'Autism Diets' Do Not Provide Children With Adequate Supplementation, Can Lead To Overuse

[AGXStarseed]

(Not written by me)



Gluten-free and casein-free (GFCG) diets, also known as “autism diets,” have been heralded as a reliable treatment options for Autism Spectrum Disorder (AUS) by some therapists, but scientific evidence has been lacking. A recent study published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics has found that using dietary supplementation to treat children with autism is not only ineffective, but it could also lead to both insufficient nutrients and excessive nutrients.


"Many families try a GFCF diet in an attempt to improve symptoms of ASD," Dr. Patricia A. Stewart, assistant professor of Pediatrics at the University of Rochester Medical Center, said in a statement. "While 19 percent of all Autism Speaks Autism Treatment Network (AS ATN) participants were reported to be on a GFCF diet, 12 percent of the children in the subgroup participating in this study were given a GFCF diet and were significantly more likely to use nutritional supplements (78 percent vs. 53 percent). However, the micronutrient intake of children on or off the diet was remarkably similar."


Stewart and her colleagues recruited 368 children between the ages of 2 and 11 who had been diagnosed with autistic disorder, Asperger's disorder, or pervasive developmental disorder, according to the DSM-5. Researchers tasked caregivers with three-day food records that tracked all foods, beverages, and nutritional supplements, which included brand names, recipes, and photos of labels.


Children affected by AUS ended up consuming similar amounts of micronutrients as healthy children with AUS and had the same deficits in vitamins D, E, calcium, potassium, and choline. Fifty-six percent of children with AUS are given supplements compared to around 35 percent of the general population. Following supplementation, between 40 and 55 percent of children with AUS were still lacking calcium while between 30 and 40 percent were lacking vitamin D.


"In clinical practice, each patient needs to be individually assessed for potential nutritional deficiencies or excess,” Stewart added. “Few children with ASD need most of the micronutrients they are commonly given as multivitamins, which often leads to excess intake that may place children at risk for adverse effects. When supplements are used, careful attention should be given to adequacy of vitamin D and calcium intake.”


Although children with autism generally lacked a sufficient amount of calcium and vitamin D, dietary supplementation often led to excessive nutrient consumption. Many children with AUS who received dietary supplementation exceeded Tolerable Upper Limit for safe intake levels of vitamin A, folic acid, and zinc.


Source: Hyman S, Schmidt B, Stewart P, et al. Dietary Supplementation in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders: Common, Insufficient and Excessive. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. 2015.


SOURCE: 'Autism Diets' Do Not Provide Children With Adequate Supplementation, Can Lead To Overuse

 

[NateSean]

This in no way surprises me. Although a gluten free diet is supposed to be beneficial to all parties, anything taken to it's logical extreme is not going to be healthy for a person. Remove all carbs from your diet and your body loses blood sugar, drink too much water and you drown internally.

People should always do their own research and find a balance when it comes to the health of their children. Because one thing is for certain, the people who are trying to push these "treatments" are only after a payday. If your kid suffers long term injury, well, the snake oil sales reps still paid their electric bill.

 

[Chuck2]

We recently started a wheat free diet on the advice of my wife's doctor. We are not trying Gluten free. We do end up looking for gluten free foods at the grocery store just so we can avoid the wheat that is in so many of the foods we used to buy. I would like to start cooking everything from scratch but I don't have the motivation.

So far wheat free has helped my digestion and my wife is also lower or less carb which is helping her lose weight. I may have to reduce carbs a little too but they actually help me regulate my moods. I'm hoping to get my motivation back and go to the gym on a regular basis and then decide what to do about diet. I can guarantee that I am low on vitamin D.

I was having problems with my digestion for years which I had decided where side effects of my meds for Bipolar. It turns out that this is not the case for me.

As you said NateSean, we have to do our own research and come up with our own strategies. so much of the information that we see from anywhere can be skewed by who has what to gain in putting out the info.

 

[Sully]

Asperger's and PDD NOS according to the DSM 5?

What does this sentence mean: "Children affected by AUS ended up consuming similar amounts of micronutrients as healthy children with AUS and had the same deficits in vitamins D, E, calcium, potassium, and choline."

 

[Chuck2]

I'll bet that's a typo. It was probably not supposed to say "healthy children with AUS" they may have meant just healthy children. Of course, I could easily be wrong.

 

[AsheSkyler]

Well, duh. If you omit something from your diet and don't take any steps to make up for the nutrition you cut out, of course you're going to have a deficiency. Grains and dairy are a pretty important chunk of your diet. Can't live on just meat, fruits, and veggies. Does it really take a scientific study to tell people that? Does anybody have common sense anymore?

 

[Chuck2]

There are a lot of ingredients in food I have to avoid personally. I have always been sensitive to these kind of things and lately they seem to be making newer fancier ingredients that still cause me the same problems. I end up doing a lot of cooking from scratch but I am still lazy so sometimes I eat food that has been processed (premade) and that's hit or miss.

Gluten and Casein are not things that specifically bother me the way the other stuff does.