This article reviews research on whether gluten- and casein-free diets can help improve the behavior and/or health of children with autism, and concludes that, even though there is some evidence that a combined gluten- and casein-free diet can be helpful, more research is necessary.
Some researchers think that the symptoms of autism can be explained by high levels of protein by-products affecting the bodies and brains of children with autism. These by-products are made by the body from the proteins found in grains (gluten) and milk (casein). The purpose of this article is to critically review the research showing that gluten- and casein-free diets help improve the behavior of children with autism. As a result, the authors have very high standards for the types of studies they analyzed, and only one study published between 1965 and 2003 (Knivsberg et al. 2002) was up to the level of these standards. This study showed that a gluten- and casein-free diet helped children with autism improve in several behavioral areas over the course of a year. Because this study only included twenty children, the authors conclude that there is not enough evidence to support elimination diets, but that future research could provide more support for them.
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Physician Cautions Against Restrictive Diets for Autism Unless Necessary
Feb 17, 2011 by AnonymousThis is in response to Dr. Jay L. Hoecker, an emeritus consultant in Mayo Clinic’s Department of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, suggests that parents of children with autism should be careful when starting their child on a new diet.
What terrible advice. It is not hard to do a Gluten Free Casein Free Diet and in fact is healthier than most diets people have their children on.
It is meat, vegetables, fruits, and avoiding wheat based flours, but this doesn't mean they don't eat "grains" . It is about cooking from scratch. It means no preservatives, or colored dyes.
Calcium and Vitamin D can be achieved from Almond Milk or Rice Milk.
The added comment that "Temple Grandin's Mother didn't put her on this diet is ridiculous. I know first hand that when my daughter has "gluten" she regresses in her behaviors, her ability to concentrate and her ability to talk.
It sunds like Dr. Jay is just another doctor that would rather pump kids with drugs that go the natural healing route. Simply appalling!
Drinking buddies
Aug 31, 2009 by AnonymousWell, I was worried about the wrong kid.
How long did we wring our hands and experience gut-wrenching anguish over Thomas’ surely difficult and confusing transition to all-day, eat-lunch-at-school first grade? On the first day of school, he kissed me goodbye and walked in the building. Okay, so long! See you later! Hayley, on the other hand, was rather upset, sobbing loudly. I have a bit of a dilemma on my hands that I have to drop Hayley off at the Kindergarten entrance and Thomas gets dropped off at the First Grade entrance. So on the first day, it was pouring outside (naturally) so we had to walk into the hall. I left Hayley, who wasn’t listening to me and when I told her that I’d be right back after I found out where Thomas needed to go. I walked about ten feet away when I heard her crying. One of the aides who knows Thomas offered to take him to his class so that I could stay with Hayley, which I did, until it was time for me to leave her. She was crying – loudly and a lot.
Jonathan and I were completely confused by this behavior. Hayley had been in that classroom once every week for the past school year! However, Jonathan made the sensible point that I had been with her the whole time she was there. This was the first time I left her there. Okay, that makes sense. Anyway, Hayley stopped crying shortly after I left and ended up having an okay day. Since it rained for the first three days of school this year, Jonathan was able to pick up the kids with me which was nice for him and the kids. Thomas was very excited to see Jonathan after his first day of school. We immediately noticed that Thomas had forgotten his lunch box and home folder so we had to go back in for them. His teacher said that he did a fine job and the social worker said that the few times she poked her head in the room, he was doing great. So Thomas is off to a surprisingly smooth start. Of course, I remember last year when there was a “honeymoon period” right at the beginning of the year and then things went downhill a bit. I might be remembering a couple years ago when Thomas was in preschool. I don’t know. I just hope we keep grooving like this.
Thomas is doing fine eating lunch at school, although he rarely finishes. I guess he eats like Jonathan – slooooooowly. Most days, he brings his bag home with leftovers. He always asks for a snack when he gets home which is not that weird – most kids have after-school snacks. But I hope he’s getting enough time to eat. Rather, it’s probably that he doesn’t stay focused and eat when it’s time to do so. He might be socializing with the two girls he sits next to. Anyway, he likes recess and he likes eating lunch at school. We’ve managed to put other edible (to Thomas’ standards) items in his lunch box so that we don’t have make pizza every night to put in the lunch box the next day. He eats chicken nuggets and chicken sandwiches too. We put a juice pouch or chocolate milk in there along with maybe a granola bar and fruit snacks. The fruit snacks are always finished when we get his lunch bag back. It’s usually the nuggets, pizza or sandwich that is half-eaten.
