Aspies For Freedom

http://autism.about.com/od/alternativetr...edGFCF.htm

Q. What Do Doctors Say About GFCF Diets?
From Lisa Jo Rudy,
Your Guide to Autism.
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About.com Health's Disease and Condition content is reviewed by our Medical Review Board
Many websites and some doctors recommend that children with autism eliminate wheat (gluten) and cassein (milk products) from their diets. Do these Gluten Free Cassein Free (GFCF) diets really make a difference? Who should try them?
A. While some practitioners (Defeat Autism Now doctors in particular) recommend specialized diets for autistic patients, most mainstream practitioners do not. This is most likely because many of the theories behind these diets (most of which eliminate wheat and dairy) appear to be incorrect - and others are not fully researched.

The bottom line, however, is that Gluten Free Cassein Free (GFCF) diets can make a difference for a significant percentage of children with autism. This is probably not because they heal or cure underlying symptoms of autism, but because they treat gastrointestinal problems which are surprisingly common among children with autism (about 12 to 19 percent of children with autism have chronic diarrhea, constipation, reflux and other issues).

Dr. Cynthia Molloy is a researcher at the Children's Hospital Medical Center in Cincinnati, Ohio. She explains why such a diet might be helpful, and it is really just common sense. Here's the gist of her explanation: If a child is suffering from chronic diarrhea, constipation, reflux, or another significant gastrointestinal problem, he or she is likely to be uncomfortable. An uncomfortable child is likely to be easily frustrated and quick to anger - and is likely to have challenging behaviors. Gluten (wheat) and cassein (milk) are often the culprits behind such issues. Eliminate the gluten and cassein, and you may eliminate the gastrointestinal problem. Eliminate the problem, and you eliminate the pain. Eliminate the pain, and the frustration, anger and behaviors may well evaporate!

...

*beeb* This is erkolos speaking

This kind of sound alot better than this stuff:

http://autism.about.com/od/alternativetr...ltview.htm

Man, that was confusing without the [quote] on top of it. Was I suddenly going to speak in your post?

DAN! apparently think there's some kinf of a direct link between autistic behavior and gastro intestinal issues.

"Miracle cure diet"

Just like the miracle cure foot detox, miracle cure neuroacuncture, and miracle cure meeting with shaman.

According to some, aswell as some articles from the same site, alot of autistic people have food intolerances. However, most of the theories saying that it affects the brain have proven wrong (also according to one of the articles from that site about.com).

I don't eat wheat or milk, but I never tell if they actually have any effect on me. I remember an odd sensation in my eyes when having trying something with wheat in it, but I don't know if that was psychosomatic or not.

My daughter is lactose-intolerant and can't drink cow's milk.  But then, so is my NT husband.  Apparently it's an Asian thing - they don't have the intestinal bacteria colonies that digest lactose.  I could live on cow's milk quite happily, being of Scottish descent with a long history of ancestors who raised cattle and (presumably) drank milk.  Not only that, but I'm a real garbage-guts as well; if it's edible I'll eat it!  

Maybe some AS people, particularly those with IBS, would benefit from the elimination diet suggested, but then, so would NT's with IBS.  

Alison

Could gastrointestinal issues be just as prevalent among neurotypicals as autistics, just that autistic people get sensory overlauds of it?

I don't know much about the prevalence.

It seems like people like DAN! especially spread information about autistic people's immune deficiencies.

And I can imagine... That even if an individual is autistic, and has a food intolerance, might not get as "frustrated" by the constipation as other autistic individuals. Autistic people do infact have different sensory issues.

I think this thread has given me some insight into the possibility of autism diets actually having some credibility. It is difficult over the net to know what of "anecdotal evidence" about improvement in autistic children are real when it comes to alternative methods. It is easy to think that all are wrong when you hear pretty much the same thing from parents who have tried chelation, neuro acupuncture, secretin, homeopathy, foot detox and meeting with shaman in Mongolia.

And I would be very sceptical of the idea that anything from food "leaks out of the gut" and travels to the brain.

I'll start the ball rolling with my experience: allergic to cinnamon (chemical burns and swelling of mouth if I try to eat it) Sensitive to ginger (vomiting).  Sensitive to chilli (chemical burns if it gets on my skin.)
My daughter Lauren (also Aspie): lactose in cow's milk (fairly common in Asian population in general).
My NT husband Vernu: lacose in cow's milk (he's Asian).  
Alison

Let me keep the ball rolling:

Me: Wool and soap (skin rash); Gluten intolerance causing severe bloating and stomach ache; Alcohol (I have passed out on the fumes alone); allergic to Penicillin (rash) and most prescribed painkillers (tardive dyskinesia, pseudo-intoxication and other effects on the brain);

Children:

All: could not cope with pork/bacon etc.; I could not eat it in any form while breast-feeding as it gave them severe colic.
Eldest: Wool; Cow's milk; Penicillin
Second: Wool; Gluten (he could tolerate cow's milk once he was on a GF diet); Penicillin
Third: Wool; Cow's milk; Penicillin
Fourth: Wool; Cow's milk & Gluten; Penicillin
Fifth: Peanuts used to cause cold sores until this year.

The main symptoms were rash, eczema and stomach aches. They mostly outgrew their food intolerances around the age of eight, at about the same time that they started reacting to penicillin. My youngest son has the fewest problems, but then he looks like a clone of my hubby who is resilient too!

I've been told that 'infantile gluten enteropathy' often disappears in late mid- to late-childhood, only to re-appear as the adult enters middle-age and can no longer repair tissue damage fast enough. I was underweight my entire life (BMI around 17), despite an enormous food intake, until I went 'gluten-free'. I have now been stable with a BMI around 22 for ten years.

I have fish and cashew nut allergy. I was diagnosed through NeuroZym with milk-protein-intolerance through a urine test. This was about the same time I was diagnosed with AS. I was also told to not eat much more gluten.

I honestly think that NT's have significantly less focus on checking for food intolerances.

People like NeuroZym say that people who have food-intolerance towards something can grow an addiction-like relationship to it. This had effect on my mom and she got scared from letting me have any milk.

According to this article:

http://autism.about.com/od/medicalissues...autism.htm

The incidence of gastrointestinal issues are significantly larger in autistics and especially in regressive autism.

Hm. I've been allergic to penicillin as long as I can remember, and I had problems with constipation when I was younger. I've been looking into the gluten thing, as I am trying to eat healthier in general. If I have such an intolerance, it would have to be pretty mild, but it might just be healthier for me, even if it isn't causing a significant strain on me physically (as far as I can tell). I know that when I eat gluten-free foods (which are a really rare occasion) that I feel like I have a lot more energy (rather like the difference between eating a greasy fast food hamburger and eating a low-calorie salad).