Jenny McCarthy: Diet affects autism

In Eugene, OR there are a lot of parents who subscribe to nutritional treatments for their autistic kids. Since there is a high rate of autism in Eugene, its quite common. Many cut out cows milk, eggs, and wheat or something along those lines as those are common food intolerances and they feel a lot of autism has to do with poor nutritional absorption caused by the food intolerance. I don't know, quirky kids and adults are quirky and they always have been. I hope and wish diet was an (relatively) easy fix.

Considering Ms. McCarthy is, as I recall, from Chicago, I wonder if she has some buddies in Newgene.

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I used to be a driver for a private school transportation company years ago. All of my passengers were special needs kids and two of them were autistic. I remember going online in a search for information on what to expect behavior wise from these children.

I did come across information at that time regarding studies in other countries that said diet played a significant role in providing some relief of symptoms/behaviors. Dairy products and processed foods seemed to be the main things the studies suggested should be eliminated. Some of the study subjects appeared to have almost miraculous breakthroughs when these types of foods were taken out of their diet.

I have read a few articles and seen some interviews with Jenny, (Larry King comes to mind), and she is very hands on and active in trying to find a better way for her son. If she says these things have worked for him, I believe her.

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A friend of mine has a son who is autistic. She tightly controls his food (no sugar, gluton, etc.) and his behavior is near normal. You can tell almost instantly if he has eaten something that has those forbidden ingredients. I really think diet has a lot to do with autism and I don't understand why more research hasn't been done in this area.

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It all depends on the kid, as with any situation. My Mother works with autistic children, and for the children that changing their diet does work for, you can see a big difference. For the children that it does not work for, however, you will see no difference from their previous behavior and behavior after diet changes. So if it works, good. And if it doesn't? It never will.

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I've read plenty about this...there is a TON of information on it. The first time I heard about it was as a psychology student in the early 90s.

Like other posters said, it doesn't necessarily work in all cases. But it's an easy enough thing to try, that's for sure, and if it gives even some relief, it's worth it.

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My cousin is autistic, and I was aware of recommended diet adjustments since I was eight years old. Since then, I have read some very compelling articles on this subject.

It's not that a certain diet cures autism, but that a certain diet aggravates it.

Personally I believe that this is also true of other behavioral issues such as ADHD, but every time I mention it, someone slams me. This is probably a reason why diet isn't one of the first things people work on with autistic kids. There are some really "effective" drugs out there, and there's no money in advocating non-pharmaceutical treatments, so people advocating a comprehensive dietary approach are seen as being "on the fringe." Personally, I would always try diet, exercise, and behavioral therapy first and then use meds only if and to the extent that these non-invasive approaches couldn't help.

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I think it should also be noted that Ms. McCarthy also believed that the mercury in vaccines was the original cause of her son's autism. There has been no direct link between childhood vaccinations and autism, but she certainly still pushed that belief as much as she could.

Can anyone link any actual Medical studies that show how a autistic child's diet can con control their behavior? With out that kind of proof I wouldn't hold anything that Jenny McCarthy says as proof of how you should parent your children.

If you have questions about how to control or handle your children, your pediatrician is the best source if information, they read actual medical peer reviewed journals that can be verified and tested. If the current status quo for regulating your child's nutritional needs changes your doctor or a nutritionist would be the first people to know. Not Jenny McCarthy.

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Don, why don't you head on over to CNN.com and read the court case where it WAS found that there is a link between vaccines and autism, mkay?

My son has a mild case of autism. Mild enough we haven't tried the diet yet. My grandmother is all over it though and tells me when I give him milk I'm poisoning him. The same grandma who said there's no link between vaccines and autism. I think those injections are far more poisonous than milk is.

I have heard lots of parents who have huge success with the GFCF diet and if our son's behaviors don't improve with other therapies I will give it a try.

Naturally people like Don don't believe any connection because people like that obviously don't have a family member with autism... if you did, you'd be singing a different tune!

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The court case menetioned is a very specific case. the child in question was already diagnosed with a disease that affects mitochondrial of the cells. The case was ruled that the vaccine aggrevated that already present condition, a condition that was inhereited from the mother. It is very scary to think that people are now going to use this case to attack vaccines (which have not had mercury since 1999).

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"This is the first time I've heard of using non-traditional methods (non-Western, anyway) to treat autism."

It is?? Oh my.

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Thimersol is used in flu vaccine, you can request non thermisol, but it has not been used in childhood vaccines since 1999/2002. read cnn article

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One more point to add, if you are going to remove dairy from the diet - it is important to find a new source of calcium & vitamin D which is not a difficult thing to do. That is basically the argument against removing dairy from the diet - that these two nutrients will be missing. However, whenever I see this argument, it seems that it is forgotten that there are many other foods containing these items, it's just that we are so conditioned to eat milk products and they are so readily available.

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