Autism Awareness Month – Why a Gluten Free/Casein Free Diet Works for Many
The United States recognizes April as Autism Awareness Month and as a special opportunity for everyone to educate the public about autism and issues within the autism community. You probably know a family facing this daunting condition, or you are one.
Please take a moment to answer the following poll about your experience with autism and a gluten free/casein free diet. You can click “View Results” at any time to see how the voting is going. Keep reading to see why it works for many.
Should you try a Gluten Free diet with your child on the autism spectrum? Read on.
Click here to read the amazing story of Noah, a small child who had lost all communication before going on a GFCF diet.
WHY does it work in some?
In this informative article, “Can a Gluten Free Diet Help Autism?,” by Dr. Karima Hirani, MD MPH, (Board Certified in Family Medicine, Integrative Medicine, and Nutritionist), explains why a gluten free/casein free diet is effective in relieving some symptoms faced by 3 out of 4 of her autistic patients. Hirani recommends that you try the diet for at least 3 months in order to give it a chance. (You should consider including your doctor in the decision before you make any major diet changes.) I’m not a scientist, but I’ve heard so many of say how the Gluten Free/Casein Free Diet has drastically helped their autistic child, so I’ll let the author do much of the talking on the reasons why this may diet should helps most of her autistic patients.
The first reason Hirani cites is the improved immune response to the diet. “Jyonouchi H, published a study in 2001 in the journal of Neuroimmunology showing proinflammatory and regulatory cytokine production associated with innate and adaptive immune response in children with autism spectrum disorders and developemental regression.” Some report as many as 91% of the patients with ASD who were put on the strict GFCF diet improve.
A second reason the GFCF diet works is at the allergy level. According to the article, “Lucarelli S, in 1995 in Panminera Medical Journal showed that italian autistic kids were evaluated for milk related antibodies and response to milk elimination as compared to 20 control children. Higher antibody levels to milk proteins in the autistic population and a marked improvement in the behavioural symptoms of autistic patients after a 2 month milk elimination diet. In my practice almost every child does a food antibody test especially to wheat and dairy and over 60% of them are allergic to these proteins.”
A third reason why the diet maybe working for some kids, according to Hirani, is at the enzyme level. Several studies support the fact that the enzyme DPPIV which digests gluten and casein may not be working well in kids on the ASD. Hence, when children ingest these proteins, instead of being appropriately broken down or digested, these proteins are converted into opiod like proteins and have an opium like effect. This could explain why these children are in their own world. Reichelt Kl in 1981 in the journal of Advanced Biochemistry and Psychopharmacology showed biologically active peptide-containing fractions in shizophrenia and childhood autism. Negri L in 1998 in the British Journal of Pharmacology, showed glycodermophrins: opiod peptides with potent and prolonged analgesic activity and enhanced blood-brain barrier penetration.“ (Read the study abstract here if you are interest in more scientific reasoning on this.)
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The Autism Society of America takes the position that “Individuals with ASD may exhibit low tolerance or allergies to certain foods or chemicals. While not a specific cause of autism, these food intolerances or allergies may contribute to behavioral issues. “
“Research in the U.S. and England has found elevated levels of certain peptides in the urine of children with ASD, suggesting the incomplete breakdown of peptides from foods that contain gluten and casein. Gluten is found in wheat, oats and rye, and casein in dairy products. The incomplete breakdown and the excessive absorption of peptides may cause disruption in biochemical and neuroregulatory processes in the brain, affecting brain functions.”
The Autism Society recommends removing gluten and casein from the diets of children with Autism.
If you have experience with autism and a gluten free/casein free diet, please tell your story below.
Some comments from the Facebook page:
Heather Bixby Sanford
We use this diet with our Autistic son and it has made world of difference. Literally night and day results
Barbara Pound
My daughter is 28 years old and she is in College – she would not be where she is if it wasnt for the GF diet – it is amazing.
My son has been on the GF/CF Diet for almost 9 years. We have seen astounding results with this diet. My son started school at 3 1/2 in the Intensive Support Pre-School Disabled class, and is now fully integrated (with minimal supports) in the 6th grade advanced classes. He also gets straight A’s.
My suggestion to anyone who wants to try it are:
There is NO cheating on this diet. Any gluten or casein can set a child back weeks.
Give the diet 6 months to see results. We saw some results early on, but at the six month mark, my son made amazing advances.
Good luck.
Laura
Wow, that’s awesome Laura! Thanks for sharing!
We have done gluten and casein free for 5 months, we did see some improvement in our son’s ability to stay focused and not get agitated. But he lost over 10% of his body weight, weight he could not afford to loose. We gradually introduced foods back one at a time. We introduced 3 individual gluten containing foods back over a period of nine weeks and he was fine, he also regained some of his lost weight. We put yoghurt back into his diet and it was like we drugged him, all of the things we had seen improvement in were back to where they had been. We removed the yoghurt and within two weeks things were better. So for our son casein seems to be the thing causing the problem. We still use mostly gluten free products in his diet but he has regular wholewheat bread once a day in his packed lunch. We are currently seeing a naturapath and monitoring his diet, we know for certain that food colourings ( in particular the orange and reds) cause behavioural issues with him so we make sure there are none of those in his diet. It will be an interesting journey finding out what ( if any) other triggers he may have in his diet.
Thanks for sharing, Jo! Glad you are figuring it out!
Our oldest daughter was 4 when she was diagnosed with ASD. She still could not speak. Within 6 weeks of a GF/CF diet, the words were pouring out of her mouth! Now at nearly 7, she still has language delays, but she is much improved and can speak with spontaneous language in real sentences. She also no longer has stimming behaviors or the constipation associated with most ASD kids. GF/CF has given her a future. Thank God we tried it when we did. She was able to make improvements right away. Our middle daughter was diagnosed with PDD, we put her on GF/CF as well, and are also seeing remarkable results. I urge parents to try it, and if it doesn’t work, at least they tried. And if it works, you’ll never look back!
I was diagnosed Celiac and milk protein intolerant March 2010. My older sons (ages almost 6 and 7) are both autistic and have improved almost 80 percent since going GFDF. They are both on grade level now and communicate tons better. We do not even go to speech therapy anymore. It has not been a total cure-my oldest has behavior issues and my middle son has selective mutism but overall, the results have been amazing. My toddler was very ill and when we took him off gluten and dairy, he healed within ONE WEEK and has not had any delays or signs of Autism. My doctor says that my older boys have gluten toxicity. The damage has already been done, but they will be FINE. We are very hopeful my youngest will not have any of the issues my older boys have had but we are prepared for whatever life brings us!
Our son is also doing much better on a gluten-free and casein-free diet. We started with eliminating casein from his diet, since casein was causing some really horrible bahaviors. Eliminating gluten from his diet has caused him to be more focused and has reduced the tantrums a lot. We have also seen weight loss after being on a gluten-free diet.