What are probiotics and what do they do? A probiotic by definition is something that helps to promote life. This is the normal bacteria in our digestive tract. Many people don’t realize that our digestive tract harbors billions and billions and billions, if not trillions of bacteria and sometimes yeast that are health promoting to our body. They have a regulating effect on our immune system, they help us assimilate vitamins and nutrients from our foods and are absolutely necessary for us to survive. Probiotics are supplements that help provide some of the normal bacteria, called flora, for our overall health. We know that taking certain drugs like antibiotics can deplete a certain percentage of the normal flora. So probiotics are supplements that can be used to build back up the normal flora levels. We commonly use probiotics for kids on the spectrum to improve their digestive health and improve their overall immune function by giving probiotics. There are a wide variety of probiotics. The two that you have probably heard of bacteria wise are acidophilus and bifidobacter. We know that Acidophilus is a bacteria that generally resides in the small intestine and bifidobacter usually resides in the large intestines. They are both very important for keeping a balance of healthy bacteria in the gut. When you give a multi spectrum probiotic, an example would be the Probiotic Support Formula from New Beginnings or Therbiotic complete from Klaire labs, those are a multi-flora probiotics. They are generally health promoting, they give a wide variety of normal bacteria, sort of like a multi-vitamin for your child’s digestive system. There are other types of Probiotics that are more treatment specific like Culturelle. Culturelle is a specific type of bacteria called acidophilus GG and it has a specific affinity for clostridia bacteria. Clostridia bacteria is pathogenic and it does cause problems in the body and for kids on the spectrum. Culturelle is very target specific for colostridia. There is another probiotic called VSL #3. VSL #3 is a very high potency lactic acid producing probiotic that is very helpful for breaking down oxalates. Oxalates are organic compounds that we get through our foods, they can cause mineral depletion in the body and in some people when they are absorbed in high amounts over prolonged periods of time can lead to kidney stones. So VSL #3 is very oxalate specific. Threelac is another type of probiotic and its effects are more antifungal, it tends to attack more yeast. So you think of Threelac as something that you would be using as an anti-yeast treatment. There is another type of probiotic that is commonly used called Saccharomyces boulardii. Saccharomyces boulardii is actually a yeast so it may not fall into the classic definition of a probiotic because it is not something that is essential for our health and well being but it can be used as a remedy to help attack and eradicate Candida. It also does help to attack clostridia. Saccharomyces boulardii is a more treatment specific type of probiotic. Probiotics are very important supplements for interventions for your child, especially in respects to digestive health and come as both broad spectrum probiotics and treatment specific probiotics.

A new study printed in the April edition of the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine found that melatonin at 3mg was effective at resolving sleep issues in some autism-spectrum children. This may not be new information for some of you, but it does help to confirm what many of us in the biomedical field have known for years about melatonin – that it can be a safe and effective sleep remedy – Dr. Woeller

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Apr 20 – Three milligrams of melatonin at bedtime can effectively treat sleep problems in children with autistic spectrum disorder or fragile X syndrome or both, according to a study reported in the April 15 issue of the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine.

“Melatonin can be considered a safe and effective pharmacologic treatment in addition to behavior therapies and sleep hygiene practices for the management of sleep problems in children with autistic spectrum disorder and fragile X syndrome,” the study team concludes.

Sleep problems are reported in up to 89% of children with autism and 77% of children with fragile X syndrome, Dr. Beth L. Goodlin-Jones, of the Medical Investigation of Neurodevelopmental Disorders (M.I.N.D.) Institute at the University of California Davis Health System in Sacramento, and colleagues note in their report.

In a 4-week, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover study, 18 children, ranging in age from 2 to 15 years, with autistic spectrum disorder and/or fragile X syndrome took either melatonin (3 mg) or placebo nightly for 2 weeks and then crossed over to the alternate treatment for 2 weeks.

Data on 12 children who completed the study showed that treatment with melatonin was associated with significant improvements in total night sleep durations, sleep latency times, and sleep-onset times. Specifically, Dr. Goodlin-Jones and colleagues report, “Mean night sleep duration was longer on melatonin than placebo by 21 minutes (p = 0.02), sleep-onset latency was shorter by 28 minutes (p = 0.0001), and sleep-onset time was earlier by 42 minutes (p = 0.02).”

“Sleep onset problems at the beginning of the night are very troublesome for children and their families,” Dr. Goodlin-Jones noted in a prepared statement accompanying the study. “Sometimes children may take one to two hours to fall asleep and often they disrupt the household during this time.”

“The results of this study,” she and her colleagues conclude, “suggest that melatonin is an effective treatment for sleep problems in children with autistic spectrum disorder and fragile X syndrome, a finding that is consistent with previous studies of children with autistic spectrum disorder and developmental disabilities.”