Chapter Five
Pollution
This chapter may depress, but do not despair. There is information on how to limit pollution exposure and reduce the pollutants in the body. As the saying goes, knowledge is power. Knowing possible ways of enhancing health and limiting pollution improves perspective on the pollution situation.
Pollution has a huge impact on the brain, which contains billions of neurons that act as tiny relay stations passing electrical signals between each other, like the passing of a basketball. Neurons reach out to other neurons using dendrites, which form a neuron network, like a forest canopy full of many tree branches.
This network is sensitive to pollution and excess reactive oxygen species, which can cause inflammation. Critically, dendrites can retract during inflammation to defend the neurons and enhance neuron survival amongst increased numbers of reactive oxygen species and pathogens. There is a discussion in Chapter 8 about how this retraction process affects ASD severity and symptoms.
As previously mentioned, usually the blood-brain-barrier (BBB) helps to shield the brain from potential problems in the bloodstream, but inflammation makes the barrier more permeable. During pathogenic attacks in human history, this process served a useful function by giving the brain more access to resources to defeat the pathogen.
However, in the modern world, increased pollution uses increased permeability of the BBB to damage the brain. When pollutants such as lead, cadmium, and aluminum enter the brain, then glia cells in the brain release more inflammatory chemicals. Many problems can result from too many of these chemicals floating around in the brain.
In the central nervous system, glial cells, which include microglia and astroglia, act as helper cells to the neurons and release inflammatory molecules and even more reactive oxygen species when threatened. Multiple pollutants can cause severe damage and result in the chronic activation of glial cells, further increasing inflammation and BBB permeability.
Many types of pollutants increase inflammation. Various dyes, pesticides, drugs, and industrial chemicals are electrophilic and could steal electrons from the cell (139). Theft of electrons can increase inflammation as fewer electrons would be there to reduce reactive oxygen species.
Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are another pollutant type that may have negative health effects (140) (141) (142). In addition, aluminum and air pollution can both increase inflammation (143). Shockingly, there are now thousands of pollutants in modern society.
Increased Risk
Most disturbingly, the effects of multiple chemicals are not fully understood and regulated to protect children (144). Many children are suffering from learning disabilities, reduced intelligent quotients, and aggressive behavior as a possible result of exposure to various toxic chemicals (69).
Amazingly, Project TENDR, a gathering of hundreds of researchers, shockingly found that the “vast majority of chemicals in industrial and consumer products undergo almost no testing for developmental neurotoxicity or other health effects (145).” Due to smaller size and developing brains, children are likely much more sensitive to various pollutants than adults. As one doctor writes:
“Chemicals and heavy metals in children’s bodies from the foods they ate were indeed found to exceed safety levels by a larger margin than in adults. Cancer risk ratios, for instance, were exceeded by a factor of up to one hundred or more. For every child studied, benchmark levels were surpassed for arsenic, the banned pesticide dieldrin, and potentially highly toxic industrial by-products called dioxins. They were also too high for DDE, a by-product of DDT (146).”
Importantly, the effects of pollution apply to all children, not only ASD children. Pollution is likely more damaging to the health of many ASD children because nutritional deficiencies and inflammation are limiting their ability to detoxify.
Research found that 16 of 18 ASD children had evidence of levels of toxic chemicals that exceeded the maximum adult tolerance (147). Significantly, researchers noticed that the concentration of pollutants found in the serum of ASD individuals correlated with the severity of negative ASD behaviors (148). The more concentrated the pollution, the more likely an ASD individual had severe behavior.
Air pollution also affects ASD risk. Research found ASD increased with more air pollution (149). Exposure to air pollution while pregnant affected ASD risk (150) (151).
Air pollution causes an increased inflammatory response because the pollutants stress the lungs. This increase of inflammation is likely the reason for the higher ASD risk.
This information may seem to conflict with the previously mentioned sulfur emissions in Chapter 4. Remember, the sulfur situation affects the food quality throughout the country. In contrast, air pollution studies focus on specific cities where the people live with air pollution.
Metallothioneins
Inflammation can also limit the supply of cysteine amino acids that compose metallothionein, which is like a little sticky ball of cysteines that picks up metals and helps to detoxify the body. Less metallothionein activity limits the ability to detoxify heavy metals and worsens the effects of pollution.
Metallothioneins help control the zinc/copper balance in the body and immune system function. Metallothioneins can also store zinc for later use. Researchers notice that ASD people have an imbalance of copper and zinc, with a reduced ratio of zinc/copper (152) (153). This indicates limited metallothionein function.
