AHS16 - Ancestral Health Symposium 2016

Recently, statistics reveal a startling trend of increased rates of child brain development disorders diagnosed over the past several decades. The anti-vaccine community has long suggested a link between environment and autism, yet few investigations have been launched into potential dietary factors. What's more, increasing evidence points to epigenetic and genetic changes playing a significant role in autism and other developmental disorders. This begs the question, if several genetically influenced disorders are on the rise, could it be that environmental factors are changing us at a genetic level in ways that impair brain function and, in so doing, redefine the nature of being human? This literature review investigates that question by presenting evidence of a potential link between recent dietary trends that lower nutrient intensity and increase oxidative stress and detrimental gene changes that appear to impact brain development.