Tanpa Perlu Berolahraga Terlalu Lama, 7 Gaya Yoga Sederhana Ini Bisa Bikin Perutmu Rata

http://www.hipwee.com/tips/tanpa-perlu-berolahraga-terlalu-lama-7-gaya-yoga-sederhana-ini-bisa-bikin-perutmu-rata/
Agustin Fatimah

Perut rata tanpa gundukan lemak di sana-sini jadi penampilan yang diidamkan banyak cewek dan cowok . Dengan perut yang rata semua pakaian rasanya bisa dikenakan dengan sempurna.

Nggak ada lagi tuh ceritanya harus pakai pakaian di atas size yang seharusnya demi perut terlihat enak dipandang mata. Kamu pun bisa melenggang dengan pakaian pas badan tanpa khawatir ada lipatan di perut yang mengganggu pandangan.

Sayangnya, demi perut rata sempurna banyak perjuangan yang harus kamu lakoni di baliknya. Mulai dari olahraga, diet ketat, sampai mengatur pola makan dengan makanan sehat. Itu pun belum tentu mendapatkan hasil yang diidamkan. Tapi jangan keburu putus asa! Perut rata bisa kamu dapatkan dengan gerakan yoga.

1.  Awalilah yogamu dengan pose Tadasana. Pose berdiri tegak untuk menguatkan otot perut dan memperlancar peredaran darah

Pose pertama yoga untuk menghilangkan perut buncit via www.stylecraze.com

Sebelum kamu memulai yoga demi menghalau perut buncit, awalilah yoga dengan gerakan tadasana. Caranya berdirilah tegak diatas matras dan letakkan tangan disamping badanmu. Kemudian berjinjit dan tarik kedua tanganmu ke atas sembari menarik nafas. Setelah 5 detik, kamu bisa kembali menapak pada matras sembari menghela nafas. Lakukan sebanyak 5-10 kali.

Pose ini akan melatih posisi tubuh tetap tegak secara alami dan otot tubuh juga akan bekerja secara seimbang. Selain itu, pose ini mampu meningkatkan sirkulasi darah dan menyebabkan otot-otot perutmu pun bisa lebih kencang saat posisi menjinjit dan menapak.

2. Pangkas perut buncitmu dengan gerakan Padahastasana. Caranya sentuhlah kaki dengan tangan dan bernafaslah secara tenang.

Menghilangkan perut buncit dengan gerakan padahastasana via www.stylecraze.com

Gerakan yoga lain yang bisa membuat perut buncitmu menghilang adalah pose padahastasana. Caranya kamu cukup berpose tegak, lalu angkat tanganmu ke bagian atas sembari menarik nafas. Lalu letakkan tanganmu pada telapak kakimu sembari menghembuskan nafas. Lalu bertahanlah dengan pose ini selama 60 detik. Jika kamu belum terbiasa dengan gerakan yoga, kamu tidak perlu memaksakan diri untuk pose sempurna hingga wajahmu bisa benar-benar menghadap lutut. Ulangi gerakan ini sebanyak 5-10 kali.

Gerakan yoga ini bisa mengantarkan oksigen ke otak dan melenturkan otot yang kaku. Selain itu juga membakar lemak dan mengencangkan otot di perutmu. Gak jarang, perut buncitmu pun bisa sirna dengan perlahan.

3. Meskipun agak sakit, pose Paschimottanasana juga ampuh mengempeskan perut buncitmu

Menghilangkan pertu buncit dengan yoga via www.brigiddineen.com

Yoga adalah olahraga yang tak hanya mampu membuat pikiran jadi tenang, tapi juga bisa membakar lingkar perut yang menyurutkan kepercayaan diri. Nah, salah satu gerakan yoga yang bisa menghilangkan perut buncit adalah paschimottanasana.

Caranya duduklah di atas matras dengan kaki lurus ke depan. Pastikan tulang punggungmu tetap tegak. Kemudian tarik nafas dan kempeskan perutmu. Lalu peganglah kakimu dengan tangan sembari mencium lutut kaki. Tahan selama 60 detik dan lakukan sebanyak 5-10 kali. Kamu tidak perlu memaksakan sikap sempurna diri jika belum terbiasa.

Nah, gerakan ini ampuh dalam membakar lemak di perutmu. Mau latihan?

4. Sembari tiduran di kasur, kamu bisa lakukan gerakan Pavanamuktasana agar perut buncitmu sirna segera.

Tips menghilangkan buncit dengan yoga via www.stylecraze.com

Yoga bisa menjadi olahraga yang membuatmu tak perlu berpanas-panas di luar ruangan untuk membakar lemak di perut. Karena sekarang kamu bsia membuat perutmu menjadi rata dengan gerakan Pavanamuktasana yang bisa dilakukan di rumah.

Caranya, rebahkan tubuhmu dan selonjorkan kakimu. Lalu perlahan kamu ambil nafas dan angkat wajah dan kaki kananmu. Lalu ciumlah lututmu sembari menghembuskan nafas. Pastikan punggungmu tetap rata di matras ya. Ulangi gerakan ini sebanyak 5 kali.

Agar gerakanmu makin sempurna, kamu bisa melakukanya dengan tiga tahap. Pertama, kaki kiri sebanyak 5 kali. Kedua, kaki kanan sebanyak 5 kali. Dan yang ketiga, dua kaki bersamaan sebanyak 5 kali. Gerakan ini bisa membuat tubuhmu menjadi lentur, mengolah nafas, dan membuat perutmu menjadi lebih rata lho. Nah, mau coba? Gerakan ini juga bisa kamu lakukan di atas kasur kok.

5. Demi lemak di perut yang tak lagi bikin kepercayaan diri berkurang, cobalah latihan dengan pose yoga Naukasana

Hilangkan perut buncitmu dengan yoga via eyogaguru.com

Perut buncit memang kadang bikin kepercayaan dri menurun dratis. Nah, tanpa harus malu, sekarang kamu bisa coba bakar lemak diperutmu dengan gerakan Naukasana yang mirip kapal ini. Caranya, pertama-tama berbaringlah di atas matras dan rapatkan kaki dan tanganmu dalam sikap sempurna. Perlahan-lahan tarik nafas dan angkat lengan, kepala, dan bahumu keatas. Selain angkat juga kakimu hingga posisi seperti pada gambar. Pusatkan beban tubuh pada bagian pusar. Lalu tahan hingga hingga 30-60 detiik. Dan ulangi sebanyak 5 kali.

Nah, kontraksi pada gerakan ini bisa membuat otot perutmu menjadi lebih kencang dan terlatih dengan baik. Sehingga lemak pada perutmu yang buncit pun bisa terbakar. Jika kamu rutin melakukan gerakan ini, gak jarang perutmu yang dulu pernah rata pasti bisa kembali lagi.

6. Selain lemak di perut terbakar, pose Uttanpadasana juga bisa membuat kakimu lebih jenjang. Sekali latihan, kamu bisa dapat 2 keuntungan

Menghilangkan perut buncit dengan gerakan yoga via www.stylecraze.com

Perut buncit seringkali membuatmu kewalahan. Selain membuat celanamu tak muat lagi, kepercayaan dirimu juga menjadi berkurang karena tak bisa berpenampilan sempurna. Eits, kamu tak usah kuatir, karena sekarang kamu bisa membakarnya dengan olahraga yoga yang menyenangkan. Salah satunya dengan latihan gerakan Uttanpadasana.

Caranya mudah kok, pertama-tama kamu berbaring di kasur atau matras dengan posisi sempurna – kaki lurus, tangan disamping – . Lalu secara perlahan, kamu angkat kakimu hingga 40 derajat sampai tegak lurus. Tahan pososi ini selama 60 detik. Kemudian turunkan secara perlahan dan kembali sikap sempurna. Ulangi gerakan ini sebanyak 5-10 kali.

Nah, gerakan yoga ini ampuh untuk mengancangkan otot kaki dan otot perut. Sehingga tanpa perlu panas-panasan di luar, lemakmu bisa terbakar meski hanya berbaring di dalam kamar. Jadi perutmu yang rata dan kaki yang jenjang bisa kamu raih. Tertarik mencobanya?

7. Perut indah tanpa banyak gundukan lemak bisa kamu dapat dengan gaya Bhujangasana yang sekilas mirip ular kobra.

Yoga untuk menngecilkan perut via duniafitnes.com

Tanpa harus lelah berpanas-panasan di jalan, sekarang kamu bisa coba melakukan yoga sebagai cara untuk membuat perutmu kembali menjadi rata. Dari sekian banyak gaya yoga, cobalah gaya Bhujangasana yang ampuh mengencangkan otot perut.

