Notes from the edge

Diet and Autism

Thursday Jul 26, 2007

One of the things that seems to be significant with all Autistic Spectrum Condition (Apsergers, austism, ADHD, dislexia... ) is diet. Before I go on - this is an area that is based on some inconclusive science -there has not enoguh large-scale research. Moreover, it is clear that a number of people see this as a bandwagon for commercial gain - try this google search.  There is some good stuff in here, and some useful books, but some phrases like "reverse autism"... "cure for autism" ... sound alarm bells to me.

Firstly - let's recognise this is a condtion, not a disease. Of coure, severe autism is very hard to deal with - but mostly this is about differences from what we accept as normal - so words like "cure" are deeply offensive. (As an aside, I reccommend the "Institute for the Study of the Neurologically Typical":  which holds a satirical mirror up to "normals".)

A more significant caution, is that this is an area touched on by Dr. Andrew Wakefield (of MMR & Autism infamy). But that is a whole other issue.

Research into autism & diet seems seems to have a little more substance, and I'll describe our empirical experience. But  you need to make up your own mind.

With those caveats said, it seems that diet can play a role in reducing some of the symptoms or side effects. Principally, it is to do with gluten and casein, proteins from cereals and dairy. As I said you can find a lot of the background on the web, but the theory seems to be that is that when these proteins are broken down into peptides in the gut of someone with ASC, these peptides can enter the blood, rather then being broken down into amino acids. They then act like morphine in the body; and can be detected as opoids in the urine ('Leaky Gut' and the Gluten- / Casein-Free Diet')

We first came across refrences to this Luke Jackson's excellent book "Freaks, Geeks and Asperger Syndrome" . Our minds were made up, when we showed Luke's list of physical symptoms to Calum; we knew about the bad skin and bad breath, but Calum said he felt most of them, such as gut pains.

This  was shorty after Calum was diagnosed. Over the summer holiday, we started Calum on the Gluten & Casein free diet (it takes several weeks). When he returned to school in  September, all his teachers were asking what we had done: he was calmer, more focussed, less voluble in class (and has continued to be so).

Let's be clear: Calum is still Calum,and still has Asperger's (and we love him for that). But some of the distracting effects had been reduced.

It really came home to me a few months later, when I was editing some video of Calum, taken shortly before we changed the diet. In the video, you could see his eyes had dilated pupils and were darting around at random: compared to how he is now, he was "high".

I'll say yet again - you need to form your own opinion. We know what we have seen, and we are not unique. I will reference some further research papers that I have been reading: 

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Posted at 08:43PM Jul 26, 2007 by jf2564 in Autistic Spectrum
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Dr Barry Sears has some interesting observations about Omega 3 and Omega 6 oils in his book Omega Rx Zone To evaluate Dr Sear's credentials have a look at the appendix listing papers in the research literature both in this book and in his Anti-Aging Zone. These books are a useful introduction to the roll of hormones in the body and how we can affect them.

Posted by Todd Olson on July 26, 2007 at 10:36 PM BST #

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