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Studies show that a gluten-free casein-free diet has no discernable effect on autism. So why are many parents continuing with the treatment?

By Nathan Ackroyd | Assistant Professor of Chemistry, Mount Royal University | The Mark

Months of concern had brought us to this doctor’s office, where my two-year-old was scrambling into corners and under tables, looking for the source of his distraction, his frustration. “What is that?” he asked again and again. It wasn’t until he at last asked, “What is that sound?” that I was finally able to satisfy him – the faint hum of the fluorescent lighting was driving him crazy.

We learned that Evan has Sensory Integration Dysfunction, a condition often associated with either autism or giftedness. For someone like Evan, everyday sensation such as touch, taste, or sound is not perceived in the normal way. Sounds that most of us tune out continue to force their way into Evan’s attention. Every one of his senses appears to be over- or under-sensitive, and trying to correct the imbalance sometimes leads to behaviour problems. Searching for a treatment more effective than earplugs his ears are too sensitive for led us to a possible solution – the gluten-free, casein-free diet. This diet has been in the news recently as a potential treatment for autism after a January 2010 review in the journal Pediatrics re-affirmed that it doesn’t work. Gluten, a protein found in various grains, and casein, a milk protein, are harmless for most people. So why would anyone think that the proteins in white bread and a glass of milk contribute to autism? In 2003, Ann-Mari Knivsberg and Karl L. Reichelt tested several fragments of gluten and casein that can be found in the urine of autistic children at much higher levels than with normal children. When they injected specific fragments of partially digested protein into rats, the rats showed specific autism-like symptoms. Believers in the so-called Neuropeptide Hypothesis claim this finding demonstrates that it is these partially digested remains of bread and milk in the brain that cause the sensory-related characteristics of autism and sensory integration dysfunction. Remove them from the diet, and autism should go away. This hypothesis makes sense because our brains are filled with large proteins called receptors – docking stations for the chemicals our bodies use to send signals back-and-forth. Many drugs work because they bind to receptors to either block or strengthen the messages our bodies are trying to send. Researchers have found that these gluten and casein protein fragments bind to opioid receptors, the same receptors that dock morphine and heroin. These drugs cause an intense disconnection from the world. Since autism is characterized by poor response to the outside world, the connection between opioid receptors and symptoms of autism seems reasonable, though we lack the firm evidence that would prove the Neuropeptide Hypothesis.

Knivsberg and Reichelt conducted their rat study to explain the results of a 2002 study, in which they tracked the progress of ten autistic children who were on a gluten-free, casein-free diet. Compared to a control group, the kids on the new diet were reported by parents to have a marked increase in test scores related to symptoms of autism, such as aloofness, repetitive behaviour, and need for routine. But because the parents knew which diet their children received, skeptics can object that the observed improvement was due to a parental placebo effect rather than an actual change in their children.

A placebo is any treatment, be it medication, diet change, or counseling, that works because the patient expects that it will, rather than because of any effectiveness of the procedure itself. In the case of children on an altered diet, however, it is the parents who believe it will be effective. Because the children are unaware of the potential benefits, any placebo effect must be purely due to perception. The parents see a change because they are looking for one, a change that someone who is less hopeful would not see.

Jennifer Elder, a researcher at the University of Florida, improved on the Knivsberg study in 2006, this time keeping parents unaware of their children’s diet. Fifteen autistic children took turns in six-week shifts, eating either a regular diet or one that was gluten-free and casein-free. Improvements in the children’s symptoms were judged by external evaluators, using standardized tests. When asked to guess, 85 per cent of parents thought they could tell when the diet changed, though they were correct only at the same rate as random chance. The measured changes in the severity of symptoms showed no significant difference between the weeks on the control diet and the weeks on the test diet, demonstrating that the new diet has no value on its own as a treatment for autism. In spite of this, several parents reported seeing behavioural changes that weren’t supported by standardized test results and 70 per cent of the parents who finished the study planned to continue the diet. This despite of the potential health risks of a restrictive diet and firm evidence the diet had made *no* difference to their child.

