The researchers undertook a single blind study in which two groups of 10 children, the diet group and the control group, were tested over a period of one year, with significant improvements observed in the diet group.

Both groups were given access to special educators on a regular basis. The parents of the children in the diet group also received comprehensive written and oral information about the gluten and casein free diet from a dietician.

Although there was some improvement in both groups, the improvement in the diet group was striking. For example, “extreme anxiety… caused by the sound of the school bell, noises from a lawn mower, sleeping in a new bed, or entering a room with many people… [was] drastically reduced in the diet group, but not in the control group.” and the tendency for some children to “dislike and reject physical contact even from their parents… was no longer a problem in the diet group after the experimental period was over.”

The researchers report that no statistically significant changes occurred in the control group except in the development of linguistic skills (though these were not as marked as those in the diet group), but significant positive changes were registered in the diet group for peer relationship, anxiety, empathy, physical contact, verbal communications, eye contact, reaction when spoken to, language peculiarities, judgment of dangerous situations, number of interests, extremes of restlessness or passiveness, attention, social and emotional development, communicative development, cognitive development, sensory/motor development, autistic behavior, non-verbal cognition, linguistic skills and motor competence.

This research was published seven years ago. It seems very strange that it’s virtually been ignored for so long. Is there a conspiracy by the drugs manufacturers to downplay methods of treating autism that don’t involve regular prescriptions? If so, how were they able to achieve this?

Further Reading

Gluten, Casein and how they cause problems
Who needs a gluten free, dairy free diet?
Drugs used to treat autism
Gluten and dairy free recipe book

Gluten accounts for about 80% of the protein in certain grains, and casein makes about 80% of the protein in milk. Gluten is actually a combination of two proteins, gliadin and glutenin.

In the course of digestion, glutenin breaks down into gluten exorphins, gliadin into gliadorphin, also called gluteomorphin, and casein into casomorphin aka caseomorphin. In the normal course of events, these would break down further into amino acids. It’s hypothesized that in certain individuals this final step in the digestive process does not occur, or is incomplete.

Gliadorphin, gluten exorphins and casomorphin are all opioid peptides – “which mimic the effect of opiates in the brain[1]“. The brain contains opioid receptors, currently three are recognised, called delta (OP1), kappa (OP2) and mu (OP3). OP1 and OP3 are thought to be the basis for physical dependence. All of them have analgesic effects when activated, OP1 has antidepressant effects, OP2 is sedative and OP3 can cause euphoria[2].

There is a great deal of anecdotal evidence that excluding gluten and casein from the diet produces symptoms very similar to withdrawal from drugs, which makes sense in light of the chemistry involved if the hypothesis [that gluten and casein are not correctly digested, resulting in opioid peptides being released into the bloodstream] is correct.

Since these peptides are produced in the intestine, there is a question as to how they get into the bloodstream, rather than being excreted. Some have proposed a controversial diagnosis, Leaky Gut Syndrome, but there is little support for this in the conventional medical sector. However, this should not be taken to mean that it does not exist, as many ideas which were strongly disputed by conventional medicine a few years ago have now become mainstream.

Further Reading

Research shows autistic symptoms improve on a gluten and casein free diet
Who needs a gluten free, dairy free diet?
Drugs used to treat autism
Gluten and dairy free recipe book

Something I’ve noticed is that doctors don’t seem to take the concept of dignity into account when dealing with autism or other “mental disorders”. Here are some of the drugs they’ve tried. To me they read like something out of the Hammer House of Horror.

Chlorpromazine (Largactil), Haloperidol (Serenace, Haldol) and Thioridazine (Melleril) are major tranquillizers originally developed for the treatment of schizophrenia. They frequently cause severe uncontrolled movements of the mouth and tongue which need to be treated with other drugs, such as Orphenadrine (Disipal) or Procyclidine (Kemidrin) — originally developed to treat Parkinson’s Disease.

Chlorpromazine also causes photo-sensitivity, so that patients taking it have to stay out of the sun to avoid getting badly burned.

Lithium, another drug originally developed to treat schizophrenia, may sometimes be prescribed to aggressive patients to “even out” autistic mood swings.