Inflammation can alter the structure of metallothionein, causing a release of zinc (154). This release may eventually cause a depletion of zinc in the body. Like sulfur, zinc has anti-inflammatory effects. Less available zinc increases the overall inflammatory response.
Aluminum
Mostly contained under the Earth’s surface, aluminum is now regularly mined and applied toward many uses in modern society. This places aluminum into daily contact with people through cookware, tinfoil, airplane exhaust, and the hundreds of manufactured items that contain this metal.
Aluminum is extremely toxic and “negatively impacts the central nervous system in all species that have been studied, including humans (155).” Aluminum can also limit the activity of mitochondrial superoxide dismutase, a critical antioxidant enzyme (156). Interestingly, consumption of curcumin, a component of the spice turmeric, may have some protective effects against aluminum toxicity (157).
Aluminum can also affect glutathione levels. Aluminum limits the enzyme NADP-isocitrate dehydrogenase, which supplies NADPH in the mitochondria (158). NADPH is critical to the proper function of the enzyme glutathione reductase, which regenerates glutathione used to reduce pollutants as well as reactive oxygen species. Inhibition of glutathione regeneration puts more pressure upon the production of a new glutathione supply, rather than the efficient glutathione reductase regeneration of previously used glutathione. Requiring fresh supplies of glutathione limits the ability of the body to resist inflammation and causes the methylation cycle to supply more cysteine to make the new glutathione.
Pollutant Synergy
A critical and frequently missed aspect of pollution is that some types of pollutants are synergistic. What this means is when two or pollutants are present in the body, then the combined effect of both pollutants multiplies rather than adding, like if 5+5 = 25.
Research found a combination of heavy metals, like lead and mercury, was synergistic when the most toxic metal was present in a higher quantity. The researchers also noted the toxic effects of one metal might multiply by 50 if in the presence of another toxic metal. Furthermore, they reported when there was a high level of mercury, “far less of the toxic metal, lead, was needed to saturate or exceed a critical level” of the remaining sites (159). Unfortunately, some ASD children have higher levels of both lead and mercury (160).
Mercury can inhibit important mitochondrial activity and damage different areas of the body, such as the nerves, adrenal glands, pituitary, thyroid glands, heart, lungs, and many enzymes (161). Mercury also has a powerful attraction to sulfur molecules. Therefore, mercury can lower the levels of sulfur, glutathione, and other molecules containing sulfur (162).
Since many toxic metals are synergistic, and children are more vulnerable, the current established guidelines for dangerous heavy metal concentrations needs to radically change. In addition, many other forms of pollution have the potential to be synergistic and need safety guideline modifications.
These changes are needed because current safety tests do not fully consider pollutant synergy and how this synergy increases the total toxicity, especially over the long-term. Some ASD people are extra vulnerable to this dangerous synergy of pollutants because they are experiencing too much inflammation and limited detoxification ability.
Environmental Pollution
Unfortunately, pollution of the environment has become more common because of the way humans have treated the Earth. For example, mercury levels have increased in many fish. Mercury is even present in the Great Lakes region. Enough mercury was found in the fish from the lakes to conclude that a “pregnant woman who ate a single fish from one of those lakes could, in theory, consume enough mercury to harm her unborn child (69).” Research found women who ate fish more than four times a month had significantly higher mercury levels than the group that did not consume fish (163).
Mercury accumulates higher up the food chain (164). For this reason, a good habit is to avoid eating fish that are near the top of the food chain. Instead, eating seafood closer to the lower end of the chain, such as oysters and clams, is preferable.
Dental amalgams might also increase mercury exposure. Because of the synergistic effects with other pollutants, even a slight increase in mercury levels may be harmful, especially in susceptible individuals. Research looked at the impact of removing dental metal in 111 patients with metal hypersensitivity and symptoms resembling chronic fatigue syndrome. This research found “following dental metal removal, 83 patients (76%) reported long-term health improvement. Twenty-four patients (22%) reported unchanged health and two (2%) reported worsening of symptoms (165).”
Importantly, removal of dental work needs to be done by a qualified professional that has experience working with potential heavy metal poisoning. This is because the removal of these amalgams may mobilize the metals in the bloodstream, worsening symptoms.