Evan’s sensory integration is only part of what influences his behaviour. He is complex and has required a complex response from us. As he has grown, so has his ability to say what bothers him. Evan can tell us what is too loud, too scratchy, too much. He says gluten gives him headaches, and I believe him – partly because gluten gives me headaches too. A headache makes everything feel worse, whether diet has actual direct effects on sensory perception or not.

Studies aside, my own experience with the diet suggests that, other than a headache, our sensory perception of the world doesn’t change with what we eat. It appears that any observed change this particular diet has on autistic children is due to their parent’s perception of them, not the child’s perception of the world. Even so, the majority of the parents in the Elder study chose to continue a diet that science has shown to have no effect. It appears that when the choice is between hope and science, many find that hope in a placebo is the more attractive option.

Source: http://www.themarknews.com/articles/980-autism-and-the-placebo-diet

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Michelle Groogan gets a hug from her son, Garrett Groogan, 6, during snack time. Garrett is mostly non-verbal autistic, but a gluten-free, casein-free diet seems to be easing some of his more distressing symptoms.

By Melissa Phillip Chronicle | Houston Chronicle

“Very nasty, very foul odor and full of undigested food particles,” said Houston resident Michelle Groogan of her then 18-month-old son’s bowel movement. “It was the classic autism poop.”

Garrett was diagnosed with autism when he was 2, and Michelle Groogan began researching ways to ease her son’s digestive issues, which she felt were autism-related. It wasn’t long before she came across the Gluten Free Casein Free, or GFCF, diet.

Gluten is a protein found in wheat, rye, barley and oats. Casein is the protein in cow’s milk, as well as all mammalian milk.

“It was very overwhelming,” Groogan said. “I mean, everything has gluten and dairy in it.”

Groogan said health food stores and grocery stores such as Whole Foods make it easier to find GFCF foods, but it comes with sticker shock. She spends about $75 a week on Garrett’s food, the same amount she spends for food for the rest of the family.

“We had nothing to lose by trying it,” Groogan said. “Within a few months we started seeing normal stools. When his digestive system was feeling better, we noticed he picked up more language.”

Garrett, now 6, has been on the diet for more than three years.

“It certainly hasn’t healed him completely,” Groogan said, “But we’re not ready to stop the diet any time soon.”

Katherine Loveland, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and director of the Center for Human Development Research at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston, said the American Academy of Pediatrics released a statement recently that said it’s possible that kids with autism have some problems that are related to gastric disturbances, but they do not see evidence that this is a cause of autism.

“That does not mean it might not be important,” Loveland said. “The percentage of kids with autism that has gastrointestinal difficulties can be 10 percent or 70 percent depending whom you study and how you study them. So it’s not clear how many of them have it, or how many are relieved of it through diet.”

Anecdotally, for some, the proof is in the pudding.

“The observer is biased,” Loveland said. “That’s one possibility. Or it could be that the child did have some gastric distress, pain they were not able to report, and the child is now more comfortable day to day, and therefore feeling better, so behaving better. To put it simply, it’s complicated.”

Sugar Land resident Scott Jackson said he heard about the diet after his son Tyler was diagnosed with autism when he was 2.

“It seemed to be the first question people asked when they found out about Tyler’s diagnosis,” Jackson said. “We decided to give it a try because just like every family desperately looking for ways to help their child, we will try most things that can help, with or without proof.”

Tyler, now 5, spent about 10 weeks on the diet without any noticeable improvement, Jackson said.

Dr. Robert Sears, who will release The Autism Book in April, said any parent starting their child on the diet should give it a good six months, but children age 7 and older need at least a year.

Food allergies, Sears said, are the single most common medical problem shared by children with autism.

He devotes an entire chapter of the book to diet changes, in which he writes about the GFCF diet. He said one survey of 1,800 autistic children revealed 65 percent showed improvement on the diet.

He said chronic diarrhea resolves, first words emerge, hyperactivity diminishes, and potty training becomes easier.

Sears said the diet works best in conjunction with supplements, including digestive enzymes, probiotics, cod liver oil, vitamins and minerals.

Sears relates the stories of five families from his own practice who have had some success with biomedical treatments, including dietary changes and the addition of vitamins and minerals.

