Could Food Intolerance Really Cause Some Cases of Autism? Canadian Scientists Think The Answer May Be Yes!
Compounds produced in the digestive system have been linked to autistic-type behaviour in laboratory settings, potentially demonstrating that what autistic children eat can alter their brain function, say scientists from the University of Western Ontario.Could this really be the beginning of the end of the controversy? If so, it would be a huge step forward for families coping with autism. Imagine a doctor-prescribed diet that could actually make a difference for kids with autism - without subjecting their parents to having to defend themselves at every pizza party!UWO researchers investigated the "gut-brain" connection after many parents of autistic children reported significant improvements in the behaviour of their autistic children when they modified their diet, eliminating dairy and wheat products, Dr. Derrick MacFabe, the director of a research group at UWO in London, Ont., told CBC News Thursday.
Researchers were particularly interested in one dietary characteristic the autistic children seemed to exhibit, he said.
"Certainly, a lot of these children had peculiar cravings for high-carbohydrate foods that caused their behaviours," he said.
"We were interested in finding a link between certain compounds that are produced by bacteria in the digestive system — particularly those occurring with early childhood infections."
The bacteria produce propionic acid, a short chain fatty acid, which in addition to existing in the gut, is commonly found in bread and dairy products, MacFabe said.
To test their hypothesis that diet plays a part in generating autistic behaviour, UWO scientists administered the compound to rats' brains. "They immediately engaged in bouts of repetitive behaviour, hyperactivity and impaired social behaviours which had close similarity to what parents are seeing with autism," MacFabe said.
When the rats' brains were examined later, they were found to have inflammatory processes similar to those in the brains of autistic children, he said.
What do you think - is there a possibility that the gut/brain connection might finally be accepted in the mainstream medical community? What might it take for the evidence to be considered definitive?
Comments
“What do you think - is there a possibility that the gut/brain connection might finally be accepted in the mainstream medical community?”
Not on the basis of this research.
I believe we need to do a lot of resarch and educating even the doctors.
Some of the physicians do not seem to even know how to diagnose the children. Diet might be the case to some kids but not to all autism case. we need to help these kids ASAP.
good point notmercury.. don’t bother waiting for reseach to validate it.
Try a gf/cf diet or SCD diet and measure the results for youself.
It can do no harm , always tell your doctor what you are doing and seek advice from a dietition.
does gf/cf mean gluten and carb free? and what’s SCD? i have someone who’s an adult who’s bn. diagnosed with AS and want to try whatever might help - thank you.
GFCF means gluten free and cassein free (basically wheat and dairy free). SCD is something called the “specific carbohydrate diet.” Evidently some folks benefit from one, and some from the other (and some from neither!).
Having seen the success of managing diet that occured for my nephew and how quickly the changes began I am very pleased with research that investigates this area. As someone who wrote earlier, try it, what have you to loose…..except a happy and successful child should this be the solution for them.
I am sceptical. What other interventions were these children also receiving?
I recently started using organic soy milk with my seven year old son soon to be eight in December. I have seen tremendous changes in him he is alert more and just so much more cheerful. Even his bowel movements are different. When I had him on regular milk he would do number two so many times it was ridiculous. So I do beleive that certain foods our autistic children eat alter their behaviors and their attention span. Even his teachers at school have noticed the changes in him.
Look at the study being done by Dr. Bryan Jepson of THOUGHTFUL HOUSE.ORG in Texas.
It is estimated that 5,000 lives a year were lost by sailors at sea in the 1700’s simply because they lacked vitamin C and ended up with scurvey. Why is it so difficult to believe a child with autism could benefit from a special diet? When the gut which is the first line of defence for the immune system is not operating properly, a special diet should be the first order of business. Clear up the gut and go from there.
Please visit Autism Canada Foundation’s website (www.autismcanda.org) to read Dr. Derrick MacFabe’s peer reviewed journal article in Behavioural Brain Research.
