Importance of Quinolinic Acid in Autism Treatment

Let’s talk about quinolinic acid from the Great Plains Organic Acid Test, something that I have been using in my practice for years. The quinolinic acid marker is actually a new marker within the biomedical Autism community and it’s quite important to autism treatment. Quinolinic acid is part of the tryptophan pathway. Tryptophan being an amino acid that we generally get through our diet, is generally converted into serotonin and then into melatonin which helps us sleep. But approximately 1% maybe 2% of the tryptophan we consume is actually converted appropriately down that pathway.

What can happen with that excess tryptophan is it can be pulled back into the quinolinic acid pathway and this has a relevance, it has a normalcy in the body. One of the things that quinolinic acid does is it helps with the production of something called NAD which is involved in energy production. The problem is that quinolinic acid can also become too high, when it is too high it can become neurotoxic. Things that can cause it to become over activated are immune activation, this can occur from infections such as bacteria, viruses, multiple vaccine reactions, inflammation. The things that are inducing in autism treatment this are things that we know are common to the Autism community and when quinolonic acid is too high it becomes neurotoxic and inflammatory.

So one of the things in autism treatment I am always looking for on the Organic Acid test is looking at the quinolinic acid production, the level itself, as well as the ratio to other neurochemicals and other chemicals in the body that indicate that we’re getting too much of this skewing effect towards this quinolinic acid production. And when it is high I know that we need to intervene with respects to an inflammatory standpoint as well as other things that support that normal tryptophan metabolism the best we can.

Recommended Reading

• Autism Treatment
• Biomedical Autism Treatment – Biomedicine University and Autism
• Autism Treatment – Pandas, Probiotic Problems and Autism
• Autism Treatment – Thyroid Evaluation and Autism
• Autism Treatment – Autism Research and Brain Inflammation
• Autism Treatment – Behavior Changes in Treating Autism
• Helicobacter Pylori and Autism – What Tests to Perfom
• Autism Treatment – Helicobacter Pylori and Autism
• Autism Treatment – How to Successfully Work With a Biomedical Autism Doctor
• Autism Treatment–Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD)
• Autism Treatment – Dietary Treatment Options for Autism Treatment