The children Sears talks about include those with classic regressive autism, which means kids who are “completely normal” the first year or two, and then go backwards developmentally, sometimes suddenly and dramatically.

Sears drives homes the point by saying early intervention “can change a life.” He also says he has had cases of children who don’t fit the classic story of regressive autism with gastrointestinal symptoms, but who still benefit from the GFCF diet.

One such patient didn’t have constipation or diarrhea and didn’t regress socially or developmentally, but was quite developmentally delayed. The child was diagnosed with autism, and Sears said he showed improvement after going on the GFCF diet, and adding vitamin B12 and zinc.

Sears wraps up his book with a chapter titled “Prevention for Your Future Children.”

“I know it’s controversial to talk about prevention of autism when we don’t actually know what the cause is,” Sears said. “Where I’m coming from is that a lot of similar medical problems seem to occur in kids with autism, and that when we fix those medical problems, the symptoms of the autism tend to get better. One of the main ones is food allergies. Identify food allergies early by taking colicky babies and chronic, loose stools seriously.”

Source: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/health/6871461.html

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By General Mills

MINNEAPOLIS – (Business Wire) General Mills has created liveglutenfreely.com to provide consumers with information on gluten-free products and gluten-free recipes. The site lists General Mills products labeled gluten-free and features kitchen-tested recipes for preparing an array of gluten-free foods.

“One of the most frequent inquiries our customer service department receives is ‘What products are gluten-free?’” says Katie Lay, marketing manager, General Mills Health and Wellness division. “Consumers should always consult product labels prior to purchase, but our new website can give them 24/7 access to information about General Mills’ gluten-free products. We also created an electronic newsletter by the same name that consumers can subscribe to when they visit liveglutenfreely.com. Gluten-free product information and gluten-free recipes will be sent directly to their inboxes.

“General Mills is one of the leading food manufacturers responding to consumers concerned about gluten,” says Lay. “We recently launched a line of Betty Crocker gluten-free dessert mixes, and we have many additional products labeled gluten-free. For example, our Yoplait yogurt, LÄRABAR fruit and nut bar, Betty Crocker Fruit Snack, and Chex cereal product lines all contain several gluten-free items. All this information is included on our new site. Anyone who has adhered to a diet of any kind knows that it’s easier when there are a variety of foods to choose from and recipes to help you.”

Michelle Tucker, M.S., registered dietitian and senior scientist of the Bell Institute of Health and Nutrition, says liveglutenfreely.com is a great resource for the one in nine U.S. households watching, reducing or avoiding gluten intake. “The web site is an excellent tool to help the growing number of consumers seeking information on gluten-free foods,” says Tucker. “But consumers need to remember that it’s essential to always read ingredient listings and look for the words gluten free near the nutrition and ingredient list on package labels before adding a food item to their shopping cart.”

Source: Newswire

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Some celebrities and Internet sites claim a diet free of gluten protein and casein protein found in grains and dairy, respectively, can help people with autism.

By Reporter Allen Mask, M.D. | WRAL

Cary, N.C. — About 1 percent of 8-year-olds in the United States are diagnosed with autism, a developmental disorder that can affect social interaction and communication, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Some celebrities, television talk shows and Internet sites suggest a gluten-free, casein-free diet will improve an autistic child’s ability to function and communicate. That means that children can’t eat food with gluten proteins, which are found in wheat, barley and rye, nor any dairy products with casein protein.

The theory is that children with autism have a damaged intestine that leaks partially digested protein into the blood stream, with harmful effects on the brain.

Duke University psychiatrist Dr. Rick D’Alli said the few clinical trials to test the effects of the diet have produced inconclusive or contradictory results.

D’Alli said the online and celebrity testimonials that are boosting the popularity of the diet are based solely on anecdotal evidence.

“It’s story-telling. It’s not scientifically based,” he said.

That doesn’t stop Kim Roberts from putting her 6-year-old son, Jaden, on a gluten-free, casein-free diet. He was diagnosed with autism when he was about 2 years old, and his mother is convinced there’s a dietary link.

“He had diarrhea (or) runny stools. Some foods came out whole,” Roberts said.

