Have you tried a gluten and casein free diet?

Beth - posted on 08/26/2009

We have had amazing results with the diet. My daughter did not test possitive for food allergies, her behavior was our only indicator. She is 8 now, we put her on the diet at 3 1/2, she was diagnosed with PDD/NOS at 3 and started theary then. Two weeks into the gf/cf diet Emma more then doubled her vocabulary. We also did a yeast cleanse during this (which I think was the culprit.) We now just avoid wheat. Emma was orginaliy diagnosed with PDD-NOS, then at 5 they changed it to Asperger's. She still struggles with auditory intergration (we do speech and language thearapy), still she is extremely high functioning! Hope this helps!

Pam - posted on 08/25/2009

We tried it when Michael was first diagnosed, and it was defintely hard to get started. He loved chicken Mcnuggets... We kept him on it for three months, while getting some hair and, um, other samples tested (and boy was it fun to collect the specimens! Not.). The results said he had some of the signs of sensitivity, but we weren't seeing any change on the diet. The doctor suggested we test it by giving him gluten/casein again, because if he was going to react to it it would be noticeable. Off we went to McDonalds :) Never noticed a difference with or without the diet.

However, the spectrum is called that for a reason; there are a million variations and it doesn't seem unreasonable to me that different kids react to different things. I know a family who's son quite obviously regressed after his MMR shot (about that time, anyway; they blamed the vaccination). Michael, looking back, was autistic since birth. He would hardly ever give us eye contact, and always seemed to be solemnly studying the world around him. He first laughed at three months.

Um, point is, there are probably many different causes and contributing factors to autism, and what works for one kid might not work for the next. Plus I'm a bit cynical about "studies" :) The only way to know if it'll work in your case is to try it.

Yvette - posted on 08/25/2009

Tried over the school year last year and did not notice any changes over several months. It is soo very hard to do since there is wheat and/or milk in everything.

There is alot on the market, but if your child has aleady developed his eating habits it is hard to get them to do it without protest. My son loves hamburgers and could not give that up!! He felt deprived and they don't always understand that it may be best for them. In his case, there were no noticable changes. I did however put him on an Omega 3 supplement to boost the brain and a multi-vitamin at his psychologist's recommendation.

Meredith - posted on 08/22/2009

Definitely take him to an allergist before changing his diet - my son tested allergic to wheat but not to dairy or gluten, so his diet is much less of a pain than it would have been if we had just gone for GFCF blindly.

Jennie - posted on 08/21/2009

It is almost easier to print out a list of the foods that your son can eat. This way they know exactly what to feed him and there is no question about it.
We have been GF for almost 2 years. It has made a huge difference for us. I know someone mentioned earlier that gluten is not a factor for these kids, but our doctor told me that it is a factor for most people, they just don't know it. Gluten is one of the hardest proteins for the human body to digest. When you take this and give it to kids whose guts are not functioning like they should, it just adds to the problem. I can always tell when the kids have gotten gluten. They are fine with just about everything else.

April - posted on 08/21/2009

Quoting Lilia:

I found that the GFCF diet has worked well for my son. He has been on the diet strictly for about 5 months. He also has other GI issues (19 food allergies). I think the diet is really easy to do (once you get going) but you should do it for at least six months before you discount it. Food allergies can really affect how our kids focus. I equate it to when I eat something that makes me ill I can't focus on work or anything else. So I can't even imagine having stomach ache every day and then trying to learn how to talk. You can get more information from www.tacanow.org

Thanks for the info. Do you know if somewhere on the internet there is a list of foods to not eat for the GFCF diet? I know when my son had the milk and egg allergy, I could print out a list for us, caretakers and family members of food he is not allowed to eat. Thanks:)

Jackie - posted on 08/21/2009

Quoting Lilia:

I found that the GFCF diet has worked well for my son. He has been on the diet strictly for about 5 months. He also has other GI issues (19 food allergies). I think the diet is really easy to do (once you get going) but you should do it for at least six months before you discount it. Food allergies can really affect how our kids focus. I equate it to when I eat something that makes me ill I can't focus on work or anything else. So I can't even imagine having stomach ache every day and then trying to learn how to talk. You can get more information from www.tacanow.org

Lilia - posted on 08/20/2009

I found that the GFCF diet has worked well for my son. He has been on the diet strictly for about 5 months. He also has other GI issues (19 food allergies). I think the diet is really easy to do (once you get going) but you should do it for at least six months before you discount it. Food allergies can really affect how our kids focus. I equate it to when I eat something that makes me ill I can't focus on work or anything else. So I can't even imagine having stomach ache every day and then trying to learn how to talk. You can get more information from www.tacanow.org

April - posted on 08/20/2009

Thanks for the info. My son was born with egg and milk allergies and I kept him on a strict diet. Last Oct he was retested and grew an immunity to them so he no longer is on a restricted diet. I know everything is so new about AS and Autism. It is evolved so much in the past ten years. My son also has GI problems and has seen a specialist for that but with diet alterations he is doing much better. Thanks again for your input.

Linda - posted on 08/20/2009

Hi April, I just want to inform you that approximately two weeks ago, a study has been published that a gluten free or casein free diet has nothing to do with Autism. I know there are stories out there that say perhaps this diet may help. However, it is now documented that the reason why they say gluten /casein may make a difference is because some children who are diagnosed with AS or Autism tend to have stomach problems such as allergies.Therefor when they eat certain foods they may not feel well right after, and so it may be difficult for them to inform you of how they are feeling. So to try to stop the stomach issues some may say that Gluten / cassein helped "fixed" certain behaviors in their child, when in reality the diet did not help its actually the child learning new behaviors. The only thing that may change may be from their little stomach not bothering them as much from certain foods. If you want to know if your child has stomach issues I would take him/.her to a specialist. And not go gluten free/cassein free. I tried it on my son because as a mom , I just wanted to see improvement. I also heard of this diet and so I tried. I did not see any changes. Shortly after the new study made news headlines. I hope this helps you. Good Luck!