After X of research , the puzzle surrounding why some children develop autism spectrum disorder ( ASD ) proceed to throw off off easy answers , asno one undivided factorseems to be responsible . Currently , most scientists match that a combining of genetic and environmental influence direct to the condition .
pic during pregnancy or early puerility to sonorous metals such as mercury and lede has been link to autism for tenner , and the notorious , now - disproven linkbetween vaccines and ASD stem in part from a theory that amercury - containing preservative in some vaccinesacts as a neurolysin . Yet beside for stave off obviously dangerous levels of mercury , the medical community of interests ’s advice on the safety equipment of vulnerability to downcast horizontal surface of mercury has been conflicting , thanks to the deficiency of solid evidence fromlarge , prospective human studies .
This want of consensus has been particularly challenging for pregnant women who love a Pisces - heavy dieting or desire to eat Pisces because they are fertile germ of theomega fatty dot known to benefit fetal wellness .
Now , insights from a nearly 20 - year - longsighted ongoing survey by the University of Bristol come along to ( finally ) put the issue to rest . After analyzing data from more than 4,000 pregnancies , a team of authors found no connexion between the tier of mercury in the mother ’s bloodstream and the tyke ’s later diagnosis or absence seizure of either ASD or individual autistic traits up to age 11 .
" Our findings further endorse the safe of eating Pisces during pregnancy,”statedProfessor Jean Golding , lead author of the investigation put out inMolecular Autism . “ Importantly we ’ve found no evidence at all to support claim that mercury is involved in the growing of autism or autistic traits . ”
Overall , Golding and her colleagues enrolledmore than 14,000 womenliving in the Avon area of the UK who were pregnant between 1991 and 1992 for canvass long - term effects of lifestyle and environment on puerility development . The current study included 4,484 women whose touch atomic number 80 levels were objectively value through blood samples , and whose possible exposures were elucidated through questionnaires on fish consumption and the front of mercury alloy dental filling .
Of the 177 pregnancy that run to an ASD child , only 45 had any detectable mercury , and the average floor was nearly identical to that of 3,840 pregnancies that led to neurologically typical child .
Quite notably , poor societal noesis – a hallmark ASD trait – was actually more common in the tyke of char who did not eat up fish during pregnancy , after correct for other risk factors .
In seeming preparation for backfire by impossible - to - please sceptic , the writer conclude by highlighting the potency of their cogitation .
“ This is the largest prospective universe subject to date to direct this question . It is the only study to compare total ancestry Hg levels in the first half of maternity among offspring with autism or high scores on autistic traits . It is also the only study to make up one’s mind whether the exposures jazz to result in increased mercury levels were associated with autistic outcomes in the young . ”
