoSoul]

More and more scientists are seeing that neurotoxicants damage the brain in similar ways -- and more credence is being given to the possibility that multiple environmental chemicals may be linked to autism-like disorders. Pesticides, heavy metals, and industrial chemicals found in everyday products are also implicated. This particular study is looking at banned chemicals that are still showing up in our bodies



http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-autism25apr25,1,2458487.story?coll=la-headlines-nation


PCBs cause autism-like condition in newborn rats

The banned chemical scrambles brain development, a UC San Francisco study finds.
By Marla Cone, Times Staff Writer
April 25, 2007


Traces of a chemical banned 30 years ago cause brain abnormalities in newborn lab animals that are similar to defects in children with autism, according to a new study by University of California scientists.

Many scientists say that an array of chemicals in the environment are scrambling brain development and could play a role in children's learning disorders.

The new study adds to the evidence by showing that PCBs, polychlorinated biphenyls, disrupt the auditory cortex, a part of the brain that is impaired in autistic children.

In the research at UC San Francisco, rats exposed to low levels of PCBs in the womb and during nursing had disorganized, malfunctioning auditory centers. The auditory cortex controls the brain's processing of sounds, which is essential for language development.

"This is a red flag," said neuroscientist Michael M. Merzenich of UCSF's W.M. Keck Foundation Center for Integrative Neuroscience, the study's senior author. "The impact of this class of chemicals must be studied in human populations, and fast."

The new research shows brain development is skewed when animals are exposed to amounts of PCBs in the same range as some highly exposed people. It will be published in this week's online Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"This study indicates that there are chemicals out there, this being just one example, that could profoundly affect development," said Tal Kenet, who led the research team in Merzenich's lab while a postdoctoral fellow there. He is now a faculty member at Harvard Medical School.

Last year, two internationally known environmental scientists reported in a medical journal that industrial chemicals may be causing a "silent pandemic" of learning disorders. Dr. Philippe Grandjean of Harvard School of Public Health and Dr. Philip J. Landrigan of Mount Sinai School of Medicine identified 202 chemicals — including PCBs and mercury — that could be contributing to autism, attention deficit disorders and other neurological disorders, and they urged more human studies.

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<SNIP>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>


The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in February that one in every 150 8-year-old children in 14 states had autism or related syndromes.

[no_hypocrisy]

1. The Anti-Truth Serum.

Think it will be introduced into the water supply for all of us Proles to ingest?

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

2. PCBs were banned thirty years ago.

:shrug:

[depakid]

5. But like many toxins, they're persistent and bioaccumulative

You can find what might be expected to already be in your body- as well as expected exposures to children in a particular states by checking the Body Burden site:

http://www.bodyburden.org/

[AikidoSoul]

26. Thanks for this great link to a great site about chemicals and how they are building up in our

bodies, among many concerns. Environmental Working Group has done a great job documenting how all of us are becoming miniature hazardous waste disposal plants.... even before we are born!

[AikidoSoul]

9. PCBs are still found in thousands of industrial and commercial applications

including electrical transformers, and in paint, plastic, and rubber products. They accumulate in river sediment and soil, and in the fatty tissue of fish.

But scientists are also worried about many other neurotoxins that act in similar ways -- which is mentioned in the article. There are many of these in every home and workplace in the United States. And remember -- toxic chemicals are not tested for safety before they are marketed. We have the "dead bodies" approach to chemicals' regulation here in the U.S.

[Javaman]

3. But the stuff stays in your system forever...

In a recent issue of National Geographic (I think it was last january's) There was an article about all the polutents in our bodies.

The author was in his late 30's. He had gotten a test to see what was in his body. He had traces of DDT in his body. It was absorbed when he was a kid. (plus all kinds of other things)

[AikidoSoul]

27. Pesticides have been shown to decrease IQ levels by several points

Makes me wonder about our society in general and its abilitiy to develop its potential.

[KittyWampus]

4. Monosodium glutamate is a neurotoxin & mutagen. It's in so many things & not labeled

As people began to shun MSG, the corporations using it forced the FDA to allow MSG to be labeled by other names including “natural flavors”, hydrolyzed protein, and autolyzed yeast when it is a component part of an additive and not purely MSG.

"Americans are now consuming an estimated 160 million pounds of MSG annually. Dr. George Schwartz, toxicologist and author says two tablespoons of MSG on a piece of bread will kill a medium-sized dog in minutes.

In 1995, the FDA claimed that no one will react to less than three grams of MSG per meal. But it has since warned that MSG should be avoided by children, the elderly, pregnant or lactating women, and asthmatics. A sensitized person can react to much less than one gram.

Research indicates that in the late 1950s, the estimated use of MSG in America was 12 grams/person/year. Today that estimate is in excess of 400-500 grams/person/year.."