She now carefully controls everything that goes onto Jaden’s plate. One recent lunch consisted of crinkle-cut fries that had no preservatives, apple slices, grapes and nitrate-free hot dogs without buns.

“Foods started to get a little bit digested better,” she said.

The special foods and ingredients Roberts uses for Jaden’s diet are more expensive and time-consuming, but she’s committed to it.

“He’s probably eating better than a lot of children,” she said.

Jaden also receives professional therapy, and his mother said she doesn’t know if it’s the diet, the special attention or both that’s helping him make progress.

“He has come a long way,” she said.

People who have questions about or want to participate in National Institutes of Health autism studies should e-mail prpl@mail.cc.nih.gov or call 1-800-411-1222.

Source: http://www.wral.com/lifestyles/healthteam/story/6440749/

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By KimmyKrocker

GFCF Peanut Butter Cookies

An easy, delicious recipe for GFCF Peanut Butter Cookies…it seems I need to remember to keep my curtains closed while filming!

GFCF Halloween Sugar Cookies

These make great Halloween treats for your youngins…Only I didn’t realize how much danger I was in while baking them! Happy Halloween everyone!

Source: YouTube

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Treatment links disorder to allergies

By Christine Metz | The Lawrence Journal Journal-World

At one point in her son’s seven-year life, Anna Latif wondered whether he would ever recognize her as his mother.

Diagnosed on the middle-to-low spectrum of autism, Latif’s son went to traditional doctors and followed the traditional treatment for the disorder that has no cure.

But after two years, Latif wasn’t satisfied with the results or what she saw in the autistic teenagers who followed the more common treatment.

“I know my son had a lot more potential than that,” she said.

So she dug deeper into the research and came across information on an alternative and controversial biomedical treatment. When she took her son to a Defeat Autism Now (DAN) doctor, she learned her son had a host of allergies and high levels of toxins in his body.

She changed his diet to gluten-free and casein-free and placed him on a heavy dose of supplements. Gluten is found naturally in wheat and rye, and casein is found in milk.

Latif noticed a change in the first week.

“It was like I turned the lights on,” Latif said.

Today, Latif said her 7-year-old son is a different person. Someone who was once so weak he could barely walk now rides his bike, swims and plays basketball. He is at the top of his second-grade class in reading and loves books.

“I am literally rebuilding his body,” she said.

Dr. Jeremy Baptist, a DAN-certified doctor in Overland Park, said he continues to see an increase in parents looking at diet and nutrition as a way to improve their child’s autism symptoms.

An allergist, Baptist first noticed a link between allergies and autism in the 1980s when adult autistic patients would come in his office with hay fever. During the next decade, the link between environmental factors and autism grew stronger.

“I like to think of children as the canaries in the coal mine. They are the ones that are reacting to various toxins in the environment,” he said.

Weighing treatments

In the world of autism, the question of whether to treat through diet is controversial, with parents staking positions with religious-like fervor.

So far, scientist have not uncovered what causes or cures autism. So parents are often left to the advice of physicians, word-of-mouth antidotes from fellow parents and Internet research in determining what treatment is best for their child.

“It is very hard for parents to not try and do everything,” said Dr. Kathryn Ellerbeck, a developmental behavioral pediatrician with Kansas University Hospital’s Center for Child Health and Development.

When parents ask about the gluten-free and casein-free diets, Ellerbeck tells them she has never seen anyone cured by it.

But, she also said the diet is a reasonably safe one. It also helps to keep data and have someone objectively evaluate whether any differences are apparent in the child.

“It is hard to do and it is really not a diet that a lot of kids like,” Ellerbeck said.

So far, clinical research has not shown that changes in diet have had an effect on autism, said Dr. John Colombo, a psychology professor and director of KU’s Life Span Institute.

Two clinical research trials are under way, one in the United States and the other in Europe, Colombo said.

“The evidence out there isn’t enough; it wouldn’t convince the average scientists to say it is effective,” Colombo said.

Maria Brockman, of Lawrence, tried the diet for her autistic child and didn’t see a difference. While she knows of parents who have had success with it, Brockman said for her it didn’t work.

Ellerbeck said parents shouldn’t feel bad about not seeing results.

