A Gluten and Casein-free Diet to "Stop" Autism - Should I continue?

[Triscuitable]

My mom's got this theory from these articles she's read online: a gluten and casein-free diet will somehow reduce the effects of autism. I'm autistic (Asperger's, though come DSM-V I'll have "mild autism"), and recent happenings in school have led me to decide to try this on some slim hope that this diet will help me in school and home.

Somehow, wheat and dairy proteins = anti-social behavior. That makes sense (no it doesn't).

My reaction after a week has been stressful; I woke up this morning to a batch of waffles, only for my mom to remind me, "no, you can't eat it; there's some gluten-free waffles in the freezer."

I. Hate. Frozen. Waffles.

So I toast up the chunky abominations in the toaster. They come out fractured and looking like someone threw a rock through a glass window, only this time the rock is a toaster iron and the glass is a gluten-free waffle. They're alright, but I feel like I'm missing out on a really good meal.

Oh right, and today's Thanksgiving. What can I eat, mom? How about those mashed potatoes! No. Stuffing? No. Gravy! No. Turkey? Yes. Cranberry sauce? Yes (I hate cranberry sauce). Green beans? Yes (that's good, I guess).

A plate of turkey, gluten-free mashed potatoes, gluten-free gravy, and green beans it is, then. :smallannoyed:

I love to bake. It's right up there with playing the bass and gaming. Taking away two crucial ingredients to bake my favorite things (butter and flour) is just cruel. I'm starting to doubt that this diet is even working; frankly, even if it is working, I still hate it.

Time for a gluten-free pumpkin pie. By the way, it was $20. That's outrageous. Not only is this diet full of shoddy food that tastes terrible, but it's also expensive as hell. I can't take it at this point; I hate it so much I don't even know whether to bother to continue or not.

[tyckspoon]

Can't comment on the actual purpose of this diet- that's barreling headlong into Medical Advice, which means the only relevant comment we can make is "if you aren't happy with it, don't take your mom's word for it, go ask your/a actual Doctor for a professional opinion."

As far as the food goes.. if you want enjoyable restricted diet stuff, you pretty much have to take responsibility for making it yourself (this is changing with growing awareness of the market for gluten-free products, but it's still not an easy change.) Acquire a supply of gluten-free flour, find a good replacement for anything you might use casein-containing products in, and continue cooking the way you used to.

[Castaras]

Diet ain't going to work. Deals with different stuff to what aspergers causes.

If you don't enjoy the diet, and aren't sure if its working, stop it. Go to a psychiatrist / one of the learning support people if need be and ask them if you're wanting to know if it works. My personal opinion as a fellow Aspie is it sounds like a load of bollocks.

[Serpentine]

Sounds dodgy. Although... not (http://www.cabdirect.org/abstracts/19911429898.html;jsessionid=932D73E34D1FDDAFBAEFE3 1164D194F8) as dodgy (http://aut.sagepub.com/content/3/1/45.short) as I thought (http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/maney/nns/2002/00000005/00000004/art00005), but it doesn't seem properly clear (http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10803-006-0079-0?LI=true) whether the effects are real, significant and not just a placebo effect on the reporting parents. Your mother really needs to get proper medical advice on this, though, either way.

[Rawhide]

If you don't enjoy the diet, and aren't sure if its working, stop it. Go to a psychiatrist / one of the learning support people if need be and ask them if you're wanting to know if it works. My personal opinion as a fellow Aspie is it sounds like a load of bollocks.

There is an absolute carpload* of incorrect ideas floating around about what causes and how to manage Aspergers/autism. It's vaccines, it's antibiotics, it's bacteria in the gut, etc, etc. Balderdash#, the lot of it. It is possible that something some people are perpetuating might help some people and it just hasn't been researched fully, but until it has, there is absolutely no point trying it unless you are in a trial or your doctor has recommended it. Some can do more harm than good.

So, in short: DO NOT LISTEN TO WHAT YOU READ ONLINE. Get a professional medical opinion.

P.S. Oh, and my experience with it is a) having teachers for parents who dealt with it in the children they taught, and b) working with people on the spectrum, as well as all associated research.


*Carp that has also been out in the sun all day, and you know how bad rotten fish smells.
#That's about as strong a word as I can get away with.

[Hiro Protagonest]

Cutting back on wheat and dairy might help a bit, if your mother actually wants to make the commitment to find food that's good, but if you honest-to-god wanted total elimination of gluten and dairy... move somewhere else. America is the antithesis of that lifestyle.

I doubt it would work anyway, at least in any sense of it "curing" or "stopping" Autism, rather than just making you a bit less stressed.

[Triscuitable]

I don't want a "cure", and I certainly don't care what happens. I'm completely apathetic to this. However, my mom's been wanting me to take this as an option for a while now; after a week, I'm only feeling weaker and sicker.

[Serpentine]

I urge you to convince your mum to talk to a doctor about this, including your increasing ill health.

[Triscuitable]

She won't have any of it. She thinks I wanted to try the diet because I wanted her to calm down. I was having a ****ty week. That's why I wanted to try the diet. Now the diet is making my weeks ****ty.

Oh, and she's whining that she spent a lot of money on it. You should have anticipated that I might want to stop if it didn't help. Those were my exact words when I wanted to try it: "If it works, we'll keep doing it. If it doesn't, we'll stop."

Guess what? It didn't work. Stop the engines.

[enderlord99]

Triscuitable's mom is apparently a Balderdash.

I don't care if that's grammatically incorrect, it's the closest thing to the truth I can get away with.

