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With Mayo Clinic nutritionists Jennifer Nelson, M.S., R.D. and Katherine Zeratsky, R.D.
Autism diet: Are claims true?
Autism has been in the news again — bringing to mind the many questions of why has it increased in prevalence and what can be done to prevent or treat it.
As a parent, family member or friend of a family who has a child with some degree of autism spectrum disorder, you know the reality of living with this disorder. And as someone who cares for the affected child, the inherent thought is to find a treatment to improve the life of the child.
There are a range of therapies around the topic of autism diet that have been proposed to improve or even cure the disorder. Several autism diet strategies have been suggested as possible treatments, including: restriction of food allergens; probiotics; yeast-free diet; gluten free casein free diet, and dietary supplements such as vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin B6 and magnesium, folic acid, vitamin B12, omega-3 fatty acids, various minerals among others.
Unfortunately, there is no scientific evidence to conclusively support or deny the claims that these autism diet interventions can or will make a significant improvement in the functioning of the child. However, it is recognized that some parents report improvements when dietary therapies are used. Among the most popular of dietary therapies is the gluten free casein free diet.
As a dietitian, I feel my place in this debate is to inform an interested parent or family member of the complexities of the gluten free casein free diet. It is neither easily introduced nor easily followed long term. In fact, as any diet that is restrictive in nature, I worry that a child may be limited in food selection and miss substitutions that would ensure appropriate nutrient intake. Another important consideration — any child who has food texture and/or color aversion(s), selective eating or other behavior issues will likely have a difficult adjustment with changes to their diet.
If you wish to try such a diet with your child, please keep the following in mind:
- Discuss a plan of care with your child's doctor.
- Meet with a qualified, registered dietitian.
- Expect that you will need routine appointments with your dietitian to work through the challenges of introducing and following a specialized diet.
- Work with other qualified healthcare professionals to assist in behavior and social issues. Employ the assistance of a speech or occupational therapist who specializes in eating behaviors.
- You may or may not see any improvement in your child's condition.
The good news is ongoing research, some of which includes research to sort out the details relating to dietary practices and autism spectrum disorders.
To your health and that of your children,
Katherine
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My son was diagnosed on April 9,2007 at the age of 2. We started the diet on April 12, 2007. We were amazed at the results in just two-weeks - eye-contact, shorter tantrums, decreased stimming... When we went to our neuro-development doctor she discouraged the diet and suggested that we contact a nutrionist for fear of poor diet. Well being that he only ate Cheerios, goldfish crackers and yogurt - how can it be any worse?!?!? After one year on the diet, my son eats edamme, salmon, turkey, broccoli to name a few- his snacks are pineapple, apples, bananas. Everything is all natural and unprocessed and for the most part organic. What 3 year old eats like this????? Please stop discouraging parents to give this a try. Recovery is possible for our children!!!
My son can not tolerate food coloring or pigments or he becomes aggressive. More color more aggression. 5 years Kintergarden thru 3 rd grade no education due to aggression (the culprit - color in the hand soap) No one believed me then but my son went into regular classroom in 4 th grade on grade level as I homeschooled him while the local school only put him in a room by himself with teacher looking in the door the last year. Ivory soap our savior at school. I did not have the bahaviors at home because My home was colorfree. He was able to use the computer to learn. He has completed 5 thru 9 grades on grade level and in the regular classroom earning towards a regular diploma as well with an A and B honor role. I and my community have witnessed the recovery of my son from an environmental allergy to color. In 10th grade he made all A's last 9 weeks. Observation can be a powerful tool in recovery of a child. My question is how many other children are having the same problem as my son? MOM
As a mother of fraternal male twins both diagnosed with ASD at age 5, now age 19, and a dietitian for > 25 years, I know of no medical evidence other than diagnosed allergy that supports the elimination of casein and gluten from a child's diet. Anecdotal reports abound; I cannot speak to the validity of them. Each person living on the ASD spectrum is in a unique situation and there is no "one size fits all" approach. As for my experience, the only food/beverage substance that exacerbates my sons' challenging behaviors is caffeine.
In response to DBurbank, can there be harm in avoidance of gluten and casein? From a nutrition professional standpoint, yes for casein because with the removal of casien, one of two primary proteins in milk (the other is whey), dairy intake is essentially eliminated and with it, calcium & supplemental Vitamin D for bone growth and strength - essential for a child and teen. This can be replaced by fortified rice or soy beverage that is gluten free. There is virtually no potential harm in the avoidence of gluten assuming a variety of alternative grain sources are provided.
My final comment is that for parents who do choose to pursue a CF/GF diet for their child on the ASD spectrum, please do so with the assistance of a registered dietitian to assure that the child's growth needs of all essential nutrients are met.
EYB, R.D., L.D.
I have been teaching young children for several years. I inherently believe that we're dealing with a completely NEW kind of human on the planet with abilities far more advanced than we can measure with our current scientific methods. Our world is not made for them, and the US government(at large) knows that these children are very powerful, and so they must be dumbed down. What better way than to create a myriad of debilitating foods and poor social systems that weaken the youth.
Yeah, children can be picky eaters... especially those who have neurological differences/// talking food up, modeling eating these foods yourself, talking about where the food comes from, trying something more than three times, involving the child in the cooking or preparation process... experimentation.
Another fantastic resource is www://HANDLE.org (Holistic Approach to Neuro-Development and Learning Efficiency) Judith Bluestone is the founder, she has accomplished SO much as a woman living with developmental differences
I think, as a society we need to recognize that we have more political power in being champions for our food (and kids) than maybe we do in voting for the president. Read the Omnivores Dilemma and you might see what I'm talking about here.
I mean, TRANS FATS is not new information... 1 molecule away from being plastic? I have a movie from the 60's where a few beatniks made reference to trans fat being diastrous... 40 years? come on!
GF/CF + essential oils=helpful
http://www.gfcfdiet.com/
here is a great reference for the GFCF diet......it is a great start!
This is exactly why parents of autistic children seek alternative intervention. Many in the medical field fail to see the success that can be found without drugs. The GFCF diet is not easy but so very worth it. Our daughter gained eye contact within the first 10 days. We do supplements but did do lab tests to confirm and use a DAN doctor. I feel this article gave little hope of success to parents looking for help. Our daughter went from staring through us to making eye to eye contact that pulls on the heart strings....From losing speech at 2yrs to being verbal at 7yrs. We are very strict on the GFCF diet, no dyes, and no preservatives. She eats healthier than any child in her school. Lots of veggies, fruits and unprocessed meats. There is hope.......seek an autism group in your area for guidance. It is important to do one thing at a time and start with the diet then introduce something else to see if there is an improvement...it takes time but every improvement is so worth it. All I can say is "Is it worth not trying??|" My child is priceless and I hate to think of where we would be if I had said.....it won't work....it's too hard. I cried in the grocery store to begin with because I focused on what she couldn't eat and she refused to eat the fresh steamed vegetables but soon loved them.....My goal is give hope to some parents that it can be successful......I have living proof.
Katherine you were unusually open and sensitve in your article. The problem here is that the methods of science are not the methods of "commom sense." Few parents have any understanding of what constitutes evidence that is acceptable within the medical community. For most people the "if I see it it's true" rule holds.
I agree with Martin's observations. The writer obviously has not investigated the relationship between autism and diet. Many autistic children, including my grandson, have improved with a change of diet. This is an opportunity for the Mayo Clinic/writer to get involved and make a difference in the lives of those with autism instead of disputing that which they have no knowledge.
It seems this writer is misinformed, this article and it's title are irresponsible. You simply haven't properly investigated the connection between diet & nutrition and the symptoms of autism. As a dietitian, you should well understand biochemistry such as to NEVER deny a connection between what one EATS and their physical HEALTH. Your article comes off defensive, and does little more than try to convince the reader that they have no hope. You are advocating that readers should not believe the COUNTLESS personal stories on the internet and IMMENSE supportive research that diet makes a difference and is worth trying. It seems you're trying to quell hope, simply because for some, applying special diets may be tough. Do you only advocate easy solutions for people that currently are offered ZERO help from the "mainstream" institutions? Please stop with your nonsense - if you want to strip hope, please provide EVIDENCE as to why people should NOT take proactive common sense action - through conscious attention on Diet - i.e. AVOIDING known offending foods, and BOOSTING requisite nutrition. Everyone knows that "you are what you eat," the writer seems to have ignored this inherently human understanding. To really empower your knowledge on this subject you should read Nourishing Hope. The Mayo Clinic tagline says "tools for healthier lives," what more empowering tool is there than one's personal CHOICE about food intake? Please stop discouraging th
This was not informative at all!
To Mayo Fan and other visitors: We are working on adding RSS feeds for each of our blogs and they will be added later in the spring. Thank you for your support.
Would you please ask your technical folks to develop an RSS feed just for this blog? In addition, a full feed vs a partial feed would be much appreciated --- or worse case, the first 200 words or so so we can tell if what's inside is worth clicking into? Yes you're selling advertising so want pageviews but I can't help but believe getting the information out from a reliable source like Mayo is more important than those dollars. Please help busy people who really would like to follow your thinking.
I am curious how removing Casein or gluten can possibly be harmful if that is what the suggestion is?
The patient and parent population that KZ describes would be best served by finding a RD who is familar with ASD and who has other patients on the diet. That person would be best qualified to evaluate gains.
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