EBD Blog

Writing in the Toronto (ON, CA) Globe and Mail, Hayley Mick describes the case of Tina Szenasi and her effort to help her two autistic sons by feeding them gluten-free, casein-free (GFCF) diet. Ms. Mick sympathetically reports Ms. Szenasi’s story and then politely points out that the research on the diet’s effectiveness is not as encouraging as the popular discussion of it.

More Canadian parents are adopting the controversial diet for their autistic children as support spreads through a fringe group of health professionals, commercial websites and chat forums. Supporters say gluten and casein are not well digested by autistic kids, who often exhibit digestive problems and food allergies.

The protein compounds, they say, wreak havoc with the children’s neurological development. To eliminate those triggers, parents spend thousands of extra dollars on special foods, vitamins and enzyme supplements as well as laboratory testing in the United States.

But most mainstream scientists remain skeptical of the gut-brain connection in autism. They say there’s no scientific proof that the diet works. Some doctors warn that parents’ desperation, paired with the mystery surrounding autism’s causes, makes the field ripe - as a top American pediatric gastrointestinal specialist put it - for “charlatanism.”

“If there’s nothing else that you think is going to help and you’re desperate, you’ll do anything,” said Wendy Roberts, the head of the autism research unit at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto.

It’s worthwhile read; follow this link to get to it. As I read it, I was reminded of the once-burgeoning interest in secretin and the persistent belief that sugar and other ingested products cause hyperactivity. I wrote about those topics some years ago in the old “office of special education.”