[Zrak]

I love baking, too, and I was worried that when I went vegan, without eggs and butter and so on, that I'd lose the ability to bake, or at least lose access to a lot of my favorite recipes. Instead, I just got to learn a lot of new stuff and got the excitement of finding out different ways of making things that had once been autopilot. Even though I'm not a vegan any longer, I still bake stuff a vegan way, sometimes, if I'm out of an ingredient or just wanna try something different.

I don't have as much experience with gluten-free baking, but it certainly can be done. While this sounds like something to mostly wait out, if it's not really helping and you don't like a lot of the stuff, you could still try and make the most of it while you kinda have to stick it out.

[Triscuitable]

Triscuitable's mom is apparently a Balderdash.

I don't care if that's grammatically incorrect, it's the closest thing to the truth I can get away with.

No, she's a good person; she just blames one of two things for my bad behavior: autism or video games. Gee, you never thought to check if maybe it was the bullies at my school who give me crap with no reason at all? Or maybe it's the mountains of homework that I get from teachers that have a vendetta against me for not acting within the social norm?

I love her, but I'll be damned if half the stuff I'm punished for isn't just one of her insane theories as to why I did so.

I also spoke with her, and she was super-defensive about the topic; she said, "you can at least try it", and then said, "do what you want." Well now she's going to guilt-trip me? I'm trying to get her to take me to a psychiatrist at the very least, because I'm sick of eating bread that tastes like slate and is staler than sand.

Maybe someone who tried this will know better than some random articles on the internet.


I love baking, too, and I was worried that when I went vegan, without eggs and butter and so on, that I'd lose the ability to bake, or at least lose access to a lot of my favorite recipes. Instead, I just got to learn a lot of new stuff and got the excitement of finding out different ways of making things that had once been autopilot. Even though I'm not a vegan any longer, I still bake stuff a vegan way, sometimes, if I'm out of an ingredient or just wanna try something different.

I don't have as much experience with gluten-free baking, but it certainly can be done. While this sounds like something to mostly wait out, if it's not really helping and you don't like a lot of the stuff, you could still try and make the most of it while you kinda have to stick it out.

Problem: next year I have a cooking class. It's too late to change my schedule.

[Hiro Protagonest]

She won't have any of it. She thinks I wanted to try the diet because I wanted her to calm down. I was having a ****ty week. That's why I wanted to try the diet. Now the diet is making my weeks ****ty.

Oh, and she's whining that she spent a lot of money on it. You should have anticipated that I might want to stop if it didn't help. Those were my exact words when I wanted to try it: "If it works, we'll keep doing it. If it doesn't, we'll stop."

Guess what? It didn't work. Stop the engines.

Then... it's like this. If she really, honestly wanted this to make you happier, rather than just "better", then she would spend more time, not money, time, finding better brands. And she would cook your waffles just like she cooks everyone else's, rather than just leaving frozen waffles (which are bad enough when they have gluten) for you to put in the toaster.

She's obsessed over finding a way around Autism, she wants you to be more normal and feels you're ungrateful for her efforts. She feels that every time you consent to do something that she wants you to do, it's because you want to make her happy, and if you decide to stop, it's because you've stopped caring about that happiness.

I could be wrong, but this is the best psychoanalysis I can come up with using what you've given me.

I think the best thing to do would be to find statements made by autistic adults. There was a book my mom got from the library or something, written by a guy on the spectrum about his life. He dropped out of high school because nobody there understood him (virtually nobody back then had any idea what Autism is, and certainly not the common doctor or school councilor), and spent most of his time figuring out the technical aspects of his two interests: automobiles and music. He now runs his own auto shop, and has done some pretty important music stuff, including a guitar design for KISS that reflects light.

[Triscuitable]

Then... it's like this. If she really, honestly wanted this to make you happier, rather than just "better", then she would spend more time, not money, time, finding better brands. And she would cook your waffles just like she cooks everyone else's, rather than just leaving frozen waffles (which are bad enough when they have gluten) for you to put in the toaster.

She apologized for this after I confronted her about it. This means that while we'll all be eating gluten-free food, it'll be even more expensive, unnecessary, and my sister will hate me.


She's obsessed over finding a way around Autism, she wants you to be more normal and feels you're ungrateful for her efforts. She feels that every time you consent to do something that she wants you to do, it's because you want to make her happy, and if you decide to stop, it's because you've stopped caring about that happiness.

I could be wrong, but this is the best psychoanalysis I can come up with using what you've given me.

I think she just wants my misbehavior to stop, and wants something to blame. But I really haven't given enough information on that, yet.


I think the best thing to do would be to find statements made by autistic adults. There was a book my mom got from the library or something, written by a guy on the spectrum about his life. He dropped out of high school because nobody there understood him (virtually nobody back then had any idea what Autism is, and certainly not the common doctor or school councilor), and spent most of his time figuring out the technical aspects of his two interests: automobiles and music. He now runs his own auto shop, and has done some pretty important music stuff, including a guitar design for KISS that reflects light.

That's good advice. Thank you.

[Zrak]

Problem: next year I have a cooking class. It's too late to change my schedule.

I'm not sure, but I'd be kinda surprised if you couldn't substitute ingredients in the class. Regardless, that's some time away; if it still isn't working by next term, it's not like you gave up after a week, and it gives your mother more notice not to keep buying gluten-free food in advance, so she won't be left with a stockpile of expensive stuff that'll just get thrown away.

In other words, it might not be ideal, but you could always give it a little longer and try and make the best of it while giving your mom time to "phase out" the diet, rather than just stop abruptly.

Anyway, that's what I'd do. Doesn't mean it's what your should do, but it's an option.

[Zahhak]

These are thoroughly debunked myths. They are not true. It is a complete and total fabrication. Do not listen to these people! Do not do it!

