The scientific block of the 2nd Asperger World Meeting was opened by Dr. Andrés Marcano, a Venezuelan pediatrician with more than 20 years devoted to neurodevelopment and autism, trained in Caracas alongside Dr. Lilia Negrón and a lecturer at the Central University of Venezuela. His talk: “Science and biomedicine: strategies to improve the quality of life of Asperger people.”
The person first
“The person is, above all, a human being: an indivisible unity of body and soul, with inherent dignity. The goal of medical care is not to change the person, but to contribute to their quality of life.”
With that framework — and still using the DSM-5 criteria as a common reference — Marcano proposed looking at “what lies behind” from a biomedical point of view.
Genetics that doesn't explain everything
His first message was one of humility: in autism, only a minority of cases has a single identifiable genetic cause (on the order of 10-15%). The rest is multifactorial. And on top of that comes epigenetics: the environment “switches genes on and off.”
“There are genes that get dirty and can be cleaned.”
He gave examples of how the environment modulates genetic variability — methylation pathways, neurotransmitters such as dopamine, adrenaline and serotonin — and how that translates into more or less tendency to anxiety, lack of motivation or panic attacks.
The areas to work on
- Mitochondria: the cell's energy factory. Neurons consume a huge amount, and in autism difficulty in that energy production and greater oxidative stress have often been seen.
- Gut microbiota and the digestive system: looking after them helps “neurons respond better.”
- Detoxification: glutathione — a key molecule for detoxifying — drops with stress, poor breathing or commonly used drugs such as acetaminophen.
- Nutrition, sleep, hydration, oxygenation and exercise: the basics. And stimulation: learning new things.
His conclusion: working on these causes can improve anxiety and depression — and not only in autism, “in anyone.” He recommended a book that argues for dropping the term “mental illnesses” and speaking instead of “brain problems.”
With caution
Marcano himself hit the brakes: “you have to be very careful, because there's often stuff out there” without support. His recommendation to professionals was to train — he cited the autism diploma at the Central University of Venezuela — and not to lose sight of the psychoeducational and social side, especially in adolescence, when peer approval weighs so heavily.
This note summarizes an outreach talk. Autism is not an illness and has no “cure” — Adriana Crostley made this point too. Any nutritional, supplement or other intervention must be done with medical assessment and follow-up.
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Who is Andrés Marcano?
He is a Venezuelan pediatrician with more than 20 years of experience in neurodevelopment and autism, trained in Caracas with Dr. Lilia Negrón and a lecturer at the Central University of Venezuela. He took part in the 2nd Asperger World Meeting (2023).
What is biomedicine applied to autism, according to Andrés Marcano?
A complementary approach that reviews areas such as genetics and epigenetics, mitochondrial function, gut microbiota, detoxification, nutrition and sleep, in order to improve well-being — for example anxiety and depression — without trying to “change” the person or cure autism.
Does autism have a genetic cause?
According to Marcano, only a minority of cases (on the order of 10-15%) has a single identifiable genetic cause; in most it is multifactorial, with a strong influence of the environment on how genes are expressed (epigenetics).