Caranya mudah kok, pertama-tama kamu rebahkan tubuhmu dalam posisi tengkurap dengan kaki lurus di atas matras. Letakkan telapak tanganmu tepat di bawah bahu. Lalu tekanlah telapak tanganmu dan anggat tubuhmu secara perlahan hingga seperti pada gambar sembari menarik nafas. Tahan pose ini dalam hitungan 60 detik. Setelah itu kembali ke posisi tengkurap sembari menghela nafas. Jika belum terbiasa, jangan memaksakan diri hingga tubuhmu bisa tegak lurus seperti pada gambar ya. Kamu bisa melatihnya perlahan-lahan saja. Lakukan 5-10 kali.

Pose ini juga bisa mengobati sakit pinggangmu lho. Selain itu, otot perutmu juga bisa terlatih menjadi lebih kencang dan membakar lemak yang bikin perutmu jadi membesar.

Menghilangkan perut buncit gak melulu harus minum obat pencahar, kamu kamu juga harus membakar lemak yang bersarang dengan cara olahraga. Tak hanya joging atau aoerobik di luar ruangan, sekarang kamu juga bisa membuat membuat perutmu lebih kencang dengan yoga yang praktis dilakukan dimana saja.

Selamat mencoba.

Combat Acid/Alkaline Imbalance and Inflammation

http://www.newportnaturalhealth.com/2015/04/combat-acidalkaline-imbalance-and-inflammation/
by Leigh Erin Connealy, M.D

By now, most doctors (conventional and complementary alike) agree that chronic inflammation is the root cause of countless diseases. Not to be confused with the healthy, natural, temporary inflammation that occurs as the result of an injury, chronic inflammation has been linked to cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer’s, and diabetes, to name just a few.

But why does chronic inflammation develop in the first place? There are many reasons, but one of the biggest culprits is acidosis. This condition is triggered by an imbalance in the body’s pH levels. Acidosis paralyzes every cell, preventing the absorption of oxygen and essential nutrients.

You may have acidosis and not even know it. The symptoms are often mild or nondescript…and in some people, nonexistent! Nevertheless, it wreaks havoc in your body, setting the stage for inflammation and a multitude of health problems.

It Starts at the Cellular Level

Every single cell in your body contains alkaline substances—calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium, and oxygen, to name a few. The combination of all these elements creates a slightly alkaline pH within your cells. Your body functions most effectively in this environment.

Unfortunately, everyday life exposes you to a variety of things that disturb this pH balance.Environmental toxins and pollutants, the standard American diet, illness or injury, and stress all have an acidifying effect.

To neutralize the acidity caused by these daily offenders, your body has a complex buffering system that works around the clock.

The quickest way for your body to balance acidosis is with adequate alkaline minerals in your food and supplements. If those don’t provide enough of a buffer, the next stop is your bones, which have robust reserves of alkalinizing minerals.

This approach works…but over time, the continuous depletion of nutrients can weaken your bones and lead to osteoporosis.

Furthermore, as you age, your ability to alkalinize becomes less efficient. That’s why it’s much easier to fall victim to acidosis, inflammation, and inflammatory diseases at the age of 50 than it is at 20.

But there are safe, simple natural ways to reduce acidosis and inflammation.

It’s pretty simple to measure your pH levels using litmus paper and a sample of urine or saliva taken when you wakeup before you eat or drink in the morning. Preferably, your pH should fall in the slightly alkaline range of 7.2 to 7.4. If it’s lower than 7.2, you’re in a state of acidosis.

But even if your pH is ideal, I still recommend following a preventive program—especially if you’re in your 40s or older. As you age, your body’s overtaxed buffering system needs all the help it can get.

Fortunately, reducing and preventing acidosis and dousing inflammation isn’t really all that hard. It can be accomplished in four steps:

Step 1: Reduce Stress

Exercise is a great way to lessen the stress in your life—even if it’s just a 10-15 minute walk around the block. It also cuts acidity by infusing your cells and tissues with acid-neutralizing oxygen.

Step 2: Alkalinize Your Diet

Most of the foods in the standard American diet are highly acidic or acid-forming. The most problematic items include sugar or high-fructose corn syrup, excess salt, caffeine, alcohol, and processed and fast foods. Soda are a perfect storm of acidizing ingredients, and you need to drink a lot of water to counteract them. Minimize or eliminate these substances as much as you can.

In general, you should eat a diet rich in organic produce. Almost all fruits and vegetables (except for tomatoes, cranberries, and blueberries) are alkalinizing. Surprisingly, even most citrus fruits (with the exception of oranges) have an alkalinizing effect. So you can enjoy grapefruit or lemon water without worrying about the repercussions. Particularly helpful are greens, including cucumbers, celery, and green juices or powders.

Step 3: Restore Your Mineral Reserve

You want to have a rich store of minerals so your body can freely liberate what it needs to counteract acidity without harming your bones. This starts with your diet, but supplementation provides an additional safeguard.

As a preventive measure, take a multivitamin and mineral supplement every day. However, if you have acidosis, you should take additional minerals along with your multi. A high-quality bone product would be a good option. These usually contain a wide range of alkalinizing minerals such as calcium, magnesium, zinc, and manganese.

Step 4: Take Inflammation-Dousing Supplements

To lower inflammation, I recommend taking curcumin, the medicinal extract found in the Indian spice turmeric. Curcumin has an impressive resume of treating and preventing various inflammatory conditions, including cancer and cardiovascular, neurodegenerative, and autoimmune diseases.

Another excellent anti-inflammatory you should add to your daily regimen is omega-3 essential fatty acids. Omega-3s protect the heart and brain, both of which can easily fall prey to the effects of chronic inflammation.

These four simple pH-balancing changes can have powerful and dramatic effects. I encourage you to adopt them and get one step closer to experiencing truly vibrant health.

on Autism

The Top 9 Signs Your Infant May Have Autism

http://lighthouseautismcenter.com/top-9-signs-infant-may-autism/

1.) Lack of smiling

Does your child smile back at you when you give her a warm, joyful smile? Does your child smile on her own? By the age of six months, your infant should be giving you big smiles or happy expressions.

2.) Rare Imitation of Social Cues

Does your child imitate the sounds and movements of others? Does he share expressions back and forth? Infrequent imitation of sounds, smiles, laughter, and facial expressions by 9 months of age can be an early indicator of autism.

3.) Delay in Babbling and Cooing

Is your child making “baby talk” and babbling or cooing? Does she do it frequently? Your baby should typically reach this milestone by 12 months.

4.) Unresponsiveness to Name

Is your baby increasingly unresponsive to his or her name from 6 to 12 months of age? Parents who see this in their child are often concerned it may be hearing loss and are unaware it can be a sign of autism. If you see this behavior in your child, be sure to monitor the signs and consult a doctor

5.) Poor Eye Contact

Does your child make limited eye contact with you and other loved ones? Does he follow objects visually? Severe lack of eye contact as the baby grows can be an early indicator, as it is a form of communication and comprehension.

6.) Infrequently Seeking Attention

Does your son initiate cuddling or make noises to get your attention? Does he reach up toward you to be picked up? Disinterest in seeking a loved one’s attention or bonding is a sign your baby may eventually have difficulty relating to others, which can be a struggle for those on the spectrum as they grow up.

7.) Lack of Gesturing

Does your son gesture at objects or people to communicate? Does he wave goodbye, point, or reach for things? This is a milestone that is typically reached by 9 or 10 months old.

8.) Repetitive Behaviors

Does your child engage in repetitive behaviors such as stiffening his arms, hands, or legs?
Does he display unusual body movements like rotating his hands on his wrists? Does he sit or stand in uncommon postures?

9.) Delayed Motor Development

Has your daughter experienced significant delays in motor development milestones, such as rolling over, pushing herself up, and crawling?

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2014/09/09/autism-therapy-study-children/15316255/

Study: Autism signs in babies can be erased

(Photo: Jupiterimages/Getty Images)

A new pilot study suggests that signs of autism symptoms can be erased if babies begin therapy even before they can toddle.

Researchers have long taken the "earlier the better" approach to treatment, but this tiny study – in just seven children – is the first to look at starting therapy in the first year of life.

The research, run by the University of California Davis' MIND Institute, provided directed therapy to babies ages 6-9 months old who were identified as having early signs of autism, such as an inability to make eye contact, lack of babbling and fixations.

By the time the seven babies reached their third birthday – a time when autism can reliably be diagnosed – five didn't show any autism symptoms and a sixth had only mild symptoms.

The treatment now needs to tried in many more children to make sure that it can be consistently helpful, said study co-author Sally Rogers, a professor and developmental psychologist at UC Davis.

"It doesn't prove that these children recovered from autism," Rogers said, because they were too young to be diagnosed with the condition. But "it's a promise of a potential treatment for young children who have these symptoms."

It's not clear, Rogers said, whether the early treatment is better than therapy now generally offered for 3- and 4-year-olds. But it may be that focusing on teaching language to babies at a time when they would normally be learning to speak, for example, will prove more effective than catching children up later, she said.

It's way too soon to declare this kind of therapy a "cure" or even a treatment for autism, said Deborah Fein, a child neuropsychologist at the University of Connecticut, who has researched older children whose autism symptoms disappeared.

