Why are Autism and Schizophrenia so hard to understand? Are Autism and Schizophrenia Causes related? With years of research, both disorders remain a puzzle. Dr. Semon has published an article in the journal, Medical Hypotheses, exploring what could be the missing link in this puzzle (Dietary cyclic dipeptides, apoptosis and psychiatric disorders: A hypothesis; 2014 Jun;82(6):740-3. doi: 10.1016/j.mehy.2014.03.016. Epub 2014 Mar 18).
Where did the idea come from?
Dr. Bruce Semon, M.D., Ph.D., a board certified psychiatrist, has more than 20 years of experience in treating patients who have autism and who have schizophrenia. He specializes in treating patients with developmental disabilities. Dr. Semon has observed for years that what these patients eat affects their behavior and symptoms. In particular, he has found that malt causes major behavior problems in children with autism, and that when parents remove malt from their children’s diets, autistic children improve significantly.
Dr. Semon made another observation based on his clinical experience. Treating the intestinal yeast Candida albicans in autistic children greatly improves their behavior. In fact, treating the yeast in very young children can eliminate their symptoms of autism.
The question he asked is, why? What could be in malt, and possibly Candida albicans, that could be causing these problems? Are they related or is this just a coincidence? His previous research and answers that malt contains many chemicals that put the brain to sleep, did not seem to answer the entire question. So he has continued looking.
His striking new finding is that malt contains additional chemicals called “cyclic dipeptides,” which are known to activate the self-destruction of young cells. Amazingly, the yeast Candida albicans makes these same chemicals. This turns out to be a key to understanding autism and schizophrenia.
Let us explain.
Cyclic dipeptides are special combinations of two amino acids (amino acids are the building blocks of protein). Cancer researchers have known for some years that these chemicals activate the self destruction of young cells, and have looked at the cyclic dipeptides as possible cancer treatments.
But the impact of cyclic dipeptides could be far greater on the developing nervous system.
Other researchers already have observed that in both autism and schizophrenia, there is random destruction of brain cells. Could there be a link between this random destruction of brain cells in autism and schizophrenia, and the self-destruction of young cells caused by cyclic dipeptides in cancer research?
Dr. Semon hypothesizes “yes,” that this random destruction of young cells in the brains of people with autism and schizophrenia actually is caused by cyclic dipeptides.
Where do these chemicals come from? They come from eating foods containing malt and from the intestinal yeast Candida albicans. The cyclic dipeptides activate the self destruction of what should become healthy brain cells. This hypothesis explains treatment of autism consisting of removing foods such as malt from the diet and treating Candida in the gut is so helpful.
While this hypothesis may lead to new academic research on these disorders, the hypothesis also leads to new treatment possibilities. Dr. Semon has been using a custom-made homeopathic remedy as a potential new treatment.
People wishing to explore answers to these questions can consult Dr. Semon, and read his new article. He is accepting new patients, and can be contacted by clicking here. The first step in self-help would be to remove all malt from the diet and treat the yeast Candida albicans. He explains much more about how to do this in his books, Feast Without Yeast, An Extraordinary Power to Heal, and Extraordinary Foods for the Everyday Kitchen.
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