[Serpentine]

Which people? :smallconfused: And I did find a few papers that suggested there might be something to it, despite my expectations, although it's certainly far from proven, or proven useful. It certainly looks like it's doing more harm than good in this case.

[Triscuitable]

These are thoroughly debunked myths. They are not true. It is a complete and total fabrication. Do not listen to these people! Do not do it!

I'd like a source to this claim so I can point it out to my mom, please.

[Lord Raziere]

hahaha….

silly rabbit, you can't stop Autism with diets! its the fundamentally different way the brain is wired! since you were born!

the only way to help you with such a thing is to seek professional psychiatric help. and even then…you'll be dealing with it for your entire life and will never exactly pass for typical. its psychologically unhealthy to pass for typical anyways, since you can't really control the way your brain is wired. you'll have to work with it as much as you can control it.

but don't worry. Autism is not a "disability" or anything bad. its just a non-typical way of a brain working that doesn't play well with other brains.

[Triscuitable]

I appreciate your insight, but I'm 16, and I've spent four years in a school for it. I know everything I want to (and need to) know about my condition. Quite frankly, educating me on it is pointless; I know more about it than many people.

My mom just likes the idea of some way to stop it, and after a particularly nasty morning, I thought I should just play along, and hope for the best (if there was one; I highly doubted it). That turned out to be a really, really bad idea.

[Zahhak]

My mom just likes the idea of some way to stop it

She isn't going to find it. You probably already know this, but its related to your chromosomes. Your diet wont change that. I cannot find the article debunking the idea that diet impacts autism though. But the thing is, unless you're allergic to gluten or casein, there is no reason to cut it from your diet.

[Triscuitable]

That's what I figured. After the tension cooled, we explained our sides, and she said it's up to me (in a non-guilt-trippy way) whether I want to bother or not. Thanks, mom.

[The Succubus]

It really grinds my gears when patients try to diagnose themselves over the internet, or worse still try to treat themselves with stuff they've pulled off the internet. The problem is that once an idea lodges in a patient's head, they tailor their symptoms to suit the diagnosis rather than the other way around:

Doctor: Good evening Miss Smith and what can I do for you?
Miss Smith: Oh my God, I'm going to die! :smallfrown:
Doctor: O-kay...can you be a little more specific?
Miss Smith: I'm suffering from Brain Devouring Ear Parasites!
Doctor: Come again?
Miss Smith: I read about it on Wikipedia and Web MD! I had a funny tickling sensation in my ear and then a short while later I had a sharp pain in the ear!
Doctor: That's a rather obscure condition. You don't think it might just be an ear infection?
Miss Smith: WebMD and Wikipedia wouldn't lie to me! :smallmad:
Doctor: There has only been one mention of Brain Devouring Ear Parasites in all of recent medical history and that was a paper submitted to ENT Monthly on April 1st by a student doctor who had drunk three bottles of Jack Daniels the night before.

...and the conversation turns downhill from there. Doctors are not infallible by any means but they do have the twin advantages of years of medical qualifications and experience. It's generally a bad idea to try and second guess stuff like that because you might neglect to mention something important because it doesn't tie up with your self-diagnosis.


This is a general rant, it's not aimed at you Trisc. *hugs*

[Asta Kask]

I'll ask around on a skeptical site I visit (here (http://sguforums.com/index.php) for those interested). I'll be backsoon.

[GnomeFighter]

Ok... Where to start on this...

First there has been some links between wheat and improvements in ADH & ADHD. All SPLDs are linked. I don't know if autistic spectrum disorders are the same, but I know that it dose not help dyslexia, dyspraxia or dyscalculia, the other three main SPLD's. It may help, it may not. It may well be complete rubbish, but it is almost impossible to tell with all the bunk and hokum from so many people despairet to cash in on people, like your mum, who want to do there best and want to make there child "normal" (I have been through it myself with my parents, and it makes me angry that people do this).

Having said this from my understanding it is wheat and not gluten that is the problem with some people with ADH & ADHD. Basicly, don't write it off, however exclusion diets are 100% absolutely should not be done without the supervision of a dietitian. It is far to easy to end up not eating the right thing and get very ill. My wife has a Sal and gluten intolerance and we have been through this.

I was talking to someone the other day whos son has some problems with gluten and it most certainly effects hit behavior. He had to do a two month gluten exposure for celiac tests and in that time he was excluded from school twice (despite the teacher knowing that this might happen... but thats another story).

Secondly I think you mum really needs to talk to you about this properly and needs to do some proper reading and work if she wants you to change your diet. If she wants you to she needs to put the effort in to making it as easy as possible, not just giving you the easy, discussting, frozen choice. There is no need to buy much special gluten free food. As long as you are happy without bread most stuff can be made using rice flour. Rice flour waffles would be rather nice based on my rice flour pancakes/drop scones (Very tasty and very easy)

Third:



Oh right, and today's Thanksgiving. What can I eat, mom? How about those mashed potatoes! No. Stuffing? No. Gravy! No. Turkey? Yes. Cranberry sauce? Yes (I hate cranberry sauce). Green beans? Yes (that's good, I guess).

A plate of turkey, gluten-free mashed potatoes, gluten-free gravy, and green beans it is, then. :smallannoyed:
...
Time for a gluten-free pumpkin pie. By the way, it was $20. That's outrageous. Not only is this diet full of shoddy food that tastes terrible, but it's also expensive as hell.
gluten-free mashed potatoes? gluten-free gravy? You don't need gluten free gravy. Use arrow root and rice flour in place of normal flour. I find it is less likely to go lumpy. And gluten-free mash? Why is there any gluten in mash? Unless you mean milk free mash, which is easy with margarine and soy or oat milk (unless you have a problem with oats). If your eating it everyone should be eating 90% of what you are. Most of it is not more expensive, it is just replacing wheat flour with rice flour and things like that. Easy, simple and the whole family should have it.

If you do want to try the diet to see if it works do not don't just try the gluten free c**p from the supermarket. Some is ok, but most is rubbish, especially the frozen stuff. I don't know what it is like in the US though...

If you like baking try these:

http://www.dovesfarm.co.uk/recipes/search-recipes/

You can search excluding certain ingredients. Even if you don't follow the diet they do some good stuff.

Also, if you decide not to go ahead with the diet I recommend trying some anyway. Buy excluding some ingredient I found it really pushed me to try new things and understand how the ingredient actually worked rather than juts following the recipe blindly. I now know more than any normal person needs to know about how gluten works in recipes and what it is and is not needed for.

Also, please sit down with your mum and talk to her about it and talk to her about going to see a doctor or specialist about it, and also by the sounds of it the problems you are having at school. As someone with an SPLD I really feel for you. I have dyslexia and dyspraxia and I know how school can be hell. It dose get better. Once you move in to work you will be respected, but the danger is that if you have problems at school you won't get where you need to be for your talents to shine.

Finally, it sounds to me like your mum changed your routine without discussing it with you by changing your food... Would this be correct?

Sorry for the ramble and sorry is any of it is rubbish or has been answered... I just want to help someone who is having the kind of problems I had.

Edit: Here we go...
For:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120229105128.htm

Against:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/05/100519143401.htm

Unfortunately it is not as simple as either being a fact that it works or 100% rubbish.

And finally a bit of proof that diets effects on SPLDs is an ongoing area of research at the most respected of institutes: http://www.fabresearch.org/473

[TheEmerged]

however exclusion diets are 100% absolutely should not be done without the supervision of a dietitian. It is far to easy to end up not eating the right thing and get very ill.

I'm not sure that point can be bolded/enlarged enough.

[GnomeFighter]

I'm not sure that point can be bolded/enlarged enough.

Good point.

[Sipex]

Well, if your mom is so ready to believe what she reads on the internet, maybe you need to communicate with her on that level? I'd do a bit of digging, but my situation doesn't allow for me to trawl the internet for relevant articles at the current time. You'll want to find articles which highlight the absurdity of Americans adopting the gluten free diet as the next diet fad and articles which detail the good things that gluten does for your body. If you can find something credible which goes into detail about the potential repercussions of taking on a gluten free diet haphazardly, that will be really useful as well.

But first, has your mother ever told you that she believes you to have a weight problem? It seems gluten is one of those things everyone is convinced that if they cut it out, they'll lose weight. If this is the case, she might believe she's getting two birds with one stone which will only make it harder to dissuade her (and might explain why she's being so reluctant to take you off the diet).

[Mono Vertigo]

Mandatory disclaimer: not a doctor, couldn't advise you here even if I were.

You know, I find it funny that one trait commonly attributed to autists is a very strong fixation to specific hobbies or details, and that is exactly what your mother is doing, by being irrationally fixated with your diet.
I doubt she would appreciate hearing such a comment, though. :smallbiggrin:

First, try to explain that if specific diets could cure autism, most doctors would know about it already. As in, they would not have doubts about it, they would be pretty certain of it, and currently, there are still doubts. Secondly, point out that your symptoms are not as terrible as the consequences of her diet, or the social consequences of your condition (again, point out the trait's symptoms and its social consequences are very different; for example, being black is anything but a disease, and yet, 50 years ago, black people were bullied at school, and what had to change was the attitude of bullies, not the presence of black students; not a perfect comparison, but this is one she should have no trouble agreeing with at least). Third, as mentioned by others here, and it is most important because she's most likely to be receptive to that one argument... that's a drastic diet, and you both need to see a specialist before undergoing it over anything but a very short term. You can't remove freely elements from your food and expect no bad consequence after doing it for long enough, if you are not absolutely sure of what you are doing.

Ninja edit: Sipex might be on to something. If your mother does think weight is a problem as well, then focus on my first and third point.

[Spiryt]

I find the theories about artificial and processed 'food stuff' being co-responsible for magnitude of problems to be very plausible.

However, blaming everything and it's brother on it, is obviously magical thinking, and not really sensible.


Somehow, wheat and dairy proteins = anti-social behavior. That makes sense (no it doesn't).

If someone really doesn't tolerate this stuff, and digesting process is very tiring and intoxicating, being restless, angry or whatever is not out of question.

It's impossible to tell without more details.

Finding out your actual tolerance to casein and gluten and it's effects together with other food would be obviously most sensible.

Maybe your body actually takes it well.

[GnomeFighter]

However, blaming everything and it's brother on it, is obviously magical thinking, and not really sensible.


Yes, too many people claim to be intolerant of lots of stuff with no evidence... They just cause problems and disbelief for those who do have problems.



If someone really doesn't tolerate this stuff, and digesting process is very tiring and intoxicating, being restless, angry or whatever is not out of question.


It's not just that, also food intolerance can cause inflammation of the gut. This reduces uptake of many important nutrients and can cause deficiencies leading to all sorts of problems.

[Adlan]

Quackwatch has spawned into a couple of sister sites, of of which is http://www.autism-watch.org, and though I can't find any articles addressing the specifics gluten free diets, it might be worth sending them a message if you want the skeptics eye view on them.

