Is There a Diet that Helps Treat Autism? | Autism Video Lecture | Understanding and Treating Autism - Health & Fitness

is their diet that helps a child with
autism there's a lot of information and
data that's available more on the
internet but also some research
regarding different diets and I think
food is very crucial to everybody but
some children with the spectrum have
increased food intolerances as well as
food allergies the gluten-free
casein-free diet is the one that has
been quite popular now gluten is present
in the grain of wheat and it's how wheat
gets processed and a lot of children are
found to have some sensitivity to the
presence of gluten in their diet they
don't necessarily have celiac disease
but they may have an intolerance and
that is what is being found in some
small studies and parents are reporting
that removing gluten from the diet can
make a big difference not just with the
GI complaints but also with behavior and
speech and language communication and
can basically connecting as well so the
gluten-free diet is one of the things
that is talked about as is the
casein-free diet casein is present in
dairy and some kids have just a milk
intolerance or milk sensitivity and
particularly sensitivity to the casein
molecule the theory being that
antibodies to gluten and casein actually
can affect the opioid receptors and
children seem to be a little bit more
zoned out as they say or these
antibodies may also be affecting the
brain this is the hypothesis but in
there is no exact testing for it
apart from for celiac disease but you
have to do an elimination diet and
parents have to be particularly
supported with this because kids are
very choosy and picky with their
appetite working with a nutritionist so
that you do not lose out on the adequate
calories that you need you don't develop
other deficiencies and also there's a
lot of hidden labeling so to get
informed about what are the foods that
are
chilli gluten-free and whether there's
some cross-reactivity with the way other
grains are processed whether it's BA
barley or rye or even oats these little
details become important because the
body has to be free of gluten for at
least six months for one to see a real
difference and to do it significantly
and those are the people and parents who
say it made a difference some come back
saying it made a remarkable difference
within a short period others feel it
didn't make much of a difference and yet
when reintroducing it back into the diet
they saw the symptoms come back which
the one show was related to the
particular foods so gluten and casein as
well as soy are common offenders that
are talked about and the research is
kind of mixed but some small studies are
coming out what is interesting is that
children with an autism spectrum
disorder do have more GI problems and GI
being gastrointestinal they have
digestive issues constipation diarrhea
and there's also a change seen for
example if they have lactose or milk
intolerance you can have symptoms of
alternating diarrhea constipation and
those are the kind of kids I would be
more ready to do a gluten-free
casein-free diet but it's important to
get parents the sports and the
information as they go on to trying any
of these elimination diets there are
many other diets with removing
salicylates and sulfates which is
present in certain fruits like apples
and strawberries and it there many many
diets out there of you know I can
there's a laundry list from the gaps
diet to a carb low carbohydrate diet I
think you need to work with a
nutritionist and work with your
pediatrician get yourself more informed
start with the simple things and do it
on a gradient and make sure your child
is getting enough calories and enough of
the other nutrients that are important
you