Avoidance of mercury is just one of the many pollution concerns. Half of the mercury load might clear from the body within two months of not consuming mercury, but dioxins, polychlorinated biphenyls, and DDT by-products may last up to ten years (166). Currently, excessive pollution exists because of human behavior and lack of conscience about the waste being generated in pursuit of profit and pleasure. Disturbingly, the planet is so polluted now that even the snow-packed peaks of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado contained eight different pesticides (167).
Pesticides and Herbicides
Another source of pollution is the large-scale spraying of pesticides. Researchers found that mothers living close to agricultural fields had a higher odds ratio for having an ASD child. The researchers also saw there was a higher risk with increasing pesticide applications and that the risk decreased the further they lived from the fields (168).
Another study of children from a birth cohort of primarily Latino farm-worker families in California found an association between the pesticide dialkyl phosphate (DAP) and a higher risk of pervasive developmental disorder (169). The families probably had experienced increased exposure to the chemical because of their jobs. This exposure is much higher than the amount of exposure that would occur from consuming conventional fruits and vegetables. However, pesticides still negatively affect health even at lower doses.
One way that pesticides affect health is by changing the inhibition/exhibition ratio in the brain. Pesticides may affect GABA, an inhibitory neurotransmitter, by limiting the receptor GABR (beta3). A study found a lower level of this receptor in ASD children (170).
Altering the function of GABA is significant because its normal inhibitory effects help calm the brain. In contrast, impairment of GABA increases excitation and the risk of anxiety and seizures. There is a discussion in Chapter 8 about how the balance of inhibitory and excitatory neurotransmitters affects ASD symptoms.
Perhaps the most controversial subject in contemporary farming practices is the herbicide glyphosate and the co-formulants in glyphosate-based formulas. These products are very popular and heavily sprayed on fields in many countries.
However, because farms frequently use glyphosate to kill weeds, the weeds can become resistant to glyphosate (171). Because of this resistance, many farms must use more glyphosate to keep the growth of weeds under control. In response to this problem, scientists created genetically engineered crops that have a better ability to withstand the increased glyphosate use.
Eventually, this unnatural farming practice may cause dangerous concentrations chemicals to reach the dinner plate. This worsens health, especially the health of people with limited detoxification ability.
A critical point about glyphosate is that various chemical co-formulants are often present in glyphosate products. Research found these “co-formulants and formulations were comparably cytotoxic well below the agricultural dilution of 1%” and decreased aromatase enzyme activity at concentrations “800 times lower than the agricultural dilution (172).” Furthermore, the safety of exposure to these formulations is “currently calculated from toxicity tests of the declared active ingredient alone (172).”
Other researchers have also noted that glyphosate-based herbicides are only tested with glyphosate in regulatory testing, which may not anticipate the potential long-term toxicity of “insufficiently tested” complex formulations (173). Testing glyphosate by itself is not helpful when trying to determine if a complex chemical mixture containing co-formulants is safe for long-term public consumption.
This is important because research found that exposing liver cells to formulations containing glyphosate reduced aromatase activity (174). Any negative impact on aromatase is significant because this enzyme converts testosterone to estrogen, a predominantly female hormone.
Aromatase activity is important and normally increases during inflammation to create more estrogen, which has antioxidant effects. Researchers remark how there is an association with inflammation and increased aromatase activity (175) (176). Interestingly, neuroinflammation even caused more glial aromatase expression in the songbird (177).
In response to high aromatase activity and conversion to estrogen, the body can make more testosterone to keep a proportional balance with the higher estrogen. Therefore, excess inflammation is one reason that some people have altered sex hormone concentrations.
If glyphosate inhibits aromatase, then it can cause long-term health problems because there will be less estrogen available to assist with reducing reactive oxygen species. There will also be many other negative health effects that happen since estrogen is a hormone that affects multiple functions in the body. Besides these issues, glyphosate may also have other toxic effects that simply take longer to cause noticeable problems.
Amazingly, research on liver cells found cytotoxic effects of glyphosate started at a low level of just ten parts per million (174). In addition, glyphosate may have toxic effects on human placental cells within only 18 hours and at “concentrations lower than those found with agricultural use (178).” Also, Roundup™, a glyphosate-based herbicide that contains co-formulants, might increase tumors (179). A recent meeting of 17 experts from 11 countries noted that glyphosate is probably carcinogenic (180).
The possible negative health effects of glyphosate may be extremely subtle, requiring years to develop. Since many researchers do not fully test the actual glyphosate-based herbicides that have co-formulants, then current safety tests cannot accurately determine risks, especially long-term risks. Therefore, avoiding foods sprayed with more glyphosate, such as wheat, corn, soy, and sugar, will help protect health.