“They feel guilty for not being able to do all the things they read out there on the Internet. It is unfair to these families,” she said.

Success for some

Baptist said most of his patients are treatable. However, he said, the best results occur if autism is diagnosed when the child is young.

He points to one patient he has treated who was “very autistic” and nine years later is now a popular, outgoing teenager who was elected to student council and plays soccer.

“It’s a matter of finding out what is causing the problem and treating it,” he said.

Catrina Loney also has had success. At age 2, her daughter Isabel, while smart, wouldn’t make eye contact, imitate animal sounds or ask the endless number of questions that toddlers do.

Three months into preschool, Isabel’s teacher mentioned that something wasn’t quite right. So, Loney set up an appointment with doctors at KU Hospital. She was put on an 8-month waiting list. In the meantime she came across the book “Louder than Words” by Jenny McCarthy, an actress who saw her son’s autism improve when his diet changed.

“I stayed up all night reading. And, I just clicked with it,” Loney said.

Soon afterward, she started her daughter on a gluten-free and casein-free diet. The first week, Isabel’s eye contact improved and by week three she was fully engaged and her conversation increased.

Loney saw so much difference that she canceled her appointment at KU Hospital, so Isabel was never officially diagnosed.

“When you’re a desperate mom, you want your kid to be fixed,” Loney said. “So, you do it all and figure out later what works.”

Source: http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2009/oct/05/autism-diet-gives-relief-some/?city_local

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This yellow colored soy dough is banana scented. Other scents include blueberry, mint, watermelon, orange and root beer.

By Kristin Crowley | 18 WLFI

Made especially for children with allergies

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) – Allergies can prevent some from enjoying many things some of us take for granted, even children’s toys.

That’s why one Purdue student invented a product especially for kids with allergies.

“Soy-yer dough” is a gluten free modeling clay. It’s made with non-toxic materials and based with either soy or rice.

Developer of Soy-yer dough is Purdue Agricultural Economics student Sawyer Sparks.

Sparks makes the product at home with the help of his mother and fiancee Sammie Lewis.

He said the idea came to him from one of his teachers.

“One of my favorite professors mentioned she had Celiac disease. I had no idea what that was but I found out it meant she was allergic to wheat. So I set out to invent to help her child who also had Celiac disease, and make a fun scented product and that was ‘Soy-yer dough’,” said Sparks.

“I think the best thing about it is that every kid can play with it and I’ve actually had personal experience talking to kids that have autism and ADHD and it’s just really good because every kid can use it,” said Lewis.

Soy-yer dough is available in various colors and scents. Sparks said while it smells good, it does not taste good. And while he said it won’t harm you if you do eat it, he suggests only using it for play.

Sparks said he hopes ‘Soy-yer dough’ takes off so he can create local jobs to help produce it.

Source: http://www.wlfi.com/dpp/news/local/local_wlfi_west_lafayette_purdue_student_invents_unique_toy_20090926

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By JULIE DEARDORFF  |  Chicago Tribune

The gluten-free diet is no picnic. So when Julie Pech put her 12-year-old son on the wheat-free eating plan, she also stopped eating the ubiquitous grain to help him make the transition.

Today, she feels so good that she has no plans to return to her old bread-eating ways.

“My head is clearer, and I’m lean and healthy,” said Pech, of Littleton, Colo. “For whatever reason, gluten makes me very heavy and tired.”

Once strictly a daunting regimen for those suffering from celiac disease, the gluten-free diet has broken into the mainstream. An estimated 1 percent of the U.S. population has celiac, an autoimmune disorder of the small intestine, according to 2003 data published in the Archives of Internal Medicine. The only treatment is a lifelong dietary challenge: avoiding gluten, the protein found in common grains such as wheat, barley, spelt and rye.

But the demand for gluten-free products is rising, a movement also fueled by health-conscious consumers, parents of autistic children and breast-feeding moms. In 2008, more than 1,000 new gluten-free foods and beverages were introduced; sales have grown by an average of 28 percent in the past five years, according to the market research group Packaged Facts.

