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How does gluten affect autism?

Autism is affecting nearly 1 in 250 children and that number is growing rapidly (nearly 10% each
year).  Parents and doctors are working hard to find new ways to prevent and treat autism to bring that number down.

There are various causes and treatments for autism and none are certain or even effective in all cases.  With this inconsistency in diagnosis and treatment, different methods are being tried to treat children with autism, including gluten-free diets.  Parents such as actress Jenny McCarthy have decided to eliminate gluten from their children’s diets in the hope that it may have a positive effect on their children’s ailments.  Her son, Evan, has been on a gluten-free diet as well as therapy, medication, and supplements, and has shown strikingly positive results, including speaking full and coherent conversations.  He currently lives life as any other little boy would.

This is simply one case of the positive effects a gluten-restricted diet has had on children with autism and no one knows for sure how or why it works.  Some suspicion lies in that gluten and casein, which are both proteins found in wheat and other grains common in everyday households, affect certain children the way morphine would.

Autistic children have what is called permeable intestinal tracts.  Sometimes called “leaky guts,” the intestines have weak membranes that let gluten and casein into the bloodstream, allowing broken-down peptides to run ramped, much like morphine.  The result is children that are either zombie-like or out of control.  Researchers are still trying to understand the relationship between gluten and autism, so how can a parent know if a gluten-free diet will help her child?

Frankly, it can’t hurt.  With all the alternative food sources available on the market these days, eliminating gluten from a diet will cause no side effects or malnourishment in children 5 years of age and older.  However, it is not recommended for children under 5 to undergo this change instantly because it may cause autistic symptoms to worsen or the child’s body to go through withdrawal.  Rather, slowly ease off gluten products, replacing them with other, equally nutritious products over some time and study the child for at least 6 months before expecting results.

It’s true, it may be more work to find and prepare gluten-free foods, but parents who have tried this method of treatment for their autistic children have cited only positive results, saying they interact more and communicate and function on a higher level than before the diet change.

While no conclusive evidence is available, parents as well as doctors are looking to this new phenomenon more and more for treatment answers for autism.  With no extra prescriptions or high risks, it is a harmless method to try.

 

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