In general, eating organic foods reduces the exposure to pesticides and herbicides. However, if organic foods are too expensive, then just focus on avoiding the foods with the highest concentrations of these chemicals. There are various lists available on the internet of the foods that have higher levels of pesticides and herbicides.
Pollution and Mom
Pollution and inflammation also affect pregnancy. The major difference between the development of ASD versus other conditions is the timing of excessive inflammation.
For example, chronic inflammation occurring later in life, combined with imbalanced neurotransmitter levels, can cause many health conditions, such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), depression, and anxiety. There is a discussion of these health conditions later.
In contrast, inflammation in the womb can cause ASD by disrupting the formation and organization of the neuron network. Therefore, a risk factor for ASD is the amount of inflammation experienced by the mother.
This is significant because researchers note that the concentration of pollutants was elevated in some mothers of ASD children (181). Critically, “for many chemicals, fetuses may experience higher exposures than their mothers (182).” Babies in the womb have exposure to over 50 different chemicals at a much higher concentration than expected. This exposure is a serious concern, especially because of pollutant synergy, which increases inflammation and the risk of many health conditions. There is a discussion about the impact of inflammation on pregnancy later.
Some may think to use chelation after reading about so much pollution and all the heavy metals that are in the environment. Chelation involves removing heavy metals from the body by using special detoxification compounds. Certain types of chelators may help to reduce the overall toxic load in the body.
However, most chelators can be dangerous because the chelation process can overwhelm an already weakened individual. Research found various chelators all had a minimal positive effect on reducing the toxicity of heavy metals and may instead worsen toxicity (183).
A significant point to mention here is that inflammation purposefully limits detoxification because the body wants to focus energy on the more likely inflammation sources, such as pathogens and wounds.
Therefore, to naturally increase heavy metal removal, the first step is to reduce inflammation. For most people, the primary causes of increased inflammation are food choices, stressful emotions, and various lifestyle factors.
Intestinal Permeability
Increased intestinal permeability is another important detoxification factor. More commonly known as leaky gut, undigested food molecules and pollutants access the bloodstream too easily. Inflammation itself can increase this intestinal permeability.
Leaky gut negatively affects the ability to detoxify, which is further indication that the body does not want to focus on detoxification when there is excessive inflammation. Increased intestinal permeability allows the reabsorption of too much bile, which carries the pollutants removed by the liver. Although some bile naturally reabsorbs even in health conditions, the reabsorption rate is significantly increased if there is too much intestinal permeability.
Importantly, fiber binds a portion of the bile and reduces reabsorption, increasing removal of pollutants from the body. Plants have different fiber types. Therefore, eating a variety of fibrous plants enhances detoxification. There is further discussion on the benefits of fiber later.
Epigenetic Enhancement
Pollution and the combination of many factors mentioned in this book can increase chronic inflammation in anyone. This inflammation is the primary cause of many different health conditions.
However, some families have an increased risk of health conditions, such as ASD, asthma, epilepsy, heart attacks, obesity, anxiety, autoimmunity, depression, and cancer. A reason for this risk is these families have epigenetically enhanced inflammatory responses. Importantly, these epigenetic changes can happen because of inflammation itself.
Epigenetic changes affect how the cells read the DNA for instructions. Epigenetics are not actual DNA mutations. Therefore, a DNA test not designed to look for epigenetic changes cannot detect those changes.
As mentioned, epigenetic changes behave like a website blocker. The website exists, but the website blocker does not allow access. Similarly, the DNA exists, but the epigenetic changes block the ability of the cell to read parts of the DNA for instructions.
Importantly, epigenetic changes can also provide access to DNA previously blocked, such as DNA that increases inflammation or the risk of cancer. This is a critical fact discussed further in Chapter 6.
In evolution, epigenetic enhancement of inflammation is beneficial during an increased pathogen presence in the environment. For example, viral or bacterial attacks can increase inflammation in parents, causing an epigenetic enhancement of their inflammatory responses, which then transfers to their future children.
The children are then born with a stronger inflammatory response that is better at destroying the pathogen still in the environment. This better response increases survival chances. Research notes how “parental experience with parasites and pathogens can lead to increased offspring resistance to infection, through a process known as transgenerational immune priming (TGIP) (184).”
