healthykids
Addressing Autism Families Have Reasons for Hope by Brita Belli
P
arents of autistic children are encouraged when they witness improvements after eliminating gluten (wheat) and casein (dairy) from their kids’ diets. Now a parental
study supports the correlation—for some kids on the autism spectrum, the gluten- and casein-free (GFCF) diet appears to be connected with remarkable changes. Laura Cousino Klein, associate professor of biobehavior- al health and human development at the Penn State College of Medicine, helped lead research that surveyed 387 parents or caregivers with affected children. For those diagnosed with combinations of autism and gastrointestinal issues or food sensitivities, the GFCF diet brought marked improvements in their autism spectrum disorder (ASD) behaviors—reduc- ing hyperactivity and tantrums; minimizing constipation and seizures; and improving social behaviors. Klein says scientists are still working to understand the
interaction between the brain, gut and behaviors, but recent findings suggest that significant links exist. “One hypothesis is that by eliminating dietary triggers in the presence of food al- lergies or gastrointestinal distress, you’re reducing inflamma- tion or irritability of the immune system, and that’s affecting the way the brain is functioning,” she says.
Dietary Turnaround
One Racine, Wisconsin, mom, Cindy Schultz, a tireless advocate for her autistic son, says, “As an infant, he either had constipation or diarrhea. There was never a happy medium.” The GFCF diet has improved his health and his ability to communicate. Shauna Layton, in Clinton, Indiana, says her son experi- enced similar bowel problems and she also saw a remarkable turnaround in his language abilities and social interactions as they adhered to a GFCF diet and eliminated sugar and yeast. Other parents from her online support group, Together in Autism, report similar success. “Some children have never talked, and now they are saying ‘Mom,’ ‘Dad,’ or ‘I love you,’ for the first time,” Layton says. A definitive gut-brain link with autism has yet to be identi- fied. Some scientists suggest that kids with autism are more
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