Nutritional Treatments of Autism

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ABSTRACT

 

There are plenty of indications that diet can provide relief of many autistic

symptoms. This study discusses the three most popular approaches used, B6 and

magnesium supplementation, fatty acid supplementation and the gluten free casein

free diet and covers the various research to date on these topics to see if

there is appropriate results to recommend using these approaches. I have

included all research on these issues that I could find that had appropriate

statistical results. I searched the National Autistic Society’s comprehensive

database and other research sites to find these research reports. The results of

this project show that there has been plenty of small scale research on these

topics and the indications are that large scale research would show a positive

result with all the approaches discussed. However, to date, this research has

not been undertaken.

 

Keywords: autism; diet; casein; gluten; fatty acids; B6; peptides; nutrition

 

INTRODUCTION

 

Autism is a neurological condition which leads to impaired communication

(Trevarthen et al, 1998; ). It is a complicated disability and it affects

communication. Autism is considered to be a spectrum disorder which means that

there is complete range of severity from those who will never be able to lead a

'normal' life to those who do not know that they have the condition but have

always wondered why they have so much difficulty in communicating with others.

This spectrum also includes Asperger’s Syndrome which is a higher functioning

version of the condition. Those with autism may have low intelligence but may

well have average or even high intelligence. In many cases there are no obvious

signs of the condition until the child is about two, although often those who

are experienced in autism may notice the signs earlier. Research done by Lorna

Wing (1979) produced what is known as the triad of impairment, which is the

basis on which autism is often diagnosed. The triad of impairment is the three

main areas where those with autism have problems, these are social interaction,

communication and imagination.

 

Many people with autism do not speak and often those that do have a stilted

manner and may be unintentionally rude (Marshall, 2006). Many children are late

to start talking and even those who can speak well find it hard under certain

circumstances and may, for instance, only speak at home. When they do talk they

may use nonsense words and there may be abnormalities in pitch, intonation,

rate, rhythm and so on. Echolalia is also quite common, when the child will

repeat what has been said to him, often not actually understanding the words.

Not only do those with autism find speaking difficult they find other forms of

communication and social interaction difficult as well. Most young children will

quite happily play with other children and communicate with limited or no

speech, however this is not the case for those with autism, they find it very

difficult to do this. They can also lack imagination and find it difficult to

play spontaneously, they may have very rigid routines and can get very

distressed when these routines are changed. In addition those on the autistic

spectrum often have very rigid interests and get bored when what is required

does not involve these interests. There may also be problems with the theory of

the mind, which leads to a lack of understanding that other people are actually

people with the same feelings, desires and so on as they have. There may be a

lack of the ability to read faces and so an inability to tell when someone is

cross with them, teasing them or whatever, they may be oversensitive or

undersensitive to light, noise, pain etc. Often much of their 'odd' behaviour is

just an effort to bring a feeling of security and being in control to their

lives. A larger proportion of those with autism suffer from epilepsy as well.

 

Within this definition however, every child has his own personality and this can

affect how he behaves, some may be pushy, some may be shy, some are passive and

some get agitated and so on. Eye contact is often poor, those with autism often

do not look enough at people, but sometimes they will look too much. They may

take things literally, so if you say 'I'll just be a minute' they will get cross

if you take 90 seconds and they have a great deal of problems understanding the

outside world. Those with autism often have an enormous number of tantrums,

although sometimes they can be some of the easiest of children.

 

There is a complete range of abilities for those with autism, even amongst those

with average intelligence. Some children will be able to adjust to a fairly

normal setting and others will find this practically impossible. Many will go on

to lead a fairly normal life, others will always be dependent on other people.

However, whatever the severity of the condition there are always certain aspects

that can be improved but it is not always easy to know where to start. That is

where this book comes in.

 

Autism is a complex neurological condition which, so far, seems impossible to

treat with conventional medicine. As a result of this many people have developed

different approaches that they believe to be effective. Much of the evidence is

anecdotal although there is an increasing amount of research to back it up.

 

There are now an great many different methods and therapies that have been used

to help those with autism (Rimland, 2006). Many of these have either well

researched results or circumstantial evidence to prove that they are effective.

However, even those that are effective on some people are not on others due to

the complex nature of autism. In this project I will research the effect of the

three main dietary approaches in the treatment of autism and provide details of

the different methods and procedures used and the research into its

effectiveness.

 

Obviously a good healthy diet is important for everybody’s optimum health, but

is particularly important for those with health issues. There is an ever

increasing amount of research covering the effect of diet on the brain.