And there's this article:My Involvement with Autism Quackery (http://www.autism-watch.org/about/bio2.shtml)

It's just an anecdote of course, it's not evidence one way or the other. It could be that a gluten free diet will be just the ticket. But I doubt it to be honest. If you have problems with them separate to any SpLD then getting rid of those problems might help you cope better with that SpLD, but as a 'cure' for something like aspegers, I'm highly skeptical.

[cthulhubear]

Yeah... it likely has no scientific basis at all.
http://www.utexas.edu/news/2010/04/28/gluten_casein_autism/

[noparlpf]

My mom's got this theory from these articles she's read online: a gluten and casein-free diet will somehow reduce the effects of autism. I'm autistic (Asperger's, though come DSM-V I'll have "mild autism"), and recent happenings in school have led me to decide to try this on some slim hope that this diet will help me in school and home.

Somehow, wheat and dairy proteins = anti-social behavior. That makes sense (no it doesn't).

*snip*

No offense to your mum, but that just sounds silly. Asperger's and autism are caused by abnormal neurophysiology. Although diet can affect things like mood to a degree, cutting out on gluten isn't going to "cure" autism. What it may do, is improve your mood, focus, and behaviour a bit. Apparently many people with autism-spectrum issues have mild intolerances to things like gluten, salicylates (aspirin, and many fruits also contain salicylates), aspartame or artificial colours and whatnot (despite studies showing that artificial colouring is toxic, affects children's moods, and is likely carcinogenic, several of them are still legal). I know when I followed the Feingold diet (designed for ADHD, but also helpful here) and avoided salicylates I felt better, focussed better, and whatnot. Unfortunately, many people trying these exclusion diets have trouble following them fully, or don't stick with it long enough, or think they'll be "cured" and then quit in disappointment. Also they can be a little pricey, but if you learn how to buy raw foods and cook for yourself around the diets, it's not too bad. Um...here's a link about the GFCF diet (http://theotherside.wordpress.com/diet/gfcf-diet/) and here's the link to the Feingold site (http://www.feingold.org/).

Mind you, right now I'm not following any diets, but this info is from past experience with them. I eat healthily, maybe a bit too much meat, but I like apples and oranges and tea too much to cut them out again, and they're high in salicylates. I also eat a lot of whole-wheat pasta lately, so that's out too. But, it's not too hard to avoid artificial colouring and flavouring and things like corn syrup and artificial preservatives, so even if you only do that, it'll probably be a big help. And if you use aspirin, switch to ibuprofen or naproxen. And I would recommend researching and adhering to the GFCF and Feingold as best you can too even if I'm a bad example myself.

[Karoht]

I've heard this sort of thing with other foods before. Including being attached to racial stereotypes.
In one case, one fellow was remarking about how one should not eat onions because it makes one 'angry' due to the sulphur. Sulphur apparently makes one angry.
Warning: The following statement is a word for word quotation from a complete moron and is not my opinion or my words at all.
"Italians eat lots of onions and garlic, and there is the famous Italian Temper."
I won't quote the rest, because it got progressively worse from there, and it didn't stop at Italians. At one point he indicated a specific famous German from a certain time period of the early 20th century and correlated it with the sulphur in cabbage.
*sigh* /facepalm
Another fine case of correlation does not equal causation.

Sulphur is in lots of foods. Like carrots for example. Did this particular moron eat carrots? Yes, by the wheelbarrow full, apparently. But onions? Nope, too much sulphur.

My only warning here is that plenty of people will tell you not to eat a certain food because it affects something.
All things in moderation is an excellent rule of thumb, whenever anyone brings this sort of thing up. And indeed, consult actual medical professionals whenever one is in doubt.


That all said, my hat is off to the OP for managing to actually eat a gluten free waffle. I didn't get past toasting it in the toaster, so your patience (and open mindedness) is commendable.

[Kindablue]

My mom's got celiac disease, so, until I started cooking for myself, most of the food I ate growing up was gluten free. It's really not that bad with the right ingredients and recipes. I never could find a bread substitute that didn't make me feel like I was eating a sponge though.

[Triscuitable]

My mom's got celiac disease, so, until I started cooking for myself, most of the food I ate growing up was gluten free. It's really not that bad with the right ingredients and recipes. I never could find a bread substitute that didn't make me feel like I was eating a sponge though.

The first gluten-free bread tasted stale and chewy (with the consistency of slate and texture of sand). The next was stale (even more so). I don't think I'll be doing this much longer.

[Zrak]

I found this recipe (http://www.food.com/recipe/gluten-free-french-bread-180306) to be pretty effective, though I think I made a few adjustments. To also avoid butter, simply use olive oil or whichever non-dairy substitute you find you prefer. It won't be a perfect analogue, but it's more than passable, I'd say.

[Aliquid]

A lot of people are posting, with the assumption that Autism is caused by neurophysiology alone, and can't be impacted by diet. This is quite likely NOT TRUE.

70 per cent of kids with autism also have severe gastrointestinal symptoms. There is a definite correlation between activities in the gut and autism… is there a causal link? That’s still being investigated.

One theory states that there are bacteria in the gut that give off a neurotoxin, and that neurotoxin causes the neurological symptoms of autism. For some reason, people with Autism have way more of these bacteria living in them than the average person. Not eating gluten could in theory starve the bacteria so that they produce less of the neurotoxin.

For more info: http://cogentbenger.com/autism/

A problem though:
Autism is a very broad term for a large spectrum of symptoms. It is quite likely that
these are multiple afflictions with similar traits… so one cure won’t fix all.

Another note. Look up Neurodiversity on Wikipedia. You could use that against your mother

[Zerter]

Like posted above, autism is about more than just the brain. It affects the entire body, there are certain type of lunge & digestive abnormalities that are related to autism for example. But what that means exactly is all still being studied. Read about in a magazine for career psychologists, judge that source as you want. So I can imagine a specific diet might help, but I have no idea if this one does.

[Karoht]

One theory states that there are bacteria in the gut that give off a neurotoxin, and that neurotoxin causes the neurological symptoms of autism. For some reason, people with Autism have way more of these bacteria living in them than the average person. Not eating gluten could in theory starve the bacteria so that they produce less of the neurotoxin.

That's interesting.
So question then. Bacteria are easy enough to treat with antibiotics. Is anyone suggesting a related theory that a certain antibiotic might in fact solve this bacterial issue, thereby preventing the creation of the neurotoxin? Just being curious and open minded here.

[Rockphed]

I found this recipe (http://www.food.com/recipe/gluten-free-french-bread-180306) to be pretty effective, though I think I made a few adjustments. To also avoid butter, simply use olive oil or whichever non-dairy substitute you find you prefer. It won't be a perfect analogue, but it's more than passable, I'd say.

My grandmother is deathly lactose-intolerant. When we cook for her, we only use the margarine that is 100% vegetable oil based.

In general, if you are going to make special food for one member of the family, you should probably just give in and make it for everyone. Having all the food be lactose or gluten or peanut or limabean free will both make it less socially awkward for the person under the special diet, and prevent overzealous parents from inflicting horrible food on their children for more than a meal or two.

[Starwulf]

It really grinds my gears when patients try to diagnose themselves over the internet, or worse still try to treat themselves with stuff they've pulled off the internet. The problem is that once an idea lodges in a patient's head, they tailor their symptoms to suit the diagnosis rather than the other way around:

Doctor: Good evening Miss Smith and what can I do for you?
Miss Smith: Oh my God, I'm going to die! :smallfrown:
Doctor: O-kay...can you be a little more specific?
Miss Smith: I'm suffering from Brain Devouring Ear Parasites!
Doctor: Come again?
Miss Smith: I read about it on Wikipedia and Web MD! I had a funny tickling sensation in my ear and then a short while later I had a sharp pain in the ear!
Doctor: That's a rather obscure condition. You don't think it might just be an ear infection?
Miss Smith: WebMD and Wikipedia wouldn't lie to me! :smallmad:
Doctor: There has only been one mention of Brain Devouring Ear Parasites in all of recent medical history and that was a paper submitted to ENT Monthly on April 1st by a student doctor who had drunk three bottles of Jack Daniels the night before.

...and the conversation turns downhill from there. Doctors are not infallible by any means but they do have the twin advantages of years of medical qualifications and experience. It's generally a bad idea to try and second guess stuff like that because you might neglect to mention something important because it doesn't tie up with your self-diagnosis.


This is a general rant, it's not aimed at you Trisc. *hugs*

Haven't finished reading this thread, so if it's already been asked, I'll just delete this. But if not....was this really a real conversation? If so...oh wow, I didn't realize anyone could be that dumb(no offense to that patient, but just..wow)

[Aliquid]

That's interesting.
So question then. Bacteria are easy enough to treat with antibiotics. Is anyone suggesting a related theory that a certain antibiotic might in fact solve this bacterial issue, thereby preventing the creation of the neurotoxin? Just being curious and open minded here.
They tried that on one boy (his story is in the link). He was highly autistic (wouldn't talk, you couldn't touch him without him freaking out... etc). It actually worked, they pumped him with powerful antibiotics that killed the bacteria, and his most of his autistic symptoms went away. They managed to toilet train him, get him speaking, play with him, hug him, etc.

The unfortunate thing was... the antibiotics only killed the bacteria, not the spores for new bacteria. So a short while after he was off the antibiotics, the bacteria took over his gut again.

The really unfortunate thing was that the antibiotics required to kill this specific bacteria are extremely powerful, very regulated, and hard to come by. So his mother couldn't get permission to keep using them. It was quite devastating for her to see her son acting normal for a brief period of time, hugging her, laughing and interacting... and then going back to his previous state.

She decided to put him on a massive regime of probiotics, hoping that she could crowd out the bad bacteria with good bacteria. It appears to be working a bit, so he now just moderately autistic rather than highly autistic.

[THAC0]

My grandmother is deathly lactose-intolerant. When we cook for her, we only use the margarine that is 100% vegetable oil based.

In general, if you are going to make special food for one member of the family, you should probably just give in and make it for everyone. Having all the food be lactose or gluten or peanut or limabean free will both make it less socially awkward for the person under the special diet, and prevent overzealous parents from inflicting horrible food on their children for more than a meal or two.

I'm going to disagree. Except possibly in life-threatening contaminant based allergies.

Otherwise, people should get what they want/expect from a holiday meal. I'm more than willing to make extra versions of whatever if contaminants are not an issue. I'd be much less interested in making food if it was all (whatever) free.

[The Succubus]

Haven't finished reading this thread, so if it's already been asked, I'll just delete this. But if not....was this really a real conversation? If so...oh wow, I didn't realize anyone could be that dumb(no offense to that patient, but just..wow)

No, it was an exaggeration on my part. I'm usually a very nice and polite medical professional person. ^_^ I did have one encounter that was close to the above but confidentiality and courtesy prevents me from saying more. :smallwink:

I can confirm that Brain Devouring Ear Parasites do not exist because I'm not a student anymore and after three or four glasses of JD I tend to fall asleep. :smalltongue: That said, I have had a couple of beers this evening and Wikipedia is always accepting of new ideas...>:)

[Hiro Protagonest]

I'm going to disagree. Except possibly in life-threatening contaminant based allergies.

Otherwise, people should get what they want/expect from a holiday meal. I'm more than willing to make extra versions of whatever if contaminants are not an issue. I'd be much less interested in making food if it was all (whatever) free.

