Ongoing research indicates that many children with ASD suffer from one or more of a range of dietary/digestive problems which can affect the brain, behaviour and mood. The most common of these problems are:

* Food intolerances -  especially to casein (milk) and/or gluten (wheat).  Because the the effects are generally behavioural rather than physical (I.e a rash) these are often overlooked. Many children are also intolerant of  particular foods (e.g. chocolate, oranges etc.) which can cause hyperactivity or disruptive behaviour – often within one or two hours of eating.                                                                                 

USEFUL LINKS:  http://www.doctor-natasha.com/

MSG  

Today there is a new twist on the gluten/casein debate.  It comes from biochemist Dr. Katherine Reid, Ph.D who began studying the subject after her daughter Brooke was diagnosed with autism when just three years old.

After trying various nutritional supplements and a gluten/casein free diet Brooke made significant progress and yet she still had seizures as well as a number of sensory problems.

Dr Reid then reinvented her daughter’s diet; removing all monosodium glutamate (commonly known as MSG) as you will here is the attached video.                                                                                                    

* Various other eating problems e.g. craves particular foods; eats non edible substances; has an excessive thirst.

* Hypoglycaemia - which can lead to agitation either prior to meals or after eating sugary foods.

* Candida (thrush) a fungal infection which can contribute to a leaky gut so that the wall of gut is damaged and let food particles through.

* Constipation  If the child soils himself regularly seek medical advice as runny diarrhoea could indicate that a child has bad constipation with impaction (a blockage of faeces).

* Diarrhoea

* A new bowel disease has also been discovered in some children in recent years. This can cause lumpy swellings in the intestine, recurring inflammation and constipation. 

While controversy now rages in several countries about the possibility of links between this bowel disease, ‘regressive’ autism and/or the MMR vaccination it has to be noted that:

*  this disease does actually exist (and can cause serious problems).

* treatment of the physical symptoms has been reported to cause the ‘autisms’ to diminish.