General Mills Inc., which last year released a gluten-free version of its Chex cereal, now offers Betty Crocker gluten-free cookies and cakes. At Baltimore’s Camden Yards, baseball fans can buy gluten-free pretzels; Coors Field in Denver has an entire gluten-free concession stand. And in Elisabeth Hasselbeck’s best-selling new book, “The G-Free Diet: A Gluten-Free Survival Guide,” the co-host of “The View” says that “even people with no health issues have a great deal to gain by giving up gluten.” Among the claimed advantages: weight loss, more energy, increased attention and better digestion.

It’s enough to make you wonder: Should I leap onto the gluten-free bandwagon?

Cutting a little gluten out of your diet probably won’t hurt, especially because it often means eating fewer processed foods. But you’ll likely see benefits only if you have a wheat allergy, gluten sensitivity or celiac disease, said Dr. Alessio Fasano, medical director of the University of Maryland’s Center for Celiac Research.

Otherwise, “the diet only has a ‘placebo effect’ at best” because gluten is naturally difficult for humans to digest, Fasano said. Any fullness or bloating you might feel after a pasta dinner, for example, is a result of the slow emptying of the stomach because of poor digestion of gluten rather than a bad reaction to it, Fasano said, adding that marketers are pushing people to eat gluten-free for no reason and turning the diet into a South Beach-like fad.

Avoiding gluten isn’t just difficult and inconvenient; it’s also expensive. Gluten-free versions of products such as bread and crackers often are three times the cost of regular products, according to a study by the Celiac Disease Center at Columbia University.

Still, the diet often is touted as healthy because followers tend to diligently read labels, eat naturally gluten-free foods such as fruits and vegetables and avoid processed, shelf-stable foods. Despite its popularity, wheat gluten is not an essential nutrient.

Some GFers, such as Brooke Braun, 32, have seen health improvements. When Braun started eliminating gluten two years ago, she found it alleviated some symptoms of her Crohn’s disease, including joint pain. “I also lost weight when I went gluten-free, sleep better, have less anxiety and clearer skin,” said Braun, of Arlington, Va., who is now off her Crohn’s medication.

And when Pech took her son Blake off gluten to help treat his behavioral problems, he transformed from a whiny troublemaker to a confident, straight-A student, she said.

“If someone really wants to eat gluten-free and they feel better, it’s possible to have a balanced diet without it,” said Dr. Christine Gerbstadt, a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association in Sarasota, Fla. She suggests trying an elimination diet and slowly adding gluten back in.

But if it’s weight loss you’re after, don’t go overboard buying gluten-free brownies, cookies or baked goods, Gerbstadt warned. While nice treats, “those are all still highly processed, refined flour.”

Source: http://onlineathens.com/stories/091609/liv_493563144.shtml

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By Clara Ogren | Baltimore Gluten-Free Examiner

A childhood favorite pastime is creating with play dough.  The typical store brands are not gluten free and can be hazardous to someone with gluten intolerance.  There are, however, several specialty brands that are gluten free.

Colorations – Free from latex, dairy, casein, egg, gluten, peanuts and tree nuts, this dough comes in 8 different colors.
Blue Dominoes – This dough is made of organic, food grade, all natural ingredients, is free of lead, heavy metals, bromine, and bisphenol-A; and does NOT contain artificial colors, dyes, gluten or wheat.
Aroma Dough – This dough is made with 100% organic, gluten free, wheat free rice flour, salt, water, moisturizing oils and natural aromas (no perfumes).  It does NOT contain nuts, nut oils, perfumes, soy, dairy products or wheat.  They offer 8 different colors/aromas, a nice plastic rolling pin and even a nice mat to prevent table damage.
Mama K’s Play Clay – Mama K’s Play Clay is a 100% natural, biodegradable dough made with only ORGANIC essential oils.  Available scents are chamomile (to relax), lavender (to soothe), bergamot (for tension), geranium (to balance), lemongrass (to inspire) and sweet orange (to uplift).  Even better, this dough is made in a dedicated gluten free facility.
Eco-Dough – This non-toxic, naturally gluten free, soy free and dairy free dough comes in a tube containing 6 3-ounce containers (one each of pink, orange, white, brown, blue, green and yellow).