Uhh... I don't think he was talking about Thanksgiving. I think he was talking about in general.

Which it really should happen. That way the parents can't just brush off complaints.

[Triscuitable]

I've decided I'm going to see a medical professional, and then a psychiatrist. If they say go for it, I'll do it. Otherwise, turkey sandwich.

[Castaras]

I've decided I'm going to see a medical professional, and then a psychiatrist. If they say go for it, I'll do it. Otherwise, turkey sandwich.

Sensible man. *nodnod* Best thing to do in this situation.

[AndToBeLoved]

To the people who think that doctors would know about a special diet that could cure things like Autism...hahahahha. You really think that doctors would care? Nope. They just want you to come in so they can throw prescriptions in your face.

I have actually been on a diet that cures Crohn's disease and Autism - guess what? I was able to get off of my heavy medications because of this diet (I have Crohn's). It all starts with diet. Seriously. If you tell your doctor this, they will shut you down. I've heard stories of it happening all the time. Sure, the diet was difficult and it sucked, but hey - I'm healthier for it. I'll admit that I'm not as strict with it now as I used to be, but the point is that it worked. There are a TON of gluten-free recipes out there. You just have to find them. And there are way more gluten-free products in stores than ever before. I think you should at least give it a try. Btw, people - there are REAL studies on this type of stuff. It's not "dodgy" at all. I highly recommend this book. Read the reviews - they'll tell you a lot.

http://www.amazon.com/Breaking-Vicious-Cycle-Intestinal-Through/dp/0969276818/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1353734033&sr=8-1&keywords=breaking+the+vicious+cycle

and this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Life-Without-Bread-Low-Carbohydrate-Diet/dp/0658001701/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1353734063&sr=1-1&keywords=life+without+bread

Truthfully, we would all benefit greatly by eating a low-carb, low-gluten diet (and there are studies to prove that), but...our world doesn't seem ready for that leap.

[Triscuitable]

To the people who think that doctors would know about a special diet that could cure things like Autism...hahahahha. You really think that doctors would care? Nope. They just want you to come in so they can throw prescriptions in your face.

While I appreciate the advice, there's no need to be so condescending to everyone else; they're offering just as legitimate advice as you are. As for doctors, you're making a very large generalization that just isn't true.

[AndToBeLoved]

While I appreciate the advice, there's no need to be so condescending to everyone else; they're offering just as legitimate advice as you are. As for doctors, you're making a very large generalization that just isn't true.

I apologize - I honestly wasn't trying to be condescending. I just find that those who look down on more holistic treatments are pretty condescending themselves. And the generalization is based on my experience with doctors. Many doctors. But yes - not ALL are like that. Some are becoming more open-minded about alternative treatments. There's hope for the future yet. ;) In any case, I hope you find a solution that works for both you and your mom!

[Jeff the Green]

I apologize - I honestly wasn't trying to be condescending. I just find that those who look down on more holistic treatments are pretty condescending themselves. And the generalization is based on my experience with doctors. Many doctors. But yes - not ALL are like that. Some are becoming more open-minded about alternative treatments. There's hope for the future yet. ;) In any case, I hope you find a solution that works for both you and your mom!

Too tired for a proper dressing down, so I'll just leave this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhGuXCuDb1U) here.

[Rockphed]

I'm going to disagree. Except possibly in life-threatening contaminant based allergies.

Otherwise, people should get what they want/expect from a holiday meal. I'm more than willing to make extra versions of whatever if contaminants are not an issue. I'd be much less interested in making food if it was all (whatever) free.

See, when you have a life-threatening allergy thing and you are just starting up the process of getting things worked out is the only time I think it is okay to segregate people's food. Your final statement about being less interested in making food is actually my point. If you are going to encourage someone to take up a specialized diet, then you should show them the support of being willing to try the food as well. Also, as Triscuitable mentioned, lots of "single serving" specialized foods are kinda pricy. Now they end up being more expensive no matter what bulk they are prepared in, but making gluten or milk free food is not hard if you do a bit of research in to it. Some food is really tasty while having no milk or gluten in it.

Speaking of, if you want milk/gluten free food, look into the native cuisine of anywhere that isn't Europe or the Mediteranean. Wheat shows up all across Asia, though rice is more common, but Europe is one of the few places where people regularly consume milk well into adulthood. So, sub-saharan African, Oriental, Australian or American Native cuisine will probably hold tasty, tasty foodstuffs that don't contain the proteins you want to avoid.

[Zrak]

You know what they call the guy in Medical School who graduates at the bottom of his class? Doctor.

I don't really know what they call the guy who graduates at the bottom of his class in Holistic Medicine, but it's the same thing they call all the other guys in the class.

[Serpentine]

To the people who think that doctors would know about a special diet that could cure things like Autism...hahahahha. You really think that doctors would care? Nope. They just want you to come in so they can throw prescriptions in your face.Really? Wow. I'll go right ahead and tell my mother that she and everyone she works with are a bunch of drug-pushing uncaring hacks who should stop studying peer-reviewed medical journals and start reading books that aren't required to go through any sort of rigorous review process, thanks! :smallsmile:

[pffh]

Really? Wow. I'll go right ahead and tell my mother that she and everyone she works with are a bunch of drug-pushing uncaring hacks who should stop studying peer-reviewed medical journals and start reading books that aren't required to go through any sort of rigorous review process, thanks! :smallsmile:

Ooh don't forget about us pharmacists. We don't want anyone to be cured and in fact we aren't happy unless everyone is perpetually sick. Eugh.