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

6. glutamate is an amino acid.

It's essential for the body to function. That's why the body produces it.

It's good not to have too much in your food, but that's because of the sodium. It's like having too much salt in your food.

[AikidoSoul]

7. It's important to call MSG "free glutamic acid " because

otherwise you will find skeptics that call it "natural". Free glutamic acid is created by an industrial process, not by nature.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

8. And?

[AikidoSoul]

10. Crying Shame wrote"Monosodium Glutamate" and you said is is an amino acid -- that's wrong

it's not. You may want to call it that for your own reasons, but MSG is not a natural "amino acid" as you say -- MSG is actually "free glutamic acid" produced by an industrial process started in Asia, but more recently adapted and industrialized in the US using mainly corn and other starches for fermentation. Chemicals are often added to "control" the fermentation process which occurs is huge vats.

What is of concern is the neurotoxic effects that some people experience. MSG is known as an excitotoxin.

"Because MSG is absorbed very quickly in the gastrointestinal tract (unlike glutamic acid-containing proteins in foods), MSG could spike blood plasma levels of glutamate.<6><7><8> Glutamic acid is in a class of chemicals known as excitotoxins, high levels of which have been shown in animal studies to cause damage to areas of the brain unprotected by the blood-brain barrier and that a variety of chronic diseases can arise out of this neurotoxicity.<9><10> The debate among scientists on the significance of these findings has been raging since the early 1970s, when Dr. John Olney found that high levels of glutamic acid caused damage to the brains of infant mice.<11> The debate is complex and has focused on several areas:"

Wikipedia link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monosodium_glutamate


added Wiki quote

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

13. Glutamate is an natural amino acid.

The big twenty natural amino acids being:

glycine
alanine
valine
leucine
isoleucine
methionine
phenylalanine
tryptophan
proline
serine Ser
threonine
cysteine
tyrosine
asparagine
glutamine
aspartic acid/aspartate
glutamic acid/glutamate
lysine
arginine
histidine

C'mon, this is basic high school level biochemistry. The "industrial" stuff, by the way, is produced via fermentation of natural microorganisms.

I wish people would learn basic science before going off on rants about it.

[AikidoSoul]

15. No matter what you say you can't deny that it's an excitotoxin

and that it is ADDED to food often in large amounts. There has been a huge increase in the use of MSG.

While technically MSG is only one of several forms of free glutamate used in foods, consumers frequently use the term MSG to mean all free glutamate. For this reason, FDA considers foods whose labels say "No MSG" or "No Added MSG" to be misleading if the food contains ingredients that are sources of free glutamates, such as hydrolyzed protein.

So....... tell me.... have you sprayed any pesticides in your house recently?

Those are the kinds of chemicals I would be most concerned about because they are ubiquitous. Even if you don't spray your house you have pesticides in it.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

22. You can't deny that glutamate is natural.

Aikido, the human body is made up out of glutamate.

I also have no idea what any of this has to do with anything.

[AikidoSoul]

39. Do you know what the difference is between glutamine and glutamate? N/T

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

41. Yes, I do.

Both are natural amino acides, both are on the list I provided. You did read the list, right? The former has an amide group on the side chain, the latter's a carboxylic acid.

Why do you ask?

[AikidoSoul]

44. I agree with you that this discussion on MSG is diluting the topic

of this thread, but since you are the one that started the battle -- you might as well finish it.

if you believe that the MSG put in products is "naturally occurring," I can only assume that you're buying the FDA line that all processed free glutamic acid (MSG) is "natural". You can better see how wrongheaded this is when you notice that the FDA also says that the food ingredient "monosodium glutamate" is "natural."

The FDA continues its misleading information about MSG. I'd love it if you could finally get to the why and how of this. The FDA is not always the best when it comes to scientific honesty.. let's at least agree on that beforehand.

If I've gotten this wrong I don't mind being shown how -- but at this point I don't like the fact that this is given the blunt instrument treatment that it has.

The food industry says that processed free glutamate is as benign as bound glutamate. Why then do they need to go through all the trouble of splitting up the amino acids by hydrolyzing the vegetable protein in humongous vats?

But whether it's "natural" or not is in some ways a strawman argument because free glutamate is an excitotoxin whether it's "natural" or not. The main point is that dumping free glutamate as MSG into the body is different than the body regulating the conversion of the amino acid glutamine into bound glutamate. The complex distinction that the FDA and too many others completely ignore is that when it comes to MSG reactions, it's likely (and documented) that the problem comes when processed free glutamic acid in MSG product FLOODS into the bloodstream. This is not the way the body does it, and this is one of the details that too often gets left out when discussing why in some people, eating MSG triggers a neurological, immune, or allergic reaction.