One reason for an epigenetic ability is how quickly the changes occur. Researchers note that the rate of epigenetic changes “is estimated to be substantially higher than the genetic mutation rate” and how this higher rate enables “survival in new environments before genetic adaptation evolves (185).” Rapid adjustments to the environment give epigenetic changes a strong survival advantage.
Methylation, discussed in chapter 3, creates many of the epigenetic changes. Interestingly, “DNA methylation is important in the regulation of inflammatory genes (186).” There is also an association between hypomethylation of the Toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2) promoter and an elevated pro-inflammatory response (186). Other researchers found mice fed a western diet had an enhancement of toll-like receptor responses, indicating “a primed cell state (187).” They also noticed these epigenetic changes persisted even after the mice shifted back to the control diet (187).
Others also noticed epigenetic changes “are enriched for immune response pathways, and can implicate genes not directly identified” by genome-wide association studies alone (188). This difference is important because, depending on the type of genetic research, these epigenetic changes are invisible. The same researchers also note how other studies implicate epigenetic changes to immune function in ASD (188).
Furthermore, other researchers remark how there is:
“converging evidence of a multidirectional interaction between immune system activation in the mother during pregnancy and epigenetic regulation in the brain of the fetus that may cooperate to produce an autistic phenotype. This interaction includes immune factor-induced changes in epigenetic signatures in the brain, dysregulation of epigenetic modifications specifically in genomic regions that encode immune functions, and aberrant epigenetic regulation of microglia. Overall, the interaction between immune system activation in the mother and the subsequent epigenetic dysregulation in the developing fetal brain may be a main consideration for the environmental factors that cause autism (189).”
Likely, the amount of inflammatory food and pollution in the environment causes inflammation so much that the epigenetic changes excessively raise inflammation. The enhancement of the inflammatory response in the womb disrupts neuron network formation, affecting the risk of ASD.
In an ASD child, epigenetic changes to genes that affect the immune response may also increase the sensitivity to many different sources of inflammation. This may lead to a lot of food sensitivities and being easily stressed by the outside environment.
When incorrect nutrition mixes with the modern polluted environment, then this causes the epigenetic changes to excessively increase inflammation, further depleting the body of antioxidant defenses. This depletion of defenses and enhanced inflammation causes some families to be much more vulnerable to sources of inflammation, such as incorrect nutrition, environmental pollution, lifestyle choices, and excessive psychological stress. These factors affect ASD risk by increasing inflammation in the womb and worsening ASD symptoms at any point in life.
Epigenetically enhanced inflammation is the reason that health conditions are more common in families that have an ASD child. Research found the autoimmune conditions rheumatoid arthritis and celiac disease occur more frequently in those families (190) (191).
ASD people are often born with a sensitive inflammatory system because the parents were already experiencing an excessive amount of inflammation. Since inflammation and epigenetic changes tend to increase with age, this is the reason older parents have a higher risk of having an ASD child. There is a discussion of age as a risk factor in Chapter 9.
Epigenetically enhanced inflammation and accumulation of inflammatory damage in some families explains why ASD appears to be genetic, despite there being no specific gene that causes a significant number of ASDs. Research has not discovered a single gene that explains more than 1% of ASD (192).
This is an important point because, currently, millions of research dollars are poorly spent searching for a genetic cause. Redirecting this money to epigenetic, nutritional, and environmental factors will get results and help more people.
Unfortunately, epigenetically enhanced inflammation is harmful when it is combined with the continual sources of inflammation in modern society. Unlike a pathogen, an enhanced response cannot stop sources of inflammation, such as pollution, refined carbohydrates, and sustained psychological stress. Combating these sources is not the design of the body because they were not a problem in our evolutionary history. The body is an elegant machine, but there are multiple factors in modern society that are not compatible with maintaining good health.
Although coming from an epigenetically enhanced family raises susceptibility, inflammation can still negatively impact someone without this type of family. The difference is someone without an enhanced inflammatory response can tolerate more inflammatory sources before the body becomes overwhelmed.
An important point to mention here is that inflammation impairs normal metabolism by limiting the ability of the mitochondria to make energy efficiently. Pollution and other forms of inflammatory stress create an increased number of reactive oxygen species in the mitochondria, damaging metabolism. This affects many different health conditions, such as diabetes, obesity, ASD, and cancer.
In addition, mitochondria generate different amounts of reactive oxygen species depending on the type of energy used for metabolism. This is critical since mitochondria are a major source of reactive oxygen species generation. Therefore, improving the overall health and efficiency of mitochondria affects many different health conditions, including ASD.