Diet and Autism Spectrum Disorders: What's the Link?

Actress Jenny McCarthy received national attention when she published her book Louder than Words: A Mother's Journey in Healing Autism. Part of the reason she received so much attention was that she claimed her son Evan "recovered" from autism mostly through diet changes. What link, if any, can be drawn between diet and autism?

Report from the trenches - working with kids with autism

I have personally worked with children between the ages of 3 and 5 who have autism, and at least anecdotally, there definitely appears to be a link between diet and autism. I have never met a child with autism (or the milder Aspberger's Syndrome) who was not an incredibly picky eater. I had a childhood friend named Larry who would only eat fish sticks and hotdogs, but the kids I have known with autism can be even pickier than this.

Indeed, one of the biggest frustrations reported by parents of children with autism is finding something that their child will eat that is also nutritious - even more than other children their age, children with autism are junk food fanatics. In general, things that are slimy, wet, or soft (like fruits and vegetables, for instance), are common food textures rejected by children with autism. Things that are dry, salty, and hard (like potato chips) are generally met with more favor.

Meanwhile, many parents of autistic children reported eventually discovering that their children suffer from a litany of food allergies and food sensitivities. It is not unusual in a special needs classroom to find a list posted on the wall of all the foods Children A, B, and C cannot eat. Originally, the science behind autism suggested that the neurological effects of autism caused this hypersensitivity, but today researchers are beginning to wonder if the food sensitivities are causing autism's neurological effects.

What Jenny has to say about autism and diet

It was because of my work with children with autism that I became interested in Jenny McCarthy's story of her son Evan's recovery from autism. Like most people who work with special needs children, I was skeptical. I had been taught to view autism spectrum disorders as a more-or-less permanent condition - think Dustin Hoffman playing Raymond in the movie Rainman. Obviously, people who showed signs of autism as a child would be autistic as an adolescent and autistic as an adult.

But McCarthy claimed that once she started following some biomedical advice, such as making Evan's diet gluten-free and casein-free, he began acting like a normal little boy. It was nothing short of miraculous to see a child recover from autism by doing something as simple as changing his diet - but this is what appeared to have happened.

When I read McCarthy's account on Oprah's website, I thought at first - as many people have said about her son Evan - that her little boy had been misdiagnosed. I thought this, too, until I followed one of the links she mentioned to a website called StanKurtz.com.

Stan Kurtz and his son Ethan - recovered from autism mostly through diet

I wish that every mom or dad in the world with a child diagnosed with autism could hear the name "Stan Kurtz" and see the "before and after" videos on his AutismRecoveryVideos.org site. The videos show how he took his own son, Ethan, from a clearly autistic state into a state that is equally clearly NOT autistic. Despite what the medical establishment claims, it is very clear from the video evidence that Ethan had autism. It is also very clear Ethan's autism evaporated mostly due to changes in his diet.

Stan Kurtz's theory on autism and diet, and some of his tips

Stan Kurtz, who repeats over and over again on his website that he is not a doctor and not giving medical advice, nevertheless has a very interesting theory about autism and diet: he believes that autism is an infection - specifically, he believes autism is linked in particular with fungal infections in the intestines, with a connection to children's vaccinations weakening the immune system. As such, he began to treat his son Ethan's autism as an infection, and took dietary steps (along with other important steps) to remedy the situation.

Like McCarthy, he started by removing gluten and casein from Ethan's diet. What are these two substances? Gluten is a "gluey" protein in grains that adds elasticity to dough used to make various kinds of breads and pastas. Casein is a milk protein found in most dairy products. The "GFCF" (gluten-free, casein-free) diet is the most common dietary intervention for autism. It appears that children with autism have trouble breaking down these two proteins, so eliminating them from a child with autism's diet can relieve a lot of GI stress for him or her.

Stan Kurtz offers a "Caveman Diet" on his website which includes very basic foods, such as organic meat, organic green and white vegetables, certain organic fruits, and purified water. He also has a list of recommended dietary supplements to gradually add in to the diet.

Diet changes don't work for every child with autism

While parents interested in dietary intervention for their child with autism should most definitely investigate the resources mentioned above, it bears mentioning that autism is still more complex than even progressive, proactive moms and dads like McCarthy and Kurtz understand. I have personally witnessed parents try every diet intervention out there for autism... only to be disappointed with little or no improvement in their child. Other parents who have followed the steps outlined by McCarthy and Kurtz to the tee have experienced some improvement, but not the complete turnaround that Evan and Ethan demonstrated.

If nothing else, what McCarthy, Kurtz, and other parents like them have contributed to the dialogue on autism is the notion that autism does not have to be permanent. Their own children are living proof that sometimes children with autism can and do recover.