If you would prefer to make your own, here are a some recipes:
Celiac Sprue Association – This recipe seems to be the most popular as it is posted on many sites.
Autism Spot – There are two recipes on this page – one to be made on the stove and one that can be made in the food processor.
Lucy from “I can see my house from here” Lucy developed her own recipe using corn and bean flours in addition to rice flour.
Stephanie from “A Year of Slow Cooking” Stephanie has a recipe to make play dough in the crockpot.

For something a bit different, you could even make edible play dough!
Peanut Butter
Chocolate
Cream Cheese

Source:  http://www.examiner.com/x-11683-Baltimore-GlutenFree-Examiner~y2009m7d30-Gluten-free-play-dough-recipe

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By Dawn Matthews | Pittsburgh Autism & Parenting Examiner

There is a lot of controversy about the nutritional treatment of autism and other behavioral disorders, mostly between conventional doctors and the parents who see that it works. Many wonder how diet modification can help a behavioral disorder, however consider your behavior when you aren’t feeling well. Can you concentrate? Do you feel like mingling? Are you irritable? You may not throw yourself down and start screaming like a banshee, but you would if you were a child and knew no other way to express yourself.

It’s amazing how allergies and intolerances manifest themselves. For example, many children with a sensitivity or allergy to gluten and dairy end up having enlarged tonsils. When placed on the gluten-free dairy-free (or caesin-free) diet the tonsils shrink back to normal. It also causes abdominal pain, which can be severe and overwhelming. Other food allergies may cause different symptoms. If your child is still unwell (may be congestion, chronic infections, etc.) after trying this diet, you may need to investigate other food allergies or other types of allergies.

As a result of the above mentioned improvements, the child becomes more reasonable, has less tantrums, begins speaking more regularly, and more clearly. They are better able to concentrate because some of the pain has subsided.

Dairy is pretty straight forward: cheese, yogurt, butter, cream, and the like. There are many kinds of substitutes you can use. Soy milk, rice milk, almond milk, soy cheese, etc. Flieschman’s light or unsalted is made with oil instead of milk or cream. There is also Earth Balance that makes a vegan (no animal products) margarine.

Gluten is a protein found in wheat, rye, barley, and with some controversy, oats. Some people are able to handle oats, while the more sensitive people can not tolerate it. It’s also not at easy to spot on labels. Wheat flour has many names like semolina and spelt to name a couple. However, gluten can be called starch, malt, or many other names. Modified food starch tends to be modified corn starch, but sometimes it can mean gluten. You can contact the manufacturer to find out for sure. Wikipedia has some great information on the gluten-free part of the diet. They point out that you have to be careful about more than just food. For example, some medications use gluten as a binder. There is a website specifically for the “autism diet” which includes information, a support group, they even sell food and books.

Grocery stores are beginning to stock gluten-free food, some of which is also dairy-free or just completely hypo-allergenic. Some Giant Eagle stores have a wonderful selection of gluten-free and dairy-free food, which is continually growing. If you can’t find anything at your local grocery, there are always specialty stores like Frankferd Farms or Whole Foods.  New specialty stores are popping up all the time.

There are certain brands you can look for like Amy’s Kitchen, Namaste, Cherrybrook Kitchen, and Kinnikinnick just to name a few. Some of these manufacturer’s also sell their food online but I think all of them give a list of places to find their products.

Finally, you can find a lot of recipies online for gluten-free dairy-free cooking. Sometimes it’s best just to use a regular recipe and substitue the gluten and dairy products. You generally have to use a binder with your substitues, like Xanthan Gum. It’s expensive, but a little goes a long way.

For mor information:

http://media.wiley.com/product_data/excerpt/00/04703191/0470319100.pdf

http://glutenfreecooking.about.com/od/gettingstarted/tp/Getting-Started-.htm

http://glutenfreecooking.about.com/od/gettingstarted/a/hiddengluten.htm

http://www.chow.com/recipes/25308

http://www.earthbalancenatural.com/

Source: http://www.examiner.com/x-14700-Pittsburgh-Autism–Parenting-Examiner~y2009m6d27-Tips-On-Starting-a-GlutenFree-DairyFree-Diet

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