Can reducing gluten help?

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Can reducing the amount of gluten in my daughter's diet help or do I need to strictly eliminate it? We are trying to go gluten free to help with my daughter's behavioral difficulties, but I'm still learning what foods have gluten hidden in them and we live in a smaller town, so our grocery stores don't have the greatest selection of gluten free foods. My mother has been helping me find gluten free alternatives, but her best source is a store that's about 1 1/2 hrs drive from us, not exactly practical for regular shopping (especially since part of Sylvia's behavioral difficulties are not wanting to go to school and not wanting to get in the car.)

If your daughter has Celiac Disease (commonly known as "gluten intolerance") then, unfortunately, the prevailing medical opinion is that a 100% gluten-free diet is the best treatment. Speaking from personal experience, I am sensitive to even small amounts of gluten, all it takes is 1 meal to trigger symptoms.

Fortunately you don't need access to a fancy, expensive health-food store to eat a gluten-free diet! Every grocery story in the world sells fruits, vegetables, rice, meat, fish, etc. that are safe for a person with Celiac Disease.

If your daughter doesn't have Celiac Disease then I doubt she will see any benefits from a gluten-free diet. Her pediatrician can help with the diagnosis.

The answer is, "maybe," but be careful.

We have several threads that address the question of food sensitivities and gluten in particular in detail. I would read those to get the broad swatch of opinion and experience.

I think there are people who are sensitive to gluten who are NOT celiac, btw. Celiac treatment requires removal of both gluten and cassein, as I understand it, while many on the spectrum find they feel better eliminating just gluten.

My son and husband are sensitive to soy, just FYI. Which is why you need to make note of the "be careful." You may remove one item only to increase something else that causes issues.

It is possible to be gluten intolerant but not have celiac disease. This is my situation and a test confirmed it. When I removed gluten from my diet, positive results followed within the first week.

Of course there's no solid evidence that gluten and autism are related, but it can never hurt to look into diet. If you're going to eliminate gluten, there are no half measures. It has to be completely avoided. Also watch out for cross contamination in your kitchen and food storage areas.

Yes, it's a tricky diet to follow if you include processed foods in your diet. I've found it's easiest to cook simple meals with fresh ingredients at home. There are plenty of online resources to help you with recipes. Since you're shopping for gluten-free alternatives, some online stores offer breads, crackers, treats, etc. Even Amazon.com has a decent selection and sells products in bulk.

As DW mentioned above, casein and soy can also be factors, so check into that too.

Another vote for not having Celiac but being highly intolerant. I've been completely dairy free for some months as well, but it turns out I'm not getting nearly enough protein (also vegatarian), so trying dairy again and seeing how it goes.

^^^---- Good points above, to clarify what I meant in my first post, "gluten intolerant/sensitive" are layman's terms; Celiac (also spelled Coeliac) Disease is a specific medical condition/diagnosis. Many people who say "I am gluten sensitive" have Celiac, but not necessarily, it can be an "umbrella term" for a variety of difficulties.

Gluten/Celiac has nothing to do with dairy or caesin, really. Of course a large percentage of people are sensitive to dairy in some way, so a significant number of people who are sensitive to gluten will also be sensitive to dairy. There is overlap.

Gluten-free is a major lifestyle change for anyone, but especially for a sensitive child. It means no McDonalds (not necessarily a bad thing!), no school lunches, no birthday cake with her friends, etc. Therefore I repeat my advice above to consult with a pediatrician before making such a drastic change.

Yes, if your child is effected by gluten, you do need to stay away 100%. But I approached it gradually. It took months to get all the gluten out of my house. I introduced substitutes while we were still using gluten for a few months. Meanwhile I had a target date to be 100%. It was something we geared up for. Then you'll have time to set everything up in your mind - where to buy, what to buy, what to make, etc. It will also be easier on your child to have her get on board. She can have birthday cake, you just have to bring it with you to the party. You will have problems at restaurants until you figure that all out.

The only beans I can tolerate are fat-free/vegetarian refried beans or regular pinto beans. I don't do lentils, and I don't do ANY raw veg and limited cooked veg. Texture issues...

So far, so good with the dairy, though. I get eggs almost every day and I eat yogurt or cottage cheese or regular cheese too. I got about 60 g of protein yesterday which is good.

B12 was tested last month and was actually high, go figure!

What do you expect the gluten-free diet to help with? If she has some physical condition separate from autism, it may help, but I highly doubt that a gluten-free diet would help with autism. My mom tried it on me, and it didn't work--and I have a lot of other autistic friends for whom that diet doesn't work.

GF absolutely does help with autistic symptoms. Just not always. It helps my son a ton and not for any physical symptom.

Some on the GAPS diet, which is very strict, have gone from autism to "cure". People say they were never autistic. But unless someone tried the GAPS diet 100%, and I'm not recommending it, then that person does not know if he/she is really autistic either.

GF helps many autistics. Those that aren't helped by GF, may be helped but GAPS... it's possible anyway.

I just want to add that there are many things in the average kid's diet that can apparently affect them in various ways. If your child is senstitive to gluten then eliminating it may help and you will probably have to completely eliminate it to find out if it works or not. Others have observed improvement from avoiding artificial dyes, additives, perservatives,etc. Also, I know people who order groceries from Amazon, I have compared prices and they have good prices on some things. I have thought about going GF too. I figured I would have to start baking our own bread, pizza crust, cookies...

Thanks for the mention of GAPS diet, I had never heard of it before, so I learned something today.

I am all for consenting adults to try whatever diet they think will improve their health/mental clarity. But what is the ethics of putting a child on a very restricted diet unless there is some specific medical reason to do so? (I don't know the answer, just trying to stimulate discussion.)

ps I agree with the post directly above, if you are looking for foods to eliminate "just in case" but have no medical guidance, then artificial flavors/colors/preservatives are a great place to start.

Gluten free will help if your child is allergic or sensitive to gluten. Do not cut out gluten before having a celiac test done, as you have to have gluten in your system for the test to be reliable.

Going gluten free will not help if your child does not have a gluten issue. It may actually be detrimental if the child is allergic to something like soy that is commonly used as a gluten substitute. The most reliable way to find out is to do an elimination diet followed by food challenges to determine if food is an issue.


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Good luck.

I tried the elimination diet with my daughter - not easy since she has a select bunch of foods she'll eat most of which are carbs. We saw no change with gluten, casein, soy, HFCS, or food dyes although eliminating the HVCS and food dyes was done for other health reasons anyway.

My kid isn't sensitive to any of these things and she only has to contend with rare bouts of indigestion issues. Food sensitivities aren't our problem but that doesn't mean they may not be yours. I agree with everyone elses opinion here - contact your doctor and do try it with supervision - someone who understands elimination diets and what to look for.