Because autistic people have been shown to have elevated levels of serotonin, the slimming drug Fenfluramine (Ponderax) and the anti-depressants Clomipramine (Anafranil) and Fluoxetine (Prozac) (all of which affect serotonin levels) have been tried, with mixed results.

Diazepam (Valium), a highly addictive sedative normally prescribed to treat anxiety, has been tried, but seems to have little effect except as a calmative in emergency situations. This is a good thing, as one of its known side effects is impaired learning.

Carbamazepine (Tegretol), which is generally prescribed to control epilepsy, is sometimes used to reduce mood swings.

Clinical trials of Naltrexone, a drug which works to lower opioid levels in the body, are currently underway. Early results indicate that dosage may be quite critical. If this drug is shown to work, it may be simpler to remove the source of the excess opiates (as discussed in the main text, production of opiates in the body is often caused by improper digestion of gluten and/or dairy products), though this would also, of course, remove the potential for profit.

Even beta blockers — normally used to treat high blood pressure — have been prescribed in what seems like a last ditch attempt to find anything that might work.

I have spent quite a bit of time visiting with adults on many of these medications, and they are not happy memories. Personally, I would do pretty much anything to avoid my child being prescribed any of these drugs, if it could possibly be avoided. Some of the side effects can be permanent, and there are known long term health hazards.

Even so, many medical professionals prefer to prescribe these extremely dangerous substances when there is an alternative treatment available which has no side effects. Why?

The alternative treatment I’m referring to is the gluten/casein free diet. This is controversial, but many parents report very good results. It’s surely worth a try?

The idea that it is better to pump young children full of drugs rather than try something less dangerous (which may actually do something other than tranquillize them) seems like a no-brainer to me. The only reason I can think of for not recommending this approach is that it puts the power in someone else’s hands – the parents – and removes it from the doctor. It seems unbelievable, but I can’t think of a single reason that would otherwise account for it.

Further Reading

Research shows autistic symptoms improve on a gluten and casein free diet
Gluten, Casein and how they cause problems
Who needs a gluten free, dairy free diet?
Gluten and dairy free recipe book

Since its discovery in the 1980s, many parents of autistic children have been trying them on the gluten free casein free diet, often with striking results.The difficulty ASD kids have with dairy is specifically related to the protein casein, which is found in almost all dairy products. But it’s not just children with autistic spectrum disorders that need a gluten-free and dairy-free diet.

Anyone who has just been diagnosed with celiac disease needs to avoid gluten, and will probably also have difficulties with dairy products for up to 18 months, as a result of a temporary inability to digest the sugar lactose caused by damage to the intestine. Lactose intolerance, as this is called, results in bloating and diarrhea whenever large quantities of milk are ingested.

Lactose intolerance can occur in anyone, either as a permanent condition (in fact, 70% of the world’s adult population is lactose intolerant), or temporarily after a bout of gastro-enteritis. A good number of these will also have genes that make them likely to become gluten intolerant.

Apart from intolerance of casein and/or lactose, there’s also a condition called milk allergy which can produce varying symptoms, most of which are typical of those associated with allergies, ranging from skin rashes and diarrhea to anaphylactic shock in extreme cases. Milk allergy affects about 2-3% of infants, although 90% of these grow out of it, so probably only 1 in 400 adults have this condition.

Taking into account all the different ways dairy products can cause problems, it’s pretty clear that the number of adults who can digest milk and the rest without difficulties of one kind or another is far outweighed by those who can’t. And all of these difficulties with dairy products may be combined with celiac disease or some other type of gluten intolerance (or indeed gluten allergy, although a true allergy to gluten is rare).

As we know that more than 70% of adults have some sort of difficulty with milk and dairy products, it’s quite likely that as many as 1 in 15 of those will also have a problem with gluten. Even if it’s only 1% (which is the standard percentage given as suffering from celiac disease, the most well-known form of gluten intolerance), that’s still a lot of people.

Casein has been linked with migraine and other headaches and has been shown to block the healthful effects of tea against cardiovascular disease[1]. Apart from celiac disease, gluten has been implicated in a huge number of disorders, from serious mental problems like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder (some experts believe that casein is also linked to these) to irritable bowel syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis and numerous others.

Important: Have you had tests that show you’re “allergic” to lots of different foods, including gluten?