 

The most popular nutritional approach for use with autism seems to be the use of

the gluten free casein free diet (Food and Behaviour Research, 2003) in which

all gluten (found in wheat, rye, barley and some other grains) and casein (found

in most dairy products) is removed from the diet. Many people have found this to

be very effective with their children and it is thought to be related to

digestive issues in the individual. The downside of this approach is the problem

of having to make significant changes to the diet of a child who is often

already a difficult eater.

 

The use of B6 and magnesium supplementation is another approach that has proved

popular (Edelson, 2002) and has been used for over 30 years and while a small

amount research claims that it does not work, no research has said that there is

any risk with it. Supplementation with fatty acids is increasingly popular these

days due to their effects on the brain (Equazen, 2006).

 

Other areas include vitamin C supplementation (The Vitamin C Foundation, 2006;

Rimland, 2005) where the indications are that it can reduce the severity of

autistic symptoms, leaky gut (Rona, 2001; Edelson, 2002), where a damaged

intestine can lead to poor and incorrectly absorbed nutrients, the use of

enzymes to help the absorption of food (DeFelice, 2002), the use of a hormone

called secretin (Autism Research Unit, 1999), the use of probiotics (Mercola,

2002) to help the efficiency of the digestive system, and the use of minerals

particularly zinc (Pfeiffer, 1978), iron (Gordon, 2004; Dobbing, 1990) and

selenium (Rimland, 2002). In addition, allergies and intolerances, particularly

to food additives, sugar and caffeine, may lead to autistic style symptoms.

 

The Autism Research Institute (Autism Research Institute, 2006) in America has

been giving its patients questionnaires for 40 years (since 1967) on the

different approaches they have used and their effectiveness and has been

analysing these results (Rimland and Edelson, 2005). The result of this is a

wide selection of nutritional supplements, special diets and conventional drugs

listed with percentages who improved during treatment, the percentage who got

worse and those which stayed the same. The study is subjective and only has the

parents’ opinion of whether their child has improved or not but the large

figures involved help balance this out. Over 23,700 parents have filled in their

questionnaire and many interventions have had over 5,000 responses. Which shows

the level of interest in these treatments.

 

What is interesting from this data is that the nutritional supplements and

dietary approaches tend to be more effective than the allopathic drugs. Autism

is notoriously difficult to treat by conventional methods, but it is possible

that those parents whose children weren’t helped by these approaches are more

likely to attend the Autism Research Institute to investigate other approaches.

 

It is important to bear in mind when looking at the figures that a drug is

considered a success if half the studies show it to be effective. On this basis,

all the nutrients discussed below would be considered effective.

 

The main approaches used to measure the changes in autism are behavioural. This

can, of course, be unreliable as it is personal views on the behaviour. The

reliability can be improved by having more people measuring this, including both

parents and professionals. There are various structured methods for measuring

the different autistic traits.

 

Other methods are levels of HVA. HVA is homovanillic acid which is a metabolite

of dopamine. Research has shown that people with autism often have significantly

higher levels of HVA (Martineau et al, 1987; Barthelemy et al, 1988). This may

be due to brain catecholamine dysfunction in autism (Garner et al, 1986).

 

Averaged evoked potentials (AEPs) are also used in research and are one method

of measuring the brain’s ability to process external sensory stimuli, it is

thought that they measure catecholamine metabolism which includes dopamine, a

neurotransmitter, which seems to play a part in motor control, cognition and

hormone release. The link between AEPs and behaviour is not completely clear,

however there is a greater variability in AEPs in autistic people compared to

control subjects, there are also lower amplitudes and shorter latency periods

(Pfeiffer et al, 1995).

 

METHODOLOGY

 

In order to collect the various research reports discussed in this project, I

have searched many research websites. Most of these reports were found on the

National Autistic Society website, which have been collated by the Autism

Research Unit in Sunderland. Of these reports I have included all that have

produced some sort of statistics as a result of the research. I have also

included information on studies of related conditions when I considered it

relevant. By using this method I can discuss all research into the areas

discussed and draw conclusions as to its validity.

 

Nutritional Treatments of Autism - B6 and Magnesium Section

 

Nutritional Treatments of Autism - Gluten Free Casein Free Section

 

Nutritional Treatments of Autism - Fatty Acids Section

 

Nutritional Treatments of Autism - Summary and References

 

 

http://hubpages.com/hub/Nutritional-Treatments-of-Autism

 

 

Thanks

 

Caroline