Author: Charmaine Szalay

The gut-brain relationship seemingly associated with autism may even begin before birth. Children with autism may not only be affected by what they eat, but also by what their mothers have eaten during gestation. In one rodent study, researchers compared the offspring of obese mothers, who consumed a high fat diet likened to those primarily related to human consumption of fast food, to healthy controls. The obese mothers gave birth to pups that displayed behavioural deficits, much akin to autism, and a different microbiota profile. The gut flora of the pups was less diverse and was lacking one bacterium known as Lactobacillus (L.) reuteri, which produces oxytocin. Oxytocin is an important chemical for promoting sociability. Normal offspring’s gut had nine times more L. reuteri. Interestingly, when mice that lacked L. reuteri were repopulated with the bacteria, sociability was detectably improved, in addition to an increase in oxytocin producing cells.