Maureen writes:
 >it
>may be worth pointing out:
>that bovine casein and human casein are not identical;
        In what ways?
>that there is vastly less casein in human milk;
        Even trace amounts of casein or gluten cause behavioral disturbances

>that there is no evidence that human casein causes such problems, and it is
>extremely implausible that it would;
         What is being researched is that the metabolites these kids produce
(suspectedly due to missing enzymes and at least one identifid hormone
"secretin") cause sprectrum disorder behaviors with extremely high opiod
levels in the brain and peptide levels in the urine. Casein doesn't "cause"
the autism spectrum behaviors it exacerbates the situation -- much like bm
doesn't "cause" a baby to have PKU, but if not monitored can cause severe
results.
        The problem is that "autism" is NOT a single identifiable marker. Austism
is a spectrum of disorders that have a whole host of behavioral and
developmental symptoms with a range that goes from "interstingly different"
to "catatonic" -- It may well be that some kids are born with a metabolic
disorder, some have gut damage due to dietary issues, some may be damage
due to other factors (vaccines are suspect in some of the lierature now,
notably the MMR)...

>Why would anyone think of suggesting that breastmilk casein is connected
>when autism was first recognised in the US in the depths of the cm era (and
>attributed to "cold" mothers, of course, since it couldn't be what they had
>been feeding their babies when that hadn't been breastmilk!)

        The fact "it" (it being the severest forms of autism, since some of the
more high functioning versions are still being teased out...) wasn't
"recognized" until this era does not in and of itself say it did not exist
prior to this era.  And again, caseins don't cause the disorder, caseins
exacerbate a pre-existing disorder. That breastfed babies might have a
lesser result (and thus seem "odd" but normal compared to those
"recognized" in the "cm era" you describe) due to less exposure or slightly
different chemical make-up is wonderful. But to say that breastmilk is not
a risk for some babies is not clear yet. To not bf bc of this, no way, to
take a serious look at this definetely -- especially for families with one
diagnosed kid, thnking about having more...

respectfully,
anne

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