Sure.. the natural amino acids found in food with glutamine do make their way into the body and some of it gets converted into glutamate -- an excitotoxin --- but don't you think that there is a distinction here -- that it's different when the body creates it and regulates it according to need and function? Do you think it's possible that the body can react differently to a free-glutamate dump into the bloodstream?

Do you even believe at all that some people have serious reactions to MSG -- or free glutamate?

Answer that one if you don't answer anything else because I need to know that you actually have a basic foundation and potential for fairness.

What pisses me is that it's common for manufacturers to obfuscate the truth about the free glutamic acid in their foods. If a person needs to protect someone and find out for sure, the manufacturers often mislead by saying they don't know whether there's processed free glutamic acid (MSG) their products! They claim ignorance! Since our labeling laws invite these tricks to be played on the public there's almost no way to determine whether there are unbound glutamic acid.

For most of us MSG is not a big deal, at least it doesn't seem to be a problem on the surface -- I do know that there are some glucose issues, but I don't want to get into that now.

But for those who are sensitive to MSG, even the natural amino acid glutatime is worthy of caution because it's the only amino acid with the ability to cross the blood/brain barrier, and it's byproducts can target brain receptors. Folks with MSG sensitivity often have trouble with glutamine rich foods especially fermented foods... as do those with kidney and liver disease, and other chronic illnesses. Their bodies seem to have trouble with even the low levels made by the body.

Hey... meanwhile -- don't eat too much Chinese food!! ;-)



Hey look -- natural glutamine is beautiful!


outbind://245-0000000019A0044A874EED488545EE3DB5DD43A6846B4500/

[eppur_se_muova]

17. Just to clarify: there's no chemical difference between glutamate and MSG...

once it hits your digestive tract. Both are protonated to glutamic acid in the stomach.

The point in the wiki article is that PROTEINS incorporating BOUND glutamic acid do not release the glutamate rapidly into the blood -- they have to be broken down for the glutamate to be released, and this is a slower process than direct absorption. It's a question of how fast the material is released into the blood. And from the info on "excitotoxins", I'd say avoid MSG. And it certainly ought to be on the labels.

There's nothing *unnatural* about glutamate -- your own body contains plenty of glutamate, mostly bound into proteins -- but that doesn't mean it's safe to ingest large quantities of it all at once. Even essential nutrients are harmful if overdosed.

ON EDIT: Looks like you covered that in your next post. Sounds like our friends in the "factory food" industry are up to their all-too-usual deceptions, out of our sight.

[KittyWampus]

11. Freed glutamic acid occurs with contaminants.

"The truth of the matter is that the glutamic acid found in unprocessed, unadulterated, and/or unfermented food and in the human body is composed of one form of a single amino acid, L-glutamic acid, and nothing else. In contrast, the glutamic acid that is freed from protein through a manufacturing process or through fermentation (processed free glutamic acid) which is used in processed food is always composed of L-glutamic acid and contaminants that inevitably appear during fermentation or other modes of glutamic acid manufacture or processing.. In addition to the D-glutamic acid, contaminants may include, but are not limited to, pyroglutamic acid, mono and dichloro propanols, heterocyclic amines, and peptides. Mono and dichloro propanols and heterocyclic amines are carcinogenic. The consequences of the interactions of these various chemicals are unknown."

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

14. Peptides?!

My goodness!

:rofl:

[enki23]

23. peptides are true killers

of course, some of them actually are. cobra venom. CJD. somehow, though, i don't think those are the sorts of peptides you'd see as byproducts of commercial MSG synthesis.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

24. well, sure.

Industrial strength cobras, that is.

[AikidoSoul]

18. Has anybody here ever had their blood and fat tested for toxicants?

Even people who are very careful with food and what they use in their homes are discovering that they have countless chemicals in their bodies. ALL kids tested already have chemicals and pesticides in their umbilical cords.

I would like to be tested for Dioxin, but the test costs over $1,000 and it's not usually included in routine tox panels -- for that reason.

The fat shows higher concentrations than the blood, because petrochemicals are highly fat soluble and "attracted" to fat. The brain has fatty matter so it is another reservoir for toxicants.

[populistdriven]

33. ban dihydrogen monoxide!!!

http://www.dhmo.org/facts.html

[TalkingDog]

35. That gag is so tiresome.

Get off it, please.

The reason we have experts (whether they agree with each other or not) is because we literally don't have time to research the excruciating minutia of every item on the planet.

I'm a big believer in critical thinking. But damn, give people a break. If you want to ACTUALLY make a difference; help them understand why a modicum of research is important, rather than being snarky at their expense.

If you aren't actively part of the solution. You are a major part of the problem.

