ON TOP of dealing with social and learning difficulties, people with autism also run an unusually high risk of bowel disorders. Now a gene variant has been found that may explain this link.
A large proportion of people with autism also have problems such as chronic diarrhoea, constipation or food intolerance. The MET gene, which has been linked to autism, is known to play a role in the repair of damaged gut tissue, so Daniel Campbell of Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, thought this gene might be involved.
Sure enough, in 118 families in which at least one child had…
