
I am still working on the autism research. To me, research means looking through peer reviewed articles on PubMed. It does not mean Googling a few words and believing everything I read because it showed up when I clicked “I’m feeling lucky” though apparently that’s what Jenny McCarthy does and it’s good enough to help her write a book, but since I am not a Playboy skank I probably need to focus on sources with a bit more credibility. Then again it appears you don’t even have to Google things to start a fucked up cult belief system, so maybe I’m just working too hard.
Contrary to the beliefs of comments left behind on my last autism post, I am not “forming an opinion” on anything, because none of this research is my own. I am reviewing articles. That’s it. I am not saying this is bad or that is good or he is wrong or she is right, though I am saying Jenny McCarthy is a skank and I don’t ever want to read a “book” with her name on it even if it’s Playboy.
I must admit I am somewhat biased as I tried the gluten-free thing for about a month my digestive issues and I felt worse. Much worse. Went back to the gluten, felt much better. No, I’m not autistic, but since the what one puts in the gut is directly related to its function, I figured it would have an effect. I’ve been looking all night to understand how “leaky gut” and “inflammation” affects the BRAIN to support this GFCF hypothesis, but I’ve found nothing. Maybe Jenny can explain it to me.
Anyway, a night of searching, and this is what I’ve found:
1) Pediatr Nurs. 2007 Mar-Apr;33(2):138-43
To date, there is little empirical evidence supporting the effectiveness of dietary restrictions in treating child psychiatric disorders, in particular, autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
2) J Dev Behav Pediatr. 2006 Apr;27(2 Suppl):S162-71.
Seven trials of these diets in ASD are critically reviewed; 6 of these were uncontrolled trials and 1 used a single-blind design. All reported efficacy in reducing some autism symptoms, and 2 groups of investigators also reported improvement in nonverbal cognition. Design flaws in all of the studies weaken the confidence that can be placed in their findings.
3) J Autism Dev Disord. 2006 Apr;36(3):413-20
This study tested the efficacy of a gluten-free and casein-free (GFCF) diet in treating autism using a randomized, double blind repeated measures crossover design. The sample included 15 children aged 2-16 years with autism spectrum disorder. Group data indicated no statistically significant findings.
4) Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2004;(2):CD003498
The one trial included reported results on four outcomes. Unsurprisingly in such a small-scale study, the results for three of these outcomes (cognitive skills, linguistic ability and motor ability) had wide confidence intervals that spanned the line of nil effect. However, the fourth outcome, reduction in autistic traits, reported a significant beneficial treatment effect for the combined gluten- and casein- free diet.
5) Nutr Neurosci. 2002 Sep;5(4):251-61.
A randomly selected diet and control group with 10 children in each group participated. Observations and tests were done before and after a period of 1 year. The development for the group of children on diet was significantly better than for the controls.
Since most of the “research” these parents cite are mere anecdotes, I also found this little story written by a physician. I found it interesting.
Here’s a woman who helped her son’s autism by removing soy.
And here’s a woman who “cured” autism by substituting milk for soy.
Here’s someone who found no regression after quitting the diet.
A forum where different parents discuss their results on the diet
A parent who found their child was worse on the GFCF diet.
The GFCF story on About.com with a summary of the theories and references.
Success stories on GFCFdiet.com. There is no place to post failure stories, so this is rather biased.