Part of the program in first grade is learning to read, so we have to read with Thomas for twenty minutes every night. I have modified this program to reading one book at night. Making Thomas try to do anything he doesn’t enjoy for twenty minutes is frustrating for him and us. He’s able to recognize words when prompted, so he’s got a good foundation. I just wonder when he’s going to start trying to sound out words on his own. He makes the word sounds but doesn’t put them together. And then there’s Hayley, who’s prone to know-it-all-ism, hanging over my shoulder, shouting, “Mommy! I know that word!” It’s hard getting her to keep quiet while I’m trying to get Thomas to read. I’ll have to put her in her room while we’re trying to read from now on.
It’s hard, too, to try and get everything ready for school on nights when I work. I try to get lunches made and homework done before I go to work at 5 p.m. But I suspect I’m preaching to the choir of my readers here…I don’t even work full-time, so I have little room to complain about trying to keep everything running smoothly. Things are going well for me at work, though. They really seem to like me and I won Employee Of The Month while we were in Florida and they want me to start training new people as a “Neighborhood Expert” which I am not officially yet as I have to attend some sort of “expert camp” or retreat or something before. At least it’s nice to be appreciated.
One funny story and then I’m off to collect Hayley from school: The last time the kids were at the cottage, they went out for ice cream. Hayley and Grandma ordered the same flavor, so Mary said that they were “ice cream buddies.” Fast-forward to this past Friday when Hayley and Thomas both chose to have grape Kool-Aid for dinner. Hayley looked at her cup and his and declared, “Thomas! Look! We’re drinking buddies!” Jonathan and I laughed until there were tears in our eyes.
Sleepy, Dopey and the Doc
Sep 19, 2008 by AnonymousThe saga continues with the medications. I’m sure that the neurologist (with whom I have not spoken in person or over the phone) is tired of me calling the office to give “updates” on Thomas. Since last Friday, the doctor asked us to give Thomas one-half of the Clonidine tablet in the morning and keep him on two at bedtime. Last weekend was the first time we tried it and Thomas was very sleepy in the morning as a result. Not hyper-active either, but rather dopey. Sunday night I sent an e-mail to Thomas’ teacher explaining that if Thomas seemed sluggish in class on Monday, it was not because we replaced the milk in his Lucky Charms with Miller Light. He really does seem kind of drunk when he takes the Clonidine and at night, this is okay. Anyway, Monday morning I chatted with the teacher and she said that Thomas was good, just “different.” Last Thursday and Friday when he took nothing in the way of medications before school, the teacher reported that things were “pretty rough” for Thomas. It’s really too bad about the Focalin. It worked for Thomas except for the facial tic.
We’re going to stick with the half Clonidine in the morning, because after speaking with the neurologist’s office on Wednesday night, she said that the sleepiness should wear off after about a week but the calmness and focus should remain. I’ve actually already noticed that he seems not so sleepy after taking it in the morning. There are other options, apparently, but we know how well Thomas tolerates Clonidine so we’re going to stay with what we’re sure of.
My Internet job search continues. I’m looking for part-time word processing stuff I can do at home in the afternoons. Most places are looking for “cyber assistants,” but that would require answering phone calls. Phone calls are no good because the kids know that when Mommy is on the phone, it’s open season or “Thunderdome” as Jonathan would call it. There are so many scams out there, too! The one thing I qualified for in terms of typing speed and accuracy is only hiring people who have legal document experience. I’m really hoping that if something comes along, the kids will cooperate and let me earn some dough.
Hayley is doing well in preschool and seems to like it. She’s made some friends and her teachers are nice. It’s like pulling teeth to find out what the kids did in school on any given day. Hayley’s got her head in the clouds and is content to sing songs from “The Wizard of Oz” on the way home from school, and if I pepper Thomas with too many questions, he shuts down, saying, “I don’t want to talk about it anymore!” True to his nature, however, he is only too glad to report who wasn’t behaving in class and who got a “yellow.” The teacher uses a green-yellow-red system to report to parents on how their kids did that day. I’ve observed this in class and she actually lets the kids push her pretty far before they have to change their card to yellow. If they clean up their act, she lets them change back to green. There are a couple of kids who are consistently “in yellow” as the day closes. I picked them out right away on the two Tuesdays I’ve been there to help out, even before the teacher had had enough of their tom-foolery.
Thomas has been in green every day, but I think that the teacher is a little more lenient with Thomas’ behavior. I’ve never seen him act up on Tuesdays, but she seems a little gentler with him when she has to remind him about what he’s supposed to be doing. Yeah, it’s probably because I’m in class and she doesn’t want to holler at him while I’m there, but I think she’s probably just a little more understanding because of his problems. I know that if the teacher ever told him to change his card to yellow, he would be extremely upset. He knows how important it is to behave, which is nice.