(There, see how I did that? I expressed my disagreement with your point. Then I suggested why I thought your actions were harmful and ultimately fruitless and offered an alternative plan of action. That's how it's SUPPOSED to work. See?? <The overly emphasized condescension of the subsequent explanation was just me getting my cookie too.>)

[AikidoSoul]

37. It's water silly

[hedgehog]

20. I thought MSG was a flavoring agent with a long history of use in

traditional Chinese cooking. Maybe the amounts now in the US diet are considerably higher?

[AikidoSoul]

25. That's part of the problem

There are so many neurotoxins in our environment right now that there is no way that anyone can avoid them -- we can only reduce our exposures.

I'm more concerned about pesticides, cleaning products, fragrances (contain many neurotoxins), heavy metals -- and food and meat contaminated with chemicals and heavy metals.

And we are dumping our load onto our unborn kids. Every newborn baby in the U.S. now tests positive for toxic pesticides and other neurotoxins.

[hedgehog]

28. It's somewhat of a related issue, but my family has a clear history

of depression and autoimmune disorders. The prevalence and severity has risen over the last three generations. The commmon wisdom now is that these are two-step illnesses; a faulty gene gets activated by something in the environment.

[AikidoSoul]

30. Gene expression at critical times while exposured to toxic chemicals -- also is being seen

as an important line of inquiry.

So -- if the mother already is bearing a toxic load -- how can that not affect the unborn child? The mother is sharing everything contained within her body with the child.

[TZ]

29. Some facts on Monosodium Glutamate from NIEHS/NTP

So I looked up the studies on this from the National Toxicology Program, the premiere scientific program for determining safety and efficacy of chemicals:
The acute ingestion of excessive monosodium glutamate will, in some individuals, cause a group of symptoms including among others headache, weakness, stiffness, and heartburn, collectively known as the Chinese Restaurant Syndrome. These symptoms can be prevented by prior supplementation with vitamin B6. The beneficial effect is ascribed to the correction of a deficiency in the activity of glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase, an enzyme that is dependent on pyridoxal phosphate. **PEER REVIEWED**

Basically the studies show that HUGE intake of MSG is harmaful in rats, the way rats given HUGE doses of saccharine got cancer. The amount needed to be harmful is waaaay larger than even the generous amounts we comsume.
Here is the link to the studies:http://ntp.niehs.nih.gov/index.cfm?objectid=E87DBEDD-BDB5-82F8-F5293E0DBF8B69C4#Metabolism/Metabolites


Please note that the studies show NO human toxicities which means it is NOT a mutagen or neurotoxin as the poster above claimed

[AikidoSoul]

31. Unfortunately, your own citation proves you wrong

see the quote from the peer reviewed study that you cited and you will find:

"Peripheral administration of monosodium L-glutamate has been found to be neurotoxic in neonatal rats."

Do a word search on "neuro" within the document and notice the comments.

[TZ]

36. thats from other studies they collected info on

THE NTP STUDY clearly states NO HUMAN TOXICITY found. I actually was mistaken in that the NTP study also finds NO non-human toxicity. What they do is find all the studies on a subject and gather them as citations. Their own studies are pretty conclusive NOT TOXIC.
Edited to add: by finding the one excerpt that supports your view you are effectively "cherry-picking" your results. They pull data from all relevant studies to show what it is they are testing for.

[AikidoSoul]

38. It is you who are cherry picking as usual. You work for the industry

that makes this stuff.... what do we expect? My excerpt was from a peer reviewed study.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

40. Works for the industry that makes this stuff?

You are aware that the human body makes this stuff, right? I mean I said that before, but you seem to have a hard time grasping it.

[AikidoSoul]

42. You didn't answer my question -- do you know the difference

between glutamine and glutamate?

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

43. I did answer your question.

Did you bother to look?

[lovuian]

12. I agree we are on toxin overload and PCB's are all in

drinking water more and more

[AikidoSoul]

19. Every once in awhile I will drink a lot of distilled water for a week or two

because it will draw toxicants out of the body. I forget why.

But it's not good to do it for much longer than a week or two because it leaches minerals from the body.

[Matariki]

16. Why does that movie Idiocracy come to mind... n/t

[hedgehog]

21. Wouldn't you think the category "neurotoxin" would be a dead give-away

that we shouldn't be ingesting this stuff?

[RedCappedBandit]

32. Surprise surprise

[earth mom]

34. Great Post-Thank You!

Just as so many of us around here have said!

Autism is triggered by heavy metals such as Mercury plus toxins in the environment.

Ok, Pharma Giants, try and convince people now that your Mercury laced MMR shot wasn't the final nail in the coffin needed for children to develop Autism! :grr: