Cairber wrote:I know DAN! doctors will put autistic kids on extremely restrictive diets as a part of the "cure" for autism. I know it is gluten and casein free, but I really haven't looked to much into what they claim this will do.
I'm not sticking my toe into the fierce debates amongst those in the thread either on or claiming to be on the autistic spectrum, but I can speak as someone on a restricted diet myself (although not the one specified).
Undiagnosed food allergies and/or intolerances (there is a difference, but I won't get into that unless asked) can make a person very ill. Chronic illness in infants and toddlers can delay or interrupt developmental milestones. So, to my mind, it is conceivable that some children are affected by digestive problems to the point of having various problems ranging form stunted growth and failure to thrive to social issues (if you feel like shit all the time most people don't interact well with others) or even neurological problems. IF a child's symptoms clear up after a dietary change and they're "cured" I have to question whether or not they really had autism or a different disorder manifesting similar symptoms.
While a restricted diet of any sort can work wonders for certain physical problems, it
does impose a significant cost on the person. So much of socializing centers around food, and when you're on a restricted diet going out to dinner with friends or lunch with your co-workers can become a minefield. Not to mention you can come off as pretty damn eccentric between your "picky" eating habits and your eternal hyper-vigilence and suspicion of food. I'm not autistic, yet I have endured decades of social burden from the necessity of carefully avoiding certain common foods in order to remain healthy. At my prior place of employment I had a co-worker with celiac disease (that requires a non-gluten diet meaning NO wheat, barley, or oats or any of their byproducts whatsoever). We used to sit around and commiserate about the social inconvenience of our respective disorders, which were considerable, and in many ways just as or more burdensome that the mechanics of avoiding forbidden foods or, while traveling, occasionally going hungry rather than taking a chance on unknown food.
I can not fathom imposing such burden on someone autistic, someone
already at a social disadvantage, without a good, solid reason. Really, it's just
horrible, it's slamming down another barrier between them and normality.
Absolutely if an autistic child is displaying
real symptoms of celiac or allergy they should be treated and
if necessary placed on a diet eliminating problem foods but ONLY if truly necessary.
Really, I was appalled at the DAN! website - not only do they appear to be promoting restricted diets for ALL autistic spectrum children,
even those displaying no symptoms, but they ALSO repeat that bullshit about vaccines causing autism and thimersol - thimersol was discontinued years ago.
That said, a gluten and/or casein free diet can be nutritious - my coworker was quite healthy and athletic. Due to a milk allergy my niece has avoided all dairy, including by-products such as casein, all her life and she, too, is a healthy, athletic adult now. But such diets require a better than average knowledge of nutrition and a lot of work. They are also inconvenient and more expensive than normal diets. The average parent will not enter into the situation with the knowledge to pull this off successfully and while most parents are willing to learn and make sacrifices on behalf of their children, families dealing with autistic children are
already stressed and
already have expenses normal families don't.
Bottom line, this strikes me as an unacceptable social and financial burden on autistic people and their families
unless the child has been properly diagnosed with a disorder requiring such a diet. In which case the child has autism AND celiac or food allergy, in other words, the poor kid had TWO serious problems.
