The Autism Diet…Is It Real?

What is Autism?
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that is characterized by impaired social interaction. Other symptoms include restricted repetitive behaviors, interests and activities. These symptoms often lead to impairment in social and occupational functioning. The cause of ASD is still not completely understood, however a recent review article summed up much of what we know so far about the pathology of ASD. This article essentially tells us that there are a number of genes that are linked to ASD a number of them code for proteins that impact the growth and development of neurons and synapses. One way I like to think of what is going on with the neurons is that they are not communicating very well. Now the brain has multiple regions to it that each has a specific function and for each of these brain regions to work properly it must be connected to other parts of the brain. One symptom we see in ASD is over-connectivity of neurons within a certain region but under-connectivity between the brain regions. Because ASD is a  spectrum we see a wide array of symptoms and a wide array of severity of those functions.
Is there a diet suggested for people with ASD?
Many parents of children with ASD report that their child’s behavior improves when they eat a dairy and gluten free diet.
Does this diet actually work?
In 2009 a review of research concluded that there was not enough evidence to say empirically that a gluten and dairy free diet helped with autistic behaviors. However there has been more recent research into the topic and two different studies (One from Denmark and one from Penn state) both showed that if the diet was stuck to very strictly for at least 6 months or more, patients showed improvements in behavior. Improvements meaning less hyperactivity, temper tantrums and speech skills.
How hard is the diet to implement?
It can be difficult to very strictly watch the diet of any child and perhaps especially one with autism so the Autism Research Institute issued a couple helpful tips to parents about implementing this diet. The full article can be found here. But to sum up they essentially said that taking “cheat” days can be a bad idea and to really watch out for foods that could be hiding gluten or dairy.