The kids in kindergarten have earned enough marbles for good behavior to have a party! Next Friday is Pajama Party Day! I was invited to come, but Hayley will have preschool that day so I can’t make it. I told the teacher that I would wear my pajamas all day anyway, in honor of the occasion.
Yummy Food or Yucky Food
Sep 11, 2008 by AnonymousOne Person's Yummy Food Is Another Person's Yucky Food
Vegetables and protein (fish, poultry, meats, and beans) are the most common food aversions. Some children even reject fruits. The diet becomes extremely restricted to bland, white foods, including sweets, breads, pasta, crackers, pretzels, chips, and macaroni and cheese. These foods are glycemic and raise blood glucose, quickly increasing the demand for insulin production. Zinc is part of the insulin molecule and is depleted, resulting in abnormal taste and taste perception. What develops is an aversion to the flavors in natural foods and increased cravings for highly sweetened foods and those foods containing MSG. (MSG affects the brain's perception of flavor.) The diet becomes more narrow, and nutritional status declines, resulting in more limited food choices. The white diet and vegetable aversion is common among children in Western cultures due to the high exposure to processed and sweet foods. For children with sensory and developmental issues, the aversions are much more pervasive and serious.
There are three potential contributors that lead to the limited appetite, cravings, and food aversions:
The negative effect of this combination can result in faulty messages from the sensory receptors to the brain and dysfunctional interpretation of those messages by the brain. Perception is the "truth" for that person. This is why begging, bribing, and punishing do not and will not work.
The solution is multifaceted. Correction of nutritional deficiencies and elimination of toxic metals are mandatory and involve appropriate therapeutic supplementation based on findings. Foods that cause reactions and/or opiate-like peptides need to be eliminated as healthy, safe foods are introduced and accepted.
How to Go from Yucky to Yummy-The Trojan Horse Technique
For those with texture issues, it is important to adapt the diet to the child's oral and food developmental stage. If textures are a sensory issue, no matter how tasty the food, it will not be consumed. By providing the food in a sensory-pleasing form, the child benefits nutritionally and begins to find mealtime more pleasant and rewarding. Purees are generally helpful. They are better tolerated and can open the door for getting more types of foods into the diet. Many family dishes, including soups, casseroles, or the meat and vegetable main dish, can also be served pureed for the child who has sensory texture issues. In this way, the whole family is enjoying the same meal.
Many of the recipes in this book have been selected to expand nutritional intake, especially using the Trojan Horse Technique-hiding a small amount of the new food (especially vegetables and proteins) within a very well tolerated and acceptable food. Each child differs and, therefore, it is important to identify what foods will work as "carriers" to get the new foods in.
Purees can be made from cooked fresh or frozen vegetables and/or purchased baby foods. If your child is offended by being served baby food, simply keep it well hidden. Create interesting new names for the foods and see that others in the family join in consuming them. The secret to success in introducing these new foods is to combine a small amount with the food the child already likes. For many children, this is the only way new foods can be introduced.
Start with 1 tablespoon (15 g) or less-and then increase when tolerated. Hide the cooked vegetable purees anywhere you can, selecting colors that are not obvious when added to the carrier food. The carrier food needs to be one that the child enjoys. It may even be a food that is being slowly eliminated. Include pureed fruits to improve the taste. Here are some examples of places to hide foods (and even supplements):
The above is an excerpt from the book The Kid-Friendly ADHD & Autism Cookbook: The Ultimate Guide to the Gluten-Free, Casein-Free Diet
by Pamela J. Compart, M.D. and Dana Laake, R.D.H., M.S., L.D.N.
Published by Fair Winds Press; November 2006;$24.95US/$32.50CAN; 978-1-59233-223-6
Copyright © 2008 Pamela J. Compart, M.D. and Dana Laake, R.D.H., M.S., L.D.N
Author Bio
Pamela J. Compart, M.D., is a developmental pediatrician in Columbia, Maryland. She combines traditional and complementary medicine approaches to the treatment of ADHD, autism, and other behavioral and developmental disorders. She is also the director of HeartLight Healing Arts, a multidisciplinary integrated holistic health care practice, providing services for children, adults, and families.
Dana Godbout Laake, R.D.H., M.S., L.D.N., is a licensed nutritionist in Kensington, Maryland. Within her practice, Dana Laake Nutrition, she provides preventive and therapeutic medical nutrition services. Her practice includes nutritional evaluation and treatment of the full spectrum of health issues affecting adults and children with special needs.