Scientists make gut-brain connection to autism

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Scientists make gut-brain connection to autism
Compounds produced in the digestive system have been linked to autistic-type behaviour in laboratory settings, potentially demonstrating that what autistic children eat can alter their brain function, say scientists from the University of Western Ontario. view article

No publication in a peer reviewed journal = no credibility.

The peer review system is the only safeguard we really have to verify that research has been conducted in a consistent and unbiased manner. It's far from perfect, but even then, not going through the process raises big red flags for me. I want to know it was published, and the research was checked by independent scientists. Without that check, you have no idea of the quality of the research.

Additionally the researchers are Canadian. So that's a red flag right there.

Yeah. . . pop science and real science are both in pretty sad/frightning shape these days.

I read a book about this theory, forget what it was called.

I wish they would do more research.

Canadians are bad scientists? Huh? This Canuck thinks ill of that statement...

Ya, I didn't quite follow that either... maybe it was a joke. I've actually found a lot of Canadian studies uniquely helpful to me -- they seem to hit a lot of the weird areas of interest I have, that other scientists don't both with. That's my overall impression, at least.

Maybe it referenced the view of the canadian court that autistic people aren't human.

Anyway, MacFabe experiments on rats, I am not sure how reliable that translates to autism in humans.

The study was published in Behavioral Brain Research, which has some degree of peer review, but that's no guarantee it means anything. There are a number of ways you can get rats to act autistic, but that doesn't prove that any of those things cause autism in humans. With some, it's clear that they are NOT responsible for a significant number of cases of autism in humans.

Several studies have been done on such diets, using actual humans, no less. Here is one such example.
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J Autism Dev Disord. 2006 Apr;36(3):413-20.
The gluten-free, casein-free diet in autism: results of a preliminary double blind clinical trial.
Elder JH, Shankar M, Shuster J, Theriaque D, Burns S, Sherrill L.

College of Nursing, University of Florida, Gainesville, 32610, USA. elderjh@nursing.ufl.edu

This study tested the efficacy of a gluten-free and casein-free (GFCF) diet in treating autism using a randomized, double blind repeated measures crossover design. The sample included 15 children aged 2-16 years with autism spectrum disorder. Data on autistic symptoms and urinary peptide levels were collected in the subjects' homes over the 12 weeks that they were on the diet. Group data indicated no statistically significant findings even though several parents reported improvement in their children. Although preliminary, this study demonstrates how a controlled clinical trial of the GFCF diet can be conducted, and suggests directions for future research.

PMID: 16555138
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Another study had only 4 autistics to work with, and found that the diet seemed to help one a lot, but that results with the other 3 were inconclusive. I wouldn't discourage anyone from trying it out, but I don't think anyone should have unrealistic expectations, either.

Okay... but autistic/AS people will still be different, and it's obviously NOT all in the gut. If it was, everyone who eats gluten and casein would be acting autistic.

Where did Joybob go? He is/was always so funny...

My daughter has celiac disease (leaky gut...what an ugly name, but very sugestive) and AS...now both confirmed.