No wheat, no dairy, no difference?
July 29, 2009 by Jill Cornfield
Filed under Health
The Mayo Clinic just released results of a study it conducted on special dietary restrictions for children with autism. Its findings will surprise some and irritate others: researchers concluded that while children with autism are more prone to constipation and picky eating, they did not find a significantly higher incidence of gut problems in children with autism than in children who are typically developing.
Photo courtesy of Mr. Bologna (flickr.com)
We don’t have Alex on a wheat-free, dairy-free diet. Part of our reluctance to try the diet stemmed from how difficult a path we’ve had since before he was born. Following a year in the hospital and many, many medical regimens, including supplementary oxygen and about 15 medications and the seizure disorder that was diagnosed when he was about 5, we just couldn’t take on any additional requirements.
And frankly it’s been a victory that he now eats yogurt and drinks milk on a regular basis. That’s probably the highlight of his diet, from a nutritional standpoint. Maybe I would like to get rid of the gluten — no pretzels, no crackers… it might be kind of great. However, it would also mean cutting him off from about 70% of what he eats.
I’m sure some parents will want to keep their kids on wheat-free, dairy-free diets despite the study. And that’s fine. If they’re seeing results, then something is working for them. Autism is such a broad spectrum with so many twists and variants that the odds of finding two children with identical symptoms and profiles are long indeed. Often a speech pathologist or teacher will say she’s never seen two children with autism who are identical — which just makes the journey that much lonelier.
We’ve noticed a big difference in changing my son’s diet. It’s been great. That’s all the evidence I need.
I think it’s a huge jump to take a study that found higher incidence of GI problems in those with autism than those without (constipation) and then use it to justify whether or not gfcf helps some with autism. First, the actual study discusses its limitations, including how the data was collected. Second, gfcf isn’t always about gut, though it can oftentimes be. To study the effectiveness of diet one would have to study those before, during and after the diet vs. identical counterparts not ever on diet. That’s nearly impossible to do because of so many qualifiers needed to create “identical” counterparts. Episodic study would be about the best judge of it, and even then you have to consider how restrictive the childrens’ caregivers were/were not with the diet.
Finally, autism speaks is historically against biomedical treatments for autism. Let’s reverse it & say Generation Rescue funded a study saying there are lots more GI problems. The AAP would be clammoring it wasn’t valid because Gen Rescue funded it. So the same judgment should be made about AS.
When my son came to live with me exclusively for 5 months a year and half ago (his mother had some issues and the children live with her again) He would not give appropriate responses to anything.He would only echo what someone would say to him like “What’s you name” woulnd get the response “what’s your name”?
Since he was with me and would not be seeing his mother who lets him eat anything anytime he wants, I decided to try out the GFCF diet. After 3 weeks he was more verbal than he had ever been and he started to respond properly to such queries, I would ask,”What’s your name” he would respond “Dylan” I would point to his sister and ask “Who’s that? he would respond “Gretchen” Sometimes he would say “my sister”
He woke me up one morning and when I opened my eyes, he was over me saying “Good morning sunshine” like I always say to my kids when I wake them up. I about teared up. He started writing more, he could write the entire alphabet, count and write numbers to 100 I had given him leap frog and he loves it. (at 5 years old, he will be seven soon).
When he went back to live withhis mother, she immidiately stoped the diet and he stopped making progress in a big way, but at least he didn’t regress…
I know annecdotal evidense isn’t a scientific study, but if it works for your kid, DO IT!
Yes, many people have said they see a difference, and there’s no reason for them to pay any attention to this. I think the study was short-sighted in that it seemed only to examine a few GI symptoms, and not look at behavioral ones. (Unless I missed something.) We’ve never done it, and I suspect that Alex would not be one of those kids who experiences a change in behavior or commu nication. But maybe he would… and maybe one day we will!
You’ll find plenty of people who agree with you about the study’s limitations. The jury still seems out, and I think parents are almost always the best observers of their own children.