Acetaldehyde and Autism

What someone wrote on another forum intrigued me so thought I'd share it here. This was their post:

Autism, or spectrum conditions, is caused by an excessive amount of endogenously produced acetaldehyde, in relationship with the digestive tract.

Acetaldehyde is best known for being the substance that your body makes when drinking alcohol but I have noticed that the body can also produce acetaldehyde by itself. This leads to the weirdest symptoms and one of them is that it influences the brain a lot. And I have no doubt about it that when you have this whole process young enough as a baby in sufficient amount it can change your brain permanently.

I started a blog about my findings at acetaldehydespectrum.com you can go to for getting more of an idea what it is about. Because I developed practically all of the symptoms of ME/CFS because of my illness I have also a post on the Healthrising ME/CFS forum (in general discussion) with some more info, so that might be worth following too.
There are researchers who believe that autism and ME/CFS have a connection and I think that too (same process just later in life).

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This morning I made a boring version of a risotto. I suppose you could say more of a rice porridge really! I put the rice and chopped onion with water in a pan, then cooked it until the water all absorbed. Usually I fry the onion in olive oil at the beginning but I wanted to try cooking in a boring fat-free way!  Afterwards when I was around people I had less anxiety than usual, it was quite surprising. Then later in the day I found this research online:

Emissions of volatile organic compounds, including aldehydes, formed during heating of cooking oils: coconut, safflower, canola, and extra virgin olive oils were studied at different temperatures: 180, 210, 240, and 240°C after 6h. Fumes were collected in Tedlar® bags and later analysed by GC–MS. The emissions of volatiles were constant with time and increased with the oil temperature. When the temperature of the oil was above its smoke point, the emission of volatiles drastically increased, implying that oils with low smoke point, such as coconut, are not useful for deep-frying operations. Canola was the oil generating the lowest amount of potentially toxic volatile chemicals. Acrolein formation was found even at low temperatures, indicating that home cooking has to be considered as an indoor pollution problem.

If I understand what I've read cooking oils releases aldehydes. I found this research on aldehydes:

Their presence in organisms is linked to different types of cancer and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.

The toxic aldehydes are a result of degradation of the fatty acids in oil, and although some are volatile, others remain after frying. That is why they can be found in cooked food. As they are very reactive compounds they can react with proteins, hormones and enzymes in the organism and impede its correct functioning.

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This website explains more about acetaldehyde including what it does to the body and where we tend to get it from our diet: https://getsunset.com/blogs/news/experts-guide-to-breaking-down-acetaldehyde

Alcohol is the main source but also milk, fermented foods like probiotic yogurts, and even some fruits. 

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I'm not anti-Autism or trying to promote a cure, just trying to look at ways to ease the most difficult bits. I think I'll be trying to eat a more boring diet now, avoiding cooking with oils/fats. It seems worth it if it will reduce anxiety. I think I'll have to stop drinking alcohol too. Anyone got any thoughts on this? Have you also noticed you get less anxiety if you don't fry foods and avoid alcohol and foods with acetaldehydes? Opinions/thoughts welcomed!

  • argh, yeah, wheat problematic for me, also

    (However less cealiac is possibly because mass produced stuff ?

    I know of 1, or 2x persons switched over toto producing  their own bread, and/or produced  unleavened  and seem to fair-well.

    I think, yeast ''plays a part'' in percived  wheat allergy .. that's not to say wheat  isn't problematic for you, bit worth considering I think.

    "Autistic focus " of a number of years developed onto (my) digestive function bc physical problem(s)

    ;no-official qualifications and experience is with my body, only.

    apologies, tangent.

  • currently no-fish, molluscs.

    ;beef and the rendered fats (additional tallow - Morrisons "Best" 1£), slow-cooker bone broth, and microwave-scramble eggs with 2x tsp beef tallow,  (physical challenges hence slow cooker , and microwave).

    Also, sporadically ( as/when/if, body accepting ) 100% cacao 'butter'/fat (on days unable to prep the eggs/or, beef stuff )

    ;the flavour (cacao 'butter' ) may not be for everybody ;aroma similar chocolate , but the flavour isn't

    ;that said, discovering  "Montezuma 100% Black" appears beneficial in this regards , however, a compromise for me bc mild-moderate carbohydrate content ( no-added sugar/sweetner ) however, the relatively minimal carbohydrate content and the (carbs) seem* offsett bc fats/protein content  eggs, beef, and tallow.

    (extensive 'fine tuning' required for me,- for a number of years  bc physical problems)

    NB*  for me, aforementioned 'diet' appeared effect beneficial stuff approx. 2, or 3x months or so 

    re: mild improvements, but, it is challenging to adhere.

    Possibly bold to say , but, be careful asjusting diet bc , well, -seems take significant time-frame  to note change(s), and they're not always beneficial

    ( significant time frame 'experenting' to just about keep going so to speak )

    -everybody's different, and appears to  respond differently.

    "your mileage may vary" as they say.

  • I need to try this! I'm really intolerant with wheat.

  • Thanks for the reply. It sounds like you benefited from the dietary changes. Do you eat fish too? I try to eat more than I used to. I have cod or mussels with a small portion of rice, no more than 50g. I don't get a good response if I eat a lot of carbs. I made a meat stew a week ago and when I reheated a portion I added 50g rice and my body got really overheated and I was tired after. So next time I tried 25g added to the soup, still the same result. So might try just adding a spoon or two of rice next time to a soup portion. It seems my body is not very tolerant of carbs at the moment.

  • "Ketogenic" diet appears beneficial with regards anxiety for me (ex-"vegan" ; 'stumbled' upon said diet approach bc challenges with regards physical problem I suppose, however, 6x months or so 'in'

    -isn't perfect but, yeah, I think beneficial 'results' observed have a bearing on the body's processing oils, carbs and stuff.

    - omitted (all) carbs, and refined oil for approx. 3x months or so (August 2018) to date,- tentatively, and incrementally re-introducing 'singular' carbohydrates

    - noted, for me, carbs appears to worsen "brain fogg", and a number of physical problems (aside 'sweet potato occasionally),

    -animal rendered fats appear beneficial, for me,  and I've noted a significant difference post omitting carbs 

    (diet currently; eggs/beef dripping, slow cooker-beef, and broth,- mentally challenging, but, physical-pain encourage s (edited to add) :continuation )

    With regards 'alcohol' -like substance production , I believe sugar/carbohydrate  directly impact this.

    Intreguing post, ty