Dairy, Gluten and Autism

Autism is defined by a set of behaviours. Key symptoms are: ¹

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) monitors the prevalence of autism in 14 states of the US for children with autism at 8 years, as this is the age of peak prevalence. It is not a representative sample of the US. The reference area represents 9% of the US population of the same age. ²

Median age at diagnosis in the reference area is 53 months which is less than the median age in the total US population.

At 2010, the rate of autism at age 8 was 14.7 per 1,000 which is 1 in 68. Boys are 4.5 times more likely to be affected than girls—rate for boys is 1 in 42 compared with 1 in 189 for girls.

Rates of autism have been rising dramatically. The 2010 rate is:

Black children are affected at a rate 14% higher than Hispanic children and white children affected 45% more than Hispanic children.

The association of autism with severe gastrointestinal problems has been documented since the 1990s. ^{3 4 5 6 7 8}

A group of 10 children were assigned to a gluten-free, casein-free diet for a year along with a control group of 10 children. The development for the group of children on the diet was significantly better than for the controls. ⁹

Below is a table showing the changes in the number of autistic traits in the diet group over the year.

Similar results were obtained from an 8 week trial. As well as eliminating wheat and dairy, egg white, rice and soy was also eliminated in susceptible children. ¹⁰

As previously noted, food allergies may have many potential confounding allergies. Simply removing dairy and gluten may obscure other potential issues. Eggs and tomatoes have been shown to be problematic. ¹¹

Also, people on a gluten-free diet consume a less dietary fibre and polysaccharides which affect intestinal bacteria. ¹²

Despite the vast number of bacteria species and people, there are only two types of bacteriological ecosystems in the gut (enterotypes). Enterotypes were strongly associated with long-term diets, particularly protein and animal fat versus carbohydrates diets. Microbiome composition changed within 24 hours of initiating a high-fat/low-fiber or low-fat/high-fiber diet. ¹³

There is sufficient evidence to suggest a low-fat, high-fibre, whole-food, plant-based diet would be more effective than a dairy-free, gluten-free diet.

In 2000, Hannah Poling was a 19 month old normal girl when she received a series of vaccinations.

Her father, Dr Jon Poling, PhD, was a neurologist at John Hopkins Hospital.

A three-member panel of Federal Claims Court ruled in November 2007 that, “the vaccinations received on July 19, 2000, significantly aggravated an underlying mitochondrial disorder, which predisposed her to deficits in cellular energy metabolism, and manifested as a regressive encephalopathy with features of ASD.” Note that the court ruled that Hannah had “features of ASD“.

On the 29 March 2008, Dr Julie Gerberding, who was the Director Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at the time, was interviewed by CNN.

Dr Gerberding stated:

Last updated on Monday 19 February 2024 at 16:56 by administrators

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