Irish Connection In Your Family Tree?

I was helping out at a country fayre. On the committee and one of our fellow members had an autistic child and in conversations about research into Autism one interesting facts that popped up was the Irish connection in Autism..Up to the Irish potato famine the staple diet of the Irish was potatoes and fish ..When mass immigration to Britain & America happened these families ate wheat crops for first time in there life's and they think the bowel was affected with a possible reason for some cases of Autism ..I just wondered if there was similar connection in Parkinson families..My mothers mother was Irish where we think the inherited gene came from...Any Irish connection in your family?
Forgive me Robfen, I am trying to get my head around this. Are you suggesting that there is an "Irish gene" , activated by consumption of wheat products that may result in autistic behaviours? And that something similar may underlay the development of PD? If so I have consderable reservations. But I may have read your post incorrectly
Personally I put it down to the consumption of Guinness, an excess of shamrocks and (particularly) neurological dysfunctions caused by hanging upside down to kiss the Blarney Stone. But I could be wrong.
Robfen, to be serious - there is a suggestion that, in some children, the gluten in wheat is not fully metabolised and that this may be linked to autistic behaviour. Hence some people advocate a wheat free diet.
I had not heard about the Irish link
Lets stop taking p--- Ray for one minute that was deadly serious at the time ,it was quite common factor with Irish conection wiith families of autistic kids ...The link could never be proved once glutten got in bowel there was no going back and they reckon the bowel was holded the stopping of glutten had no effect.....The Irish never haa a cereal diet till after potato famine
why even bother .................stuff it:imp:
Only a harmless joke Robfen, nowt malicious intended.
It is well known that some groups of people have reactions to some foodstuffs,especially those relatively recently introduced into our diet. Most of the races of the world are lactose intolerant and cannottherefore drink milk. Maybe PwP will be found to have a condition in which some foodstuff, not eaten until relatively recently ie post stone age, predisposes them to develop the condition.Instead of taking the p*** ,even lightheartly it might be better to keep an open mind.Ah well,I expect I will be told to lighten up now.Looking for the trigger for Parkinsons development and from there to a cure I take very seriously...............the disease itself we take the mickey out of
Robfen, in answer to your question, I can trace my Irish heritage on both sides, probably to as far back as records allow. However, as far as I know, I am the only PwP of my generation ( & I have dozens of cousins). As for previous generations, whether PD was an issue is impossible for me to know
Hi Robfen - I was born and brought up in Ireland and have Irish ancestors. In my case, firstly I have bowel problems (Crohn's disease) and yes I have PD. Two of my Mum's sisters had PD and I have a cousin recently diagnosed with PD.

Regards
Lizzy
English Country Dancer this about a race of people who change their diet over night .I am not talking about people who develop allergys to modern processed food or delevop glutten intolerance...The children who devolop autism get it staight after taking solid food products.Imagine taking a western diet to India,China,or Pakinstan and made them eat it instead of their normal diet ......Then see what happens...A study of the Irish connection would be useful
especially in the inherited P.D. to see if their ia a link..:question:
My husband's grandparents were born in Ireland.His father had bowel cancer.We dont know of any others who got Parkinsons.
Robfen..........so am I. In terms of how long we,as humans, have been on the planet,post Old Stone Age (Paeolithic)) is a mere blink of an eye. Even more so for those groups,such as the Irish,who had grains introduced very,very recently.How do you suggest your hypothis is tested?
A straw poll :question:of inherited Parkinson on this forum would be a start:smile:
the trouble with straw polls on the forum is
a) very few people respond
b) only those agreeing respond - so you dont get a background population
c) its not allowed by the forum rules

i know this cause i tried it once with a theory of my own.

a database of parkinsons gene mutations by ethnicity described here:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2686576/

it has a lot of information about the many genes involved in pd. they could possibly answer your question about irish ancestry? the first step might be to get your dna analysed to find out what mutation you have. then you could see if it also causes pd in non-wheat eating countries?
The other delicate subject i am going ask is bowel behaviour pre Pd...as i spent years with irritable bowel syndrome and of course loss of smell is common one as i lost mine over 15yrs ago before first signs of PD:laughing: