Is the Gut-Autism Link Overblown?

"The article from the journal argues that the gut-autism axis is a house of cards built on lousy studies with inconsistent data. They assert that the studies are contradictory and that too much emphasis is placed on dubious mouse models. It is notoriously challenging to nail down microbial causes of disease—it is hard enough to simply identify a normal microbiome."

"One of their strongest critiques is that the studies have causality backward: Instead of microbes causing autism, they posit that people with autism have strange diets that compromise their microbiome. But this may be a straw man argument. Microbiome studies are particularly prone to this criticism because there is some inherent circularity in the gut-brain axis."

"Your diet will clearly alter your microbiome, but your microbes can cause cravings that alter your diet. The take-home is that when you change either your diet or your microbes, you can convert a vicious cycle into a virtuous one. It isn't necessary to pin down causality."

Recent criticism challenges the validity of gut-autism research, citing inconsistent data, contradictory studies, and reliance on questionable mouse models. Establishing microbial causality in disease is inherently difficult, and distinguishing normal microbiomes remains problematic. A key critique suggests studies have causality reversed—that autistic individuals' unusual diets compromise their microbiome rather than microbes causing autism. However, the gut-brain axis involves circular relationships where diet alters microbes and microbes influence dietary cravings. Rather than requiring definitive causality, the practical value lies in recognizing that modifying either diet or microbiota can transform harmful cycles into beneficial ones, with demonstrated benefits for anxiety reduction in autistic children through dietary and supplement interventions.

Read at Psychology Today