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Hi everyone and thanks for visiting our blog. My wife and I created this blog to chronicle our experience while raising a son with Asperger's syndrome. Since our son was diagnosed with an ASD at age 5, we've had a lot of questions. Lucky for us we have a great support network in place. And our blog gives us an opportunity to share what we've learned with our readers. We hope you find our blog informative and interesting. Thanks again for visiting.


"It seems that for success in science and art, a dash of autism is essential." Dr Hans Asperger 1906-1980



Wednesday 11 April 2012

NEW STUDY SUGGESTS AUTISM MAY BE LINKED TO OBESITY DURING PREGNANCY

I just found an interesting article about a study that suggests that obesity during pregnancy can raise your chances of having a child with autism.  The report states that the chances of having a child with autism is 1 in 88, but being obese during pregnancy can raise those odds to 1 in 53.  The report is very broad and doesn't cover any other outside sources.  I'm not sure if it's true, but hopefully this isn't another reason for mothers to blame themselves for their child having autism.  Many reports also suggest that autism is more of a paternal trait.  Either way the study was funded by the National Institute of Health in the USA.  The article can be read here.
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4 comments:

  1. Jewel Jade11 April 2012 at 17:04

    Hi Jim! I just saw this same thing on the news the other day. I thought about you and Jacob and wondered it you'd weigh in on it. What a good point you've made that "hopefully this isn't another reason for mothers to blame themselves for the child having autism." I never thought of that. I mean how it must affect mothers to have an autistic child. I bet there are a lot of them that do unfortunately, blame themselves. That must be really hard...and then to hear this study!

    I don't know how true it is, and you certainly can't believe every study out there, but if you ask me....I think this is another ploy to blame just about everything on obesity, which I think is a big load of crap, frankly!

    Anyway....thanks for weighing in on this, Jim...those are just my own personal thoughts, for whatever its worth.

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    1. Jim Reeve11 April 2012 at 20:11

      Thanks for the comment Jewel. I guess it's possible, but I'd suspect smoking would be more of a culprit than obesity. The whole study is kind of askew because, I think that most women when they become pregnant, are more likely to over eat. Not because they're obese, but because they're eating for 2.

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  2. Jim12 April 2012 at 05:37

    I haven't read the study. I just think statistics are tricky and reporting of studies by media is dicey at best.

    if the study truly found some sort of causal link, i would be astounded. More likely its just a stupid statistical red herring.

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  3. Jim Reeve12 April 2012 at 05:56

    You're right Jim. I too am very skeptical of reports like these. I personally would like to see a study on how many mothers of kids with an ASD smoked cigarrettes during their pregnancy. To me, smoking would be a more likely culprit than obesity.

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