Restrictive diets not appropriate for autistic kids [NYT]

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How is that relevant to the finding of the study that such a diet did not have a relevant effect on children on the autistic spectrum?

I just want to point out that it is not necessary to ingest animal milk products in order to be healthy. Lactose intolerance is prevalent among many groups: 75% of African Americans and 90% of Asian Americans are lactose-intolerant, as are 90% of Chinese, and 98% of Southeast Asians and Thais. Milk is clearly not a "perfect food" if entire ethnic groups cannot digest it.

That must be why it was the societies which started eating glutenous grains soon after they first appeared, ( after a chance mutation in grasses at the end of the last ice age, 17,000 years ago ), in the Fertile Crescent, ( the so called "cradle of civilisation, in ancient Irak and Iran ), were the first ones to invent fixed agriculture, rectangular houses, writing, money, monotheistic religions, etc. It did something to their brains ...

Whereas people in countries/areas where glutenous grains didn't grow naturally, and weren't cultivated, until relatively recently anyway, like southern Africa, the Americas, Australia, and Eastern Asia, ( where they ate corn, rice, manioc, and other non-glutenous grains ), didn't develop/acquire most of these things until much later, often only after being exposed to wheat by empire-building peoples from the Middle East, India, Europe etc.

Children who grow up without gluten don't develop the same kind of intellectual capacities. We need gluten to maintain the thrust of western-style civilisation. ( "Young minds" fed on rice, corn, and manioc, don't "grow and expand" satisfactorily! )

It's calcium that we need, not milk. I don't think there is anything wrong with the gluten/casien free diet whether the person on it has an ASD or not. Besides, what's healthy about consuming another species baby feeding formula? Eww!

[ Celiac disease ] is not more common among autistics than NTs.

Autism Linked to Mom's Autoimmune Disease—Including Celiac Disease

* By Jefferson Adams
* Published 07/8/2009
* Autism and Celiac Disease

Celiac.com 07/08/2009 - Kids whose moms have autoimmune diseases such as type 1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis and celiac disease face a risk of Autism that is up to three times higher than that of the general population, according to a new study.

Although earlier studies have documented a connection between autism and a maternal history of type 1 diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis, this is the first study to document a link between autism and celiac disease, according to the study's authors.

A team of researchers led by Dr. William W. Eaton, chairman of the Department of Mental Health at the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University recently set out to review data related to autoimmune deficiency and autism.

Eaton's team collected data on 3,325 Danish children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, including 1,089 diagnosed with infantile autism. All of the children were born between 1993 and 2004, and their data was part of the Danish National Psychiatric Registry. Data on family members with autoimmune diseases came from the Danish National Hospital Register.

The data showed that children whose mothers had autoimmune disease faced a higher risk of developing autism spectrum disorder than children of mothers who did not have these conditions. Moreover, children with a family history of type 1 diabetes faced an increased risk of infantile autism ...

"The increased risk [ of autism ] for type 1 diabetes is a little less than two times, for rheumatoid arthritis it's about 1.5 times and for celiac disease it's more than three times," Eaton said. "That's enough to impress an epidemiologist"

... Eaton added that this finding "reinforces the suggestion that autoimmune processes are connected somehow with the cause of autism and autism spectrum disorder, and...may point a flashlight to areas of the genome that connect to autism."

There may be a significant overlap "in the genetics of some of the autoimmune diseases and autism," he said. "Autism is strongly inherited, but we don't have the faintest idea where...this finding is on the pathway of finding the cause of autism." Various environmental triggers may also affect the fetus, he said.

Lead researcher, Dr. Hjordis O. Atladottir, from the Institute of Public Health at the University of Aarhus in Denmark calls the findings important because they support the theory that autism is somehow tied to problems with the immune system.

Celiac disease is pretty easy to diagnose -- biopsy of the small intestine shows damage if it's present.

The Gluten Syndrome—Gut, Skin and Brain
* By Dr. Rodney Ford M.D.
* Published 10/22/2008 Celiac.com's Scott-Free Newsletter.

The Gluten Syndrome refers to the cluster of symptoms that you experience if you react to gluten.

Gluten can affect your gut, your skin, and your brain. It includes celiac disease, along with the myriad symptoms that can be experienced throughout your gastro-intestinal tract in response to gluten. It also includes many other symptoms that do not stem from your gut. These include brain and behavior disorders, irritability and tiredness, skin problems, muscular aches and pains and joint problems.

Rapidly accumulating medical evidence shows that gluten is creating a massive health problem throughout the Western world. However, woefully few people are aware of the catalogue of harm that gluten is causing. ... Gluten could be responsible for one-third of all cases of chronic illness and fatigue. ... Gluten can cause malfunctions of the brain and neural networks of susceptible people. .
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It's not because milk is a bad product lacking nutrients. It's because their ancestors didn't drink cow's milk so they didn't evolve the protein and immunity needed to digest dairy products from cows. Low fat and skim milk are supposed to be good for you, if you are not lactose intolerant, that is

I was suspicious of the stories that said that a gluten free diet or a dairy free diet is good for autistic people.

Gastrointestinal symptoms are not a reliable indication of whether gluten is a problem for someone, so arguing that people on the spectrum don't seem to suffer from more G.I. problems than non-autists does not mean gluten-free diets are inappropriate.