Some babies who look like they're going to have terrible problems simply outgrow whatever was wrong, she said. But she was impressed with the results and said the therapy deserves further investigation in many more children.

Rogers said she and her colleagues are planning a larger study now, to begin as soon as they can line up funding.

The treatment, which is a modified version of a therapy program already offered to older children diagnosed with autism, involves 12 hour-long training sessions for families, directing parents to pick up on their children's unusually subtle cues.

Not all parents will have the time necessary to partake in the program, said Dr. Lisa Shulman, director of Infant and Toddler Services at Albert Einstein College of Medicine's Children's Evaluation and Rehabilitation Center. Some may not have the time, or lack the commitment to parenting a challenging child, she said.

Plus, parents whose children don't improve with early therapy, shouldn't blame themselves, she said. "There will be a group of parents who will say even if my child had been identified that early, I don't think that would have made a difference. I say as a professional, 'that's true.'"

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/gut-bacteria-may-play-a-role-in-autism/

Gut Bacteria May Play a Role in Autism

Evidence is mounting that intestinal microbes exacerbate or perhaps even cause some of autism's symptoms

By Melinda Wenner Moyer

Bacteroides fragilis 
Credit: CNRI/SCIENCE SOURCE

Autism is primarily a disorder of the brain, but research suggests that as many as nine out of 10 individuals with the condition also suffer from gastrointestinal problems such as inflammatory bowel disease and “leaky gut.” The latter condition occurs when the intestines become excessively permeable and leak their contents into the bloodstream. Scientists have long wondered whether the composition of bacteria in the intestines, known as the gut microbiome, might be abnormal in people with autism and drive some of these symptoms. Now a spate of new studies supports this notion and suggests that restoring proper microbial balance could alleviate some of the disorder's behavioral symptoms.

At the annual meeting of the American Society for Microbiology held in May in Boston, researchers at Arizona State University reported the results of an experiment in which they measured the levels of various microbial by-products in the feces of children with autism and compared them with those found in healthy children. The levels of 50 of these substances, they found, significantly differed between the two groups. And in a 2013 study published in PLOS ONE, Italian researchers reported that, compared with healthy kids, those with autism had altered levels of several intestinal bacterial species, including fewer Bifidobacterium, a group known to promote good intestinal health.

One open question is whether these microbial differences drive the development of the condition or are instead a consequence of it. A study published in December 2013 in Cell supports the former idea. When researchers at the California Institute of Technology incited autismlike symptoms in mice using an established paradigm that involved infecting their mothers with a viruslike molecule during pregnancy, they found that after birth, the mice had altered gut bacteria compared with healthy mice. By treating the sick rodents with a health-promoting bacterium called Bacteroides fragilis, the researchers were able to attenuate some, but not all, of their behavioral symptoms. The treated mice had less anxious and stereotyped behaviors and became more vocally communicative.

Researchers do not yet know how exactly gut bacteria might influence behavior, but one hypothesis is that a leaky gut may allow substances to pass into the bloodstream that harm the brain. In the mouse study, the probiotic may have helped reshape the microbial ecosystem and made the intestines more robust, preventing the leakage of such substances, says co-author Elaine Y. Hsiao, a microbiologist at Caltech.

So could autism one day be treated with drugs designed to restore a healthy microbial balance? Perhaps, but autism is the result of a “complex interplay of genetic and environmental factors,” explains Manya Angley, an autism researcher at the University of South Australia, so the solution may not be that simple. Caltech biologist Sarkis K. Mazmanian, co-author of the mouse study, agrees. “Many more years of work will be needed before we are confident that gut bacteria impact autism and whether probiotics are a viable treatment,” he says.

Autisms Gut-Brain Connection

http://www.ozy.com/fast-forward/autisms-gut-brain-connection/33302

BY MELISSA PANDIKA

Stress can send your stomach into a painful tailspin, causing cramps, spasms and grumbling. But trouble in the gut can also affect the brain. 

This two-way relationship may be an unlikely key to solving one of medicine’s most pressing — and perplexing — mysteries: autism. Nearly 60 years after the disorder was first identified, the number of cases has surged, and the United Nations estimates that up to 70 million people worldwide fall on the autism spectrum. Yet there is no known cause or cure.

The gut bacteria in individuals with autism  aren’t just different… they may actually contribute to the disorder.

