Looking for a fun way to support your favorite cause? FiveHumans makes fashionable t-shirts with hip designs, all based on common diseases such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes, asthma, and even autism.

Their goal is to raise awareness about these conditions and to also raise a little cash for research. For instance, if you buy one of their asthma tees, 10% of the purchase price is donated to the American Lung Association.

The company hopes to expand their designs to include Alzheimer's, and then branch out into other causes such as hunger, global warming, and homelessness. Read more about FiveHumans and the humans behind the scenes here.

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The safety of childhood vaccines has been a matter of debate for years now. I'll never forget having a conversation with a good friend of mine. She chose to get her son vaccinated and her neighborhood "mommy group" all but shunned her. They treated her as a pariah because she made the choice she thought was best for her son. She respected their decision not to vaccinate, but they couldn't respect her decision. It's just one of those hot topics that makes emotions run high.

Recently, the government has consented to pay a Georgia family a settlement out of the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program. The family's little girl developed neurological symptoms after being vaccinated and was later diagnosed with autism. US officials say that the shots did not cause the autism, but rather exacerbated an existing condition. The girl is said to have had an issue with her mitochondria (cellular structures that generate energy). The CDC states that this is a rare case and childhood immunizations are lifesaving. This case does not change government recommendations about vaccinations.

What's your opinion?

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The new ABC show "Eli Stone" us under fire from the largest Pediatrician's group in the U.S. due to its portrayal of autism possibly being caused by childhood vaccines.

The autism-vaccine debate continues to rage on in the media these days, and the arguments for and against the connection are as fierce as anything in the medical community's modern history.

The drama, set to debut this Thursday, follows a lawyer who wins a case for the family of an autistic child due to an executive at the vaccine maker not allowing his own child to receive the vaccine in question.

The American Academy of Pediatrics has taken a sharp view of the show and has stated "A television show that perpetuates the myth that vaccines cause autism is the height of reckless irresponsibility on the part of ABC and its parent company, The Walt Disney Co."

And the autism-vaccine debate rages on.

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University of Washington researchers embarked on a multi-million dollar autism prevention study last week. This research is enrolling 200 infants six months or younger that have an older sibling diagnosed with autism.

It's nice to hear the word 'prevention' when it comes to autism. Especially as the chance of developing autism is much greater if an older sibling has been diagnosed -- about 1 in 20 younger siblings will develop the disorder compared to the 1 in 150 autism rate in the general population.

Researchers point to previous studies showing early intervention results in better outcomes for children with autism. In this study, half the infant participants will enter a control group and be monitored by specialists and referred for community treatment. The other half will join a nine week early intervention program that trains mothers to engage in eye contact with their children. All participants will be evaluated at 12 months for autism. Then the the treatment group will follow a second early intensive intervention program. A final autism evaluation will occur at 24 months for both groups, and results from the control and treatment group will be compared.

Autism is not usually diagnosed until around 24 months. Perhaps these earlier intervention therapies can help undiagnosed infants at risk realize higher functioning along the autism spectrum -- or maybe actual preventive therapies will be identified.

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Some point to the mercury preservative thimerosal as a possible cause of autism. The first years of my kids' lives, a fear of autism constantly lurked in the back of my mind. My youngest is now 3 1/2 years old.

A new study by California researchers from the state's Department of Public Health examined autism rates in children from 1995 to 2007. They found autism rates rose steadily during the 12-year study window, even though thimerosal has not been added to childhood vaccines since 2001 (with the exception of some flu shots). If autism is triggered by the preservative, doctors say autism rates should have dropped after thimerosal was removed. But here's a separate 2006 study showing autism rates dropped after thimerosal was removed from vaccines.

One statistic no one denies is autism rates are definitely rising -- 1 in 150 American children are now affected.

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In an interesting report published today, it was found that a fever can temporarily relieve autistic kids of their condition by restoring nerve cell communications in regions of the brain affected by autism.

This sound like a study that will have quite a bit of follow-up. Understanding why a fever's effect on the brain causes for a momentary withdraw of autism symptoms could lead to future treatments for this condition that is either increasing in numbers or is increasing in diagnosis.

This quote says it all: "The results of this study are important because they show us that the autistic brain is plastic, or capable of altering current connections and forming new ones in response to different experiences or conditions."

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The case of a Pennsylvania doctor who treated an autistic boy with a controversial chemical treatment has reached its pinnacle, as the physician has now been charged with that boy's death.

The suit charges that Dr. Roy Kerry, 69 not only used the wrong drug with the 5 year-old autistic boy, but administered it incorrectly as well.

As a result, Abubakar Tariq Nadama went into cardiac arrest in Kerry's office and died shortly thereafter. Chelation, a treatment meant to remove heavy metals from the human body, was the treatment Kerry was trying to administer, but it has not been approved by the FDA a a treatment for autism.

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Autism is under the legislative microscope in Ohio, as a new bill there would require health insurance plans to cover diagnosis and treatment for autism in an effort to get autistic children into a program at an early age.

Having treatment enter into the scenario as early as possible would benefit them for the rest of their lives, according to medical experts.

