Diets for Autism/ADHD: Why and How?
ByBy Tiffany Jackson, ND, CYT
The choices we make about what to eat and what to feed our children have profound impact on health and present a great opportunity to support healing and improve behaviors of autism and ADHD. Diet is a powerful tool! Some parents hesitate to try autism diets and physicians are slow to suggest them because they don’t know how and why diet works. One recent news report about autism diets suggested uncertainty about their efficacy, saying it was uncertain whether diet helps the symptoms of autism, or whether it helps the restore the health of the gut. The implication was that since they don’t how it’s helping – the ‘autism’ or ‘the gut’ – they don’t know if it’s working at all. Don’t limit your child’s healing potential because some ‘experts’ fail to realize why or how diet works.
According to Hippocrates, “All disease begins in the gut”, and this certainly proves true with autism and ADHD. Digestion and gastro-intestinal health affect the brain and autism’s physical symptoms. Food interacts with the gut constantly and can have a profound impact on these symptoms. Removing the offending foods that contribute to inflammation is crucial to repair the guy and adding foods that support a healthy gastro-intestinal environment is essential for healing to occur.
Understanding the gut and brain connection helps explain why autism and ADHD are improved through a diet that supports digestion and gastro-intestinal health and biochemistry. Gastrointestinal health and biochemistry are allies. Biochemistry involves reactions that require energy, nutrients and enzymes to function. Proper digestion is required to obtain and absorb the nutrients needed for these processes. If there are not enough nutrients, an inability to digest and absorb nutrients or an inability to convert a nutrient to the active and usable form, biochemical pathways become blocked. This is one of the pieces of the puzzle with children on the spectrum. They are unable to assimilate the nutrients and their biochemical pathways work less efficiently. This why diet is crucial! By supporting digestion and biochemistry through diet and nutrition, we can improve the symptoms of autism and ADHD.
The common physical symptoms of children with autism include diarrhea, constipation, bloating and stomach pain, frequent infections, sleeping challenges and inflammation/pain. For most children, nutrient deficiencies, imbalanced biochemistry and digestive problems are at the core of these symptoms. Improving digestion, reducing inflammation and healing the gut are important steps in overall health and healing. Behavior, language and skin rashes are a few of the areas that significantly improve with some of the following diet modifications.
· Remove foods that cause inflammation in the gut. Gluten (wheat), casein (dairy), soy, corn and eggs are common offenders. The exact foods to remove will depend on the individual; however gluten and casein-free diets are among the most popular and successful. Sugar also contributes to inflammation.
· Add foods that reduce inflammation. Foods such as ginger and turmeric reduce inflammation. Fish oil, flax seeds and walnuts contain Omega 3s that have anti-inflammatory properties.
· Add foods that supply beneficial bacteria. Fermented foods such as nondairy yogurt, young coconut kefir and raw sauerkraut help supply good bacteria that reduce inflammation and help create an environment that is healing.
Which Diets Help?
Gluten-Free/Casein-Free
Gluten and gluten-like proteins are found in wheat and other grains, including oats, rye, barley, bulgar, kamut and spelt, and foods made from those grains. They are also found in food starches, semolina, couscous, malt, some vinegars, soy sauce, flavorings, artificial colors and hydrolyzed vegetable proteins. Casein is a protein found in milk and foods containing milk, such as cheese, butter, yogurt, ice cream, whey and even some brands of margarine. It also may be added to non-milk products such as soy cheese and hot dogs in the form of caseinate. Some children on the spectrum cannot properly digest gluten and casein, which form peptides, or substances that act like opiates in their bodies. The peptides then alter the person’s behavior, perceptions, and responses to his environment. Some scientists now believe that peptides trigger an unusual immune system response. Research in the U.S. and Europe has found peptides in the urine of a significant number of children with autism.
Feingold Diet
The Feingold Diet was created in the 1970s and is commonly called the ADHD Diet. The Feingold Program eliminates Artificial (synthetic) coloring, Artificial (synthetic) flavoring, Aspartame (NutraSweet, an artificial sweetener) and Artificial (synthetic) preservatives known as BHA, BHT, TBHQ. Numerous studies show that eliminating these synthetic food additives can have benefits on learning and behavior In recent years, however, much success has been found by using this eating plan with children on the autism spectrum. Self-injurious actions and behavioral outbursts can be curbed by following the Feingold Diet.
Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD)
The Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD) is not as commonly used as the GFCF and Feingold Diets as it is much more restrictive and thus more difficult to implement. In the SCD, all grains, lactose and sucrose are removed from one’s diet. Individuals with an autism spectrum disorder have found that the SCD helps to balance out the flora of the intestinal tract. By healing the gut, many children experience a noticeable decrease in negative behaviors as well as relief from gastrointestinal issues.
The three above-mentioned diets are the most popular dietary interventions used with autism spectrum disorders and for ADHD. As with anything health-related, please consult your child’s doctor before starting one of these eating plans.
Parents and practitioners who implement the diets properly see the possibilities for positive influence and realize that diet can help autism and ADHD. Wherever you are in your diet journey: begin removing artificial ingredients, reduce sugar, avoid gluten and casein, add fermented foods or probiotics, or include more vegetables. Start wherever is easiest or enlist the help of a nutrition consultant or practitioner. Getting good nutrition, avoiding artificial ingredients and supporting good digestion are practices that will benefit everyone in the family.
Tiffany Jackson, ND is an expert in natural medicine and holistic health who has extensive training and expertise in nutrition, herbs, environmental medicine and natural health counseling. She is a Defeat Autism Now! Practitioner and is considered a specialist in nutrition for autism. Tiffany Jackson, ND offers Autism Lectures to relay research, natural therapies and alternative nutritional approaches that many parents have found to be helpful for their children. Her lectures are FREE and held on the every Wednesday in August from 6:30-7:15pm at Whole Foods Market® in Mount Pleasant, SC. Limited space is available. Pre-registration is required at www.ecohealthwellness.com or by calling 884-4466.
AUTISM LECTURE SERIES -AUGUST 2010
Educational lectures for parents and therapists with kids on the autistic spectrum.
Upcoming 2010 Lecture Series at Whole Foods Market:
· August 4 – There is Hope! Understanding Alternative Approaches to Autism
· August 11 – Testimonials from Parents of Recovered Kids & Benefits of Yoga Therapy
· August 18 – How Nutrition & Toxins Plays a Role in Autism
· August 25– Understanding Food Allergies and Autism. Includes Grocery Store Tour