But scientists have found promising clues in the gut. Research has revealed striking differences in the trillions of bacteria — a.k.a., the microbiome — in the intestines of children with and without autism. But the gut bacteria in individuals with autism aren’t just different. Researchers at the California Institute of Technology have shown for the first time that they may actually contribute to the disorder. They reported in the journal Cell in December 2013 that an experimental probiotic therapy alleviated autism-like behaviors in mice and are already planning a clinical trial.

Today autism is treated primarily through behavioral therapy. But the new study suggests that treatment may one day come in the form of a probiotic — live, beneficial bacteria like those found in yogurt. “If you block the gastrointestinal problem, you can treat the behavioral symptoms,” Paul Patterson, a professor of biology at Caltech who co-authored the study told SFARI.org. University of Colorado Boulder professor Rob Knight hailed the finding as “groundbreaking” in a commentary in Cell. 

Autism is a complex spectrum of disorders that share three classic features — impaired communication, poor social engagement and repetitive behaviors. On one end of the spectrum are people who are socially awkward but, in many cases, incredibly sharp. At the other extreme are individuals with severe mental disabilities and behavioral problems.

Treatment for autism may one day come in the form of a probiotic — live, ’friendly’ bacteria like those found in yogurt.

Among the most common health complaints from children with autism? Gastrointestinal problems. Although estimates vary widely, some studies have concluded that up to 90 percent of children with autism suffer from tummy troubles. According to the CDC, they’re more than 3.5 times more likely to experience chronic diarrhea and constipation than their normally developing peers.

Following these hints, Arizona State University researchers analyzed the gut bacteria in fecal samples obtained from children with and without autism. They found that participants with autism had many fewer types of bacteria, probably making the gut more susceptible to attack from disease-causing pathogens. Other studies have also found striking differences in the types and abundance of gut bacteria in patients with and without autism.

But is the gut microbiome in individuals with autism responsible for the disorder? To find out, Caltech postdoctoral researcher Elaine Hsiao engineered mice based on earlier studies showing that women who get the flu during pregnancy double their risk of giving birth to a child with autism. In the mouse model, pregnant females injected with a viral mimic gave birth to pups with autism-like symptoms, such as anxiety and aloofness. 

The mouse pups went on to develop so-called “leaky gut,” in which molecules produced by the gut bacteria flow into the blood and possibly to the brain — a condition also seen in children with autism. 

But how did these bacteria influence behavior? To find out, Hsiao analyzed the mice’s blood. The blood of “autistic” mice contained a whopping 46 times more 4EPS, a molecule produced by gut bacteria, thought to have come from their intestines. What’s more, injecting healthy mice with 4EPS made them more anxious. A similar molecule has been detected at elevated levels in patients with autism.

Hsiao then laced the animals’ food with B. fragilis, a priobiotic that’s been shown to treat GI problems in mice — and the results were jaw-dropping.

Five weeks later, the researchers saw that the leaky gut in “autistic” mice had sealed up, and the levels of 4EPS in their blood had steeply declined. They looked more like healthy mice – from the inside out. Not only did their gut microbiomes come to more closely resemble those of healthy mice, but they were also less anxious and no longer engaged in repetitive behaviors, like repetitive digging. They were more communicative, too.

Five weeks after treatment with B. fragilis, gut bacteria more closely resembled that of healthy mice — and so did behavior.

But the treated mice remained aloof when a new mouse was placed in their cage. “This is a real limitation in the conclusions from this study as, in many ways, social interaction deficits are at the core … of autism,” Ted Abel, a professor of biology at the University of Pennsylvania, told SFARI.org. B. fragilis would probably need to be supplemented with other therapies that address social impairments.

Slide of Elaine's Research

What’s more, a probiotic may only help the subset of patients with autism who experience GI problems, Hsiao said. And only a clinical trial will reveal whether the results also apply to humans. 

Still, autism researchers shouldn’t underestimate the importance of gut bacteria, said John Cryan, a professor of anatomy and neuroscience at University College Cork. In 2011, his group reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that probiotic-fed mice were less anxious and produced fewer stress hormones.“You have this kilo of microbes in your gut that’s as important as the kilo of nerve cells in your brain,” he said. “We need to do much more studies on autistic biota.” 

For people with autism and their families, however, even a supplemental therapy for a subset of sufferers is a huge step forward. “It’s really impactful, this notion that by changing the bacteria, you could ameliorate what’s often considered an intractable disorder,” Hsiao said. “It’s a really crazy notion and a big advance.” 

* Editor’s note: An earlier version of this article did not adequately credit its source. The story contains some reporting from SFARI.org.