Autism being a whole body disorder makes total sense. The model
of autism as a genetically determined hard-wired brain disorder has led to a
search for “brain genes” and brain alterations, a model that has produced
limited results and has failed to encompass multiple features of autism,
including systemic physiological changes.
A more inclusive model would
construe autism as a disorder that affects the brain, and that is the
outcome of complex interactions among factors related to genetic
vulnerability, environmental triggers or causes, and epigenetic changes.
The most important advantage of this model of autism is that there is more
that can be done with regard to treatment.
We have been hearing for years that diet makes a difference for a subset of individuals diagnosed with ASD. Now science is making sense of it. This is exactly the type of reserach we need more of.
In October 2006, Dr. MacFabe’s team released some important and intriguing findings, pointing to a factor that may be a primary culprit in causing autism. The team’s research results have been published in the international biomedical research journal, Behavioral Brain Research.
The research team found that the compound known as propionic acid, when administered to the brains of experimental rats, produces unique behaviours and brain changes similar to human autism. The animals also show brain electrical changes resembling some types of human epilepsy, which often co-exists with autism. Repeated exposure to propionic acid increases the severity and duration of the symptoms, suggesting that it may have permanent effects on brain and behavior. As well, microscopic examination of the rodents’ brains shows evidence of inflammation closely resembling a recent Johns Hopkins University study examining brains of autistic patients.
The research group is working with the Canadian-American Autism Research Consortium, headed by Dr. Jeanette Holden of Queens University, to examine genetic and environmental factors in thousands of individuals with autism and their families. They are also collaborating with Dr. Marth Herbert to further examine their findings in human patients.
I tried this diet on my son and it was not fun. Not to mention the cost of the food and time to prepare it. And also the entire family has to change their diet. Who wants to cook two separate meals? And going out to eat is practically impossible. I finally gave up after 6 months because I didn’t see a major change that would convince me to keep doing it. My son still continues to improve even when off this diet and no longer exhibit the autistic signs. I contribute his changes to vitamins. Which our child is lacking due to his limited diet.
It seems to me that everyone has a “cure” for Autism, and it all involves in a lot of money! It’s bad enough that we have wo wipe our entire life saving to try to save our child. Face it, we are not all like Jenny McCarthy who has millions to invest.
Since they know what is causing the gut problem, why don’t they come up with a pill that’s like the lactose intolerance pill, so that our child can take? It would be a lot less expensive. And everyone can try it on their child.
I’m not totally against this, but my son will not eat certain foods at all!! How am I suppose to put him on a certain diet. He’s so picky about what he eats that I probably could never get him to eat the diet foods!! Doesn’t anyone else have this problem? I don’t want a fad I want a cure!! My son is 14 and has gotten alot better over the years, I think I’ll keep doing what we are doing, it seems to be working.
I don’t think that doctors will accept diet as long as drug companies push their crap.
It’s like meds for, say, gout. Big Pharma will push their drugs at the doctors, when eating simple cherries, or taking certain herbs, will get rid of it!!!
I had horrible arthritis and was a BIG diet soda drinker. My doctor gave me BEXTRA - which we all know was pulled because it killed people. Doctors never researched any connection with diet, but I did. I stopped, and the arthritis went TOTALLY away. I had breast cancer; I smoked, and got a certain type. What goes in comes out. Just not the way you’d like it to!
I think the diet issues with gluten, however, are the RESULT of a combination of problems within the gut, the way wheat is processed in food, the additives (like MSG), the ability of the person to absorb minerals, and the yeast factor. Probiotics helped Bug immensely - we gave him Primadophilus from the time he was about 2, and we have not had a problem getting him to eat food since he was about 5.
That is not to say he does not crave carbs. But that is something in the food processing - the coating on chicken nuggets, breads, cookies. MSG is also a MAJOR problem - the Glutamate is in EVERYTHING. Go read msgtruth.org. Chicken Nuggets are BANNED from our house. He can have them at school once a week for lunch. That’s it.
