Autism and Nutrition

Mayo Clinic nutritionists have recently discouraged families from applying special autism diets for their afflicted children. But Julie Matthews, a Certified Nutrition Consultant and author of 'Nourishing Hope', disagrees. She says, "Diet can help, sometimes tremendously. It's rare to see diet not help in some way."

"Their opinion seems misinformed and unwarranted," claims Julie. Regarding autism diets, the Mayo Clinic dissuades parents by saying "there is no scientific evidence" and that autism diets are "neither easily introduced nor easily followed long term," identifying "complexities" as reason for pause.

"With so many seeing improvements with autism diets, I'd prefer they not discourage families from trying diet simply because it might be challenging," Julie states, "rather they should investigate why they these diets help." An increasing body of autism research supports the need for dietary intervention, including a recent report from the National Institutes of Health. To help with autism, Julie recommends avoiding gluten and casein (wheat and dairy) because these foods are known to affect a brain response similar to morphine leading to foggy thinking and food cravings in children. Also suggested is introducing foods that are easy to digest, rich in good bacteria, and packed with nutrients such as homemade broths, naturally fermented foods, and pureed vegetables hidden in meatballs, as well as supplements such as cod liver oil, probiotics (good bacteria), B6, magnesium, and zinc. Julie sides with sound science and overwhelming parent experience when she recommends special diets for autism. The strategy targets the physical symptoms of autism that are commonly overlooked. She says, "Different diets serve varied needs to help alleviate symptoms and promote healing. The key is finding and refining a diet that best serves an individual child." Julie explains how Diet can help Autism Website: Nourishing Hope: Nutrition & Diet for Autism Spectrum Disorders

Jenny McCarthy is the author of the book "Louder Than Words: A Mother's Journey in Healing Autism," and is an autism activist. She and fellow actor Jim Carrey recently have published an article on CNN. Below is an exceprt: "There are some who wonder what we mean when we say "recovering" from autism. They confuse the word recover with cure. While you may not be able to cure an injury caused in a terrible car accident, you can recover; you can regain many skills that you once lost. In the case of autism, we think there are treatments that often bring about such healing, so that the observable symptoms of the condition no longer exist. Even though we may no longer see any symptoms of autism, we can't say a child is "cured" because we do not know what they would have been like had they never been injured. "We believe what helped Evan recover was starting a gluten-free, casein-free diet, vitamin supplementation, detox of metals, and anti-fungals for yeast overgrowth that plagued his intestines. Once Evan's neurological function was recovered through these medical treatments, speech therapy and applied behavior analysis helped him quickly learn the skills he could not learn while he was frozen in autism. After we implemented these therapies for one year, the state re-evaluated Evan for further services. They spent five minutes with Evan and said, "What happened? We've never seen a recovery like this."