In Ohio, current laws can make insurance companies cover the diagnosis of autism but not the treatment. Instead of taxpayers picking up the tab in many cases, insurance would be soon required to do so if the bill passes. What do you think?

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The GF-CF diet can change the world, according to experts at the recent Asian Autism Conference in Hong Kong. But what is it, and how can it change your life? GF-CF is short for gluten-free, casein-free diet. Gluten is a major ingredient in many breads, pastas and wheat products, while casein is present in many dairy items.

But why is it so revolutionary? Apparently, adopting a GF-CF diet can rid children of many symptoms, including physical symptoms like diarrhea and insomnia, plus behavioural problems like agitation and hyperactivity. And it's thought that gluten and casein play a role in Autism as well, and a GF-CF diet can help treat the condition.

But implementing a GF-CF might be harder than it sounds. Cut out all wheat and dairy? It would be difficult for me ... how about you?

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In reading quite a bit on autism lately, the data collector in me sensed something I see quite often in medicine: are diseases and conditions really increasing in rate, or are more being properly diagnosed with certain ailments?

Take autism, for example. The CDC set off quite a firestorm this year by stating that 1 in 150 kids is born with autism. As always, many parents jumped to conclusions and thought something in the environment (food, water, air, vaccines) was to blame.

What is the reason for this increase? Was a change in measurement methods or better patterns and definitions of diagnosis the reason for an "uptick" in autism cases? If something comes out of relative nowhere and "grows at a substantial rate," it should always be suspect. Well, I hope.

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Julie's Health Club recently wrote a thoughtful article on the lack of evidence for pediatric prescriptions. She shared that Western medical doctors are often skeptical when she shares a nutritional or natural/alternative treatment option to readers. Like Jerry Maguire's famous line, "Show me the money!", these docs say "Show me the evidence for your remedy!" Julie says "it's a puzzling double standard" as there is a serious lack of clinical research on the pediatric prescriptions many of these same docs are prescribing.

Beyond the title of this post, here are few startling statistics you should know:

• Nearly 80 percent of hospitalized children receive drugs tested/approved only for adults, according to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia researchers. 28 percent received morphine, even though the FDA has not approved it for pediatric use. Morphine in children has led to bleeding in the brain, among other adverse effects/outcomes.
• One study found 81 percent of doctor visits for kids with sleep problems ended with a prescription. Keep in mind, no FDA-approved sleep drugs for children exist.
• The FDA has not approved an autism medication, but 80 percent of autistic children are on at least one psychiatric drug.

Julie also points out drugs are usually the first treatment choice. What about the marked improvements seen in some autistic children following a wheat-free/dairy-free diet (e.g., Celebrity Jenny McCarthy's son, Evan)? But the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) won't recommend this diet due to a lack of evidence to support or refute it. Yet the AAP approves off-label use of medications for autistic children.

Julie calls for more National Institutes of Health funding to deepen the pediatric evidence for prescription drugs and alternative treatments alike.

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With autism continuing to be in the national medical spotlight, a leading pediatrician group in the U.S. is now installing its largest movement yet to have all children screened for autism before the age of two.

The reason for this is to help parents and doctors spot actual autism much earlier than today -- everything from no babbling to not looking at toys. Early therapy can lessen the severity of the disorder, although there is no known cure.

The report from the pediatrician's group lists several early warning signs, many of which center on social or language construction disappearance or difficulty in those early years.

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Every now and then, kids can do things that seems a little...off...and it may make you wonder if it's something you should be concerned about, or whether it's just one of those little quirks kids sometimes have. Because signs of conditions on the autism spectrum can be so subtle and so varied, they're often hard to spot by the untrained eye. Autism Speaks, an organization dedicated to the condition, recently developed a video glossary to help educate the parents and the general public on the common signs of autism.

I spent a few minutes going through it, and it's really easy to use, as well as being very informative. I can see it being used by parents at home, but also by teachers trying to help parents better understand their child's condition. If you're interested, you can look at the glossary here. Unfortunately, it doesn't yet support all browsers, but they'll be adding more soon.

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Gluten is the talk of the town. The six-letter word is no stranger here at That's Fit and now that Hollywood's Jenny McCarthy has revealed that removing gluten from her autistic son's diet is helping him emerge from his disease, gluten-free diets may become all the rage.

The whole gluten topic really has me thinking -- I admit, I was a bit in the dark about the whole topic prior to just now -- and what I'm thinking is this: Do I really need to be eating wheat?

Gluten -- the protein found in wheat products such as breads, pastas, pastries, rye, barley, and some oats -- isn't a problem for many people. But for those sensitive to it, gluten can cause a sickening reaction. In fact, experts believe an underlying allergy to gluten may be to blame for some neurological disorders. It may also be connected to problems like Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) and Celiac sprue.

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Is there a link between autism and a specific diet? In many cases, parents seem to attach a reduced rate of autism symptoms with a gluten-free and dairy-reduced diet.

Although the vaccine preservative Thimerosal has been recently shunned as a possible cause of autism, other environmental factors are now going to be studied extensively.

This is a good thing -- the amount of chemicals in modern foods as well as the amount of genetic manipulation in many foods needs to be studied as a possible cause of many ailments. Autism could be right up there.

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