I think the processing of wheat is a MAJOR problem. Try going a week or even two without any flour/baked goods (also leave out potatoes and cream salad dressings for good measure). Then eat a sandwich, or a donut or bagel for breakfast. Tell me you don’t crave another piece of bread very soon after. You can’t.
Kim - GFCF didn’t work for us, either. But the gut issues are not always gluten related. They DO make something to help. Probiotics.
Try using acidophilus. Get a multi-strain acidophilus and have him take MORE than the directions say. My husband will take 4-5 capsules at a shot and not think twice (we call him Mr. Vitamin, he knows So much about that stuff). Get the refrigerated stuff. The WalMart capsules on the shelves are ok, but not as something to use when you want to get someone’s gut regulated. They’re more of an upkeep thing.
Also get papaya enzymes - you can get regular cheap ones - and have him take a couple right after he eats.
A lot of health food stores make their own acidophilus - The Great Pumpkin makes this Suprema Dophilus that is just excellent. No, they are not cheap, but once you get him regulated, you can stop them. And they are cheaper by the meal than chicken nuggets.
BTW we got Bug to eat regular food by using Chinese food (with No MSG!) - chicken w/broccoli. We went from there
and now he Asks for broccoli, salads and other veggies. Tonight he had asparagus. He’s almost 5′10 and he’s 14…..lol….
Oh, and BTW, Nature’s Way Reuteri is good for stomach gas. We found that out from a website when my friend’s mom had CDiff.
GF/CF diet has not cured my son of autism but it has improved his physcial health and behaviors some what. No more distended stomach, gas, or frequent bowel movements. Before his diagnoses, dr. thought he was celiac, but test came back neg. So there is an obvious intolerance. Behaviors are still there, but they worsen or change dramatically when he gets casein or dairy.
It is expensive, but it worth it, because our little guy is a lot healthier and happier. I’ve gotten used to cooking, sometimes depending on what’s for dinner I have to cook regular and a cf/gf with every meal, but I’ve gotten pretty creative and good at it.
Like previous people said, it’s worth a try, also you have to be certain you completly elimate, you have to read labels very carefully, or you won’t see changes.
We have been on the gfcf diet for about a month and a half. We have six kids between us three (sisters) and actually have had astonishing results in a couple of them and average results in the others. My youngest son has epilepsy and is borderline autistic, and is super picky about his food. He was our reason for converting to gfcf in the first place. The other children don’t have any diagnosed problems and are pretty normal. We were extremely annoyed at first because we couldn’t change one of their diets and leave the rest of them. That would’ve caused problems so we changed them all over at once. The diet was costly and so limited we didn’t honestly know how we were going to handle it, but we did a lot of research and learned how to make their food gfcf while making it taste good and make it affordable. I can’t tell you how much it has changed them. Especially my youngest. He is eating everything that we put in front of him and I even made a salad dressing out of gfcf ingredients and he ate and entire salad. Before the gfcf diet he wouldn’t eat a vegetable to save his soul. Not even potatoes. He was a hot dog, chicken nuggets, chees, ramen kid. He literally wouldn’t eat anything other then those foods. Now he eats everything. My neice was also limiting her foods, but now asks for seconds on everything. Our biggest trouble now is trying to keep the adults from eating the kids food and what to eat out at fast foods, but even that is taking care of itself. We have a very limited food budget and are still able to pull it off. I would say to try it, just like the others in this thread. If you don’t like it after a reasonable amount of time don’t stay on it. But watch your child once you put the foods back into his or her diet. You may see unwanted results then.
One of my neices snuck a wheat roll at Thanksgiving and was so hyper and crazy that we immediately knew she had done something. She admitted to us that she ate one of the wheat rolls and since then hasn’t wanted any wheat. She didn’t like the feeling of being out of control.
Try it but remember it isn’t for everyone. No one claims it is. Its for SOME kids. Actually it ends up being for a lot of children. But do’t knock it because you don’t see results. Lots of parents have.