Nutritional help for the child with autism  

LAST WEEK, I TALKED about hyperactivity in children. What many people don’t realise is that hyperactivity, or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), is a condition on the autistic spectrum.

Other conditions include dyslexia, dyspraxia, depression, schizophrenia and, of course, autism.

I know that when some people read this column, at the back of their mind, they’re wondering, “How much difference can food make?” Today’s story of a five-year-old autistic boy called Joe shows that the answer is clearly “a lot”.

Joe was diagnosed with autism at four years. When his mother, Felista, realised that what her son ate played a big role in the severity of his condition, immediately put Joe on a gluten and casein-free diet.

Both gluten (found in wheat, oats, barley and rye) and casein (found in dairy produce such as milk, cheese and yoghurt) are types of protein that autistic children appear not to digest well.

In their bodies, these partially digested proteins (called peptides) have a similar effect on the brain as opiate drugs like morphine.

In fact, there is increasing scientific literature to suggest that behaviour associated with autism might be due the brain chemistry getting a bit frazzled due to these ‘opioid-like peptides’.

This is why exclusion diets are normally suggested.

Hyper

Joe did improve. Over time, he made more eye contact and was more communicative, while his grasp of the alphabet seemed to get better too. However, despite these improvements, he was still pretty hyper and complained of tummy aches.

He also would not go for a bowel movement on his own, since he was scared of toilets, and even though his parents didn’t give his any fluids after 5pm, he would still wet his bed twice a week.

This is when Felista brought Joe to see me. She knew there was something else that was affecting Joe, but she couldn’t seem to work out what.

My first suggestion was to eliminate sugar and refined foods. Very often, when I make this suggestion to parents, they tell me that they couldn’t possibly deprive their child of sweets, cakes, chocolate, fizzy drinks and juices.

But you’re not depriving them; you’re giving them back their health. Most children with autism and/or hyperactivity, don’t breakdown sugar as they should, and as a result, get overly excited when they eat sweet things.

I remember a child who jumped for the entire one-and-a-half hour consultation!

Calm

The next thing I asked Felista to do was to cut out foods that contained a substance called salicylate, which can have a similar effect in an autistic child’s body to gluten and casein. Salicylates are found in apples, berries, cucumbers, grapes, nectarines, oranges, peaches, plums, prunes, raisins, tangerines and tomatoes.

Low-salicylate, low-sugar options include pears, grapefruits, lemons, limes, kiwis, coconuts and papaya.

I also asked Felista to give Joe more soups (devoid of stock cubes, which can contain several nasties) including bone soup, which delivers pre-digested nutrients to the body, and an omega-3 supplement, which plays a fundamental role in regularising brain function.

The difference after just four weeks was incredible. Not only had Joe stopped wetting his bed, but he was calmer and had an increased awareness of the activities going on around him.

His teachers couldn’t believe the difference over him, since he was talking to other pupils, and the teachers were able to start teaching him to read. Even better, he could go to the bathroom on his own.

Next week: Further help for Children’s Behavioural Problems

The writer is a clinical nutritionist certified by the Nutritional Therapy Council in the UK. Send questions about family nutrition to her on [email protected]