(Rant not aimed at you Serp)

The idea that everyone in medicine is just in it for the money quite frankly sickens me. I've not met a single doctor, nurse, pharmacist or any other medical professional (and I've met a fair few) that was not in it to help people or because they were genuinely interested in medicine. The belief that "alternative" medicine is being pushed down by the evil medicine people is offensive and sickening and if it's about money don't ya think the big companies would be on those "alternative" treatments that worked like bloody cats on a laser pointer.

[noparlpf]

While many doctors and pharmacists do actually care about helping people, I have run into several who aren't above trying to slip me a name-brand drug when I asked for the cheaper generic drug.

[2xMachina]

Doctor's aren't researchers. They can't be expected to accept all kinds of new "treatment" you think works. What they learned to diagnose and treat, they will continue to use until some paper comes out, and they learn about it.

I had doctor's push me medicine (that doesn't work) for my allergy/skin problems. I understand that that's the way to treat it, but it doesn't work long term for me for some reason. And moisturizing cream works as well, so...

On the other hand, anecdotal evidence does not make a statistic. For all we know, personal treatment is a placebo effect (no, don't stop thinking it works. Don't want people to get unhealthy)

[tyckspoon]

Speaking of, if you want milk/gluten free food, look into the native cuisine of anywhere that isn't Europe or the Mediteranean. Wheat shows up all across Asia, though rice is more common, but Europe is one of the few places where people regularly consume milk well into adulthood. So, sub-saharan African, Oriental, Australian or American Native cuisine will probably hold tasty, tasty foodstuffs that don't contain the proteins you want to avoid.

This is pretty good advice, although be aware that even cultures that think it's weird to consume milk still use dairy in cooking; butter, various forms of yoghurts, and cheeses will still contain the allegedly-offensive proteins. Still, if you want to try it, exploring exotic-to-Europe cuisines will probably give you a lead on things that won't necessarily be *labeled* as 'Gluten-free' simply because it's not a big deal for them.

[WarKitty]

As a general rule - "x-free" versions of anything are terrible. I learned this as a vegetarian: vegetarian foods that are pretending to be meat are almost always terrible. Typically, the best way to approach a diet without something is to look for things that naturally don't have whatever you're trying to avoid. For example. socca is a chickpea and spice bread that is extremely tasty and entirely gluten-free. Serve with olive oil to dip in.


I appreciate your insight, but I'm 16, and I've spent four years in a school for it. I know everything I want to (and need to) know about my condition. Quite frankly, educating me on it is pointless; I know more about it than many people.

My mom just likes the idea of some way to stop it, and after a particularly nasty morning, I thought I should just play along, and hope for the best (if there was one; I highly doubted it). That turned out to be a really, really bad idea.

This caught my eye, probably because I have a similar situation with my mother and mental health. It seems like this is probably the primary issue - not what she's coming up with specifically, but that she's out looking for a miracle cure so she can have a "normal" child. Once you get settled into a psychiatrist, I might actually consider getting a counselor that can work with you and your mother. It sounds like there's some issues here with her being able to accept you as you are.

[Thajocoth]

I'm someone who's Asperger's has greatly improved my life, given me many advantages, made me good at the things I enjoy doing, etc... It is in no way a disorder whatsoever and I honestly find the implications here insulting. I understand that other people might not make the best use of what they're given, but being different is not a disorder.

Any idea how many of history's greatest minds had it? From DaVinci to Tesla to Turing... The answer is a staggering "most". That is not a coincidence. It simply provides us with a different view from which to look at things which allows us to see what most will not, while missing many things that most others will see. It's like looking at a complex sculpture from a different angle in the room, noticing different things about it. (The sculpture represents reality here.)

There is nothing wrong with you to need fixing. Do things differently. Play to your strengths. Be proud of who you are. Your mom needs to understand how much of a disorder this really isn't.

[Greyshadow]

And I also can tell that I can live with Asperger :smallsmile: And indeed, many
scientists,artists and famous musiciens could do ther thing because their
hyperfocus abillety, so keep up the good mood :smallwink:

It can help to see other people with Asperger, I know a lot and many
are good friends :smallbiggrin:

Greetings,

Greyshadow

[Aliquid]

In support of the last couple of posts (i.e. different is not always a bad thing and doesn't need to be fixed)

Quoted from Wikipedia
Neurodiversity is a concept suggesting that neurological differences be recognized and respected as a social category on a par with gender, ethnicity, class, or disability. Examples of these differences can include (but are not limited to) individuals with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, autism spectrum disorder, dyscalculia, dyslexia, dyspraxia, Tourette syndrome, and others.

For some, neurodiversity is viewed not just as a concept but as a social movement. This movement understands neurodiveristy as a variation of human wiring, rather than a disease. These activists reject the idea that neurological differences need to be be cured as they believe them to be authentic forms of communication, self-expression and being. They promote support-systems that allow those who are neurologically different to live their lives as they are, rather than attempting to conform to a clinical ideal

[Triscuitable]

This caught my eye, probably because I have a similar situation with my mother and mental health. It seems like this is probably the primary issue - not what she's coming up with specifically, but that she's out looking for a miracle cure so she can have a "normal" child. Once you get settled into a psychiatrist, I might actually consider getting a counselor that can work with you and your mother. It sounds like there's some issues here with her being able to accept you as you are.

My mom understands it can't be cured, but she has seen medications suppress a lot of effects of Asperger's. I believe this diet in her head was just a natural way of doing so. She doesn't want a normal child (if she did, I'd have left this home a long, long time ago; I wasn't exactly naive when I was 12), and I don't want to be normal.

[Themrys]

Doctor's aren't researchers. They can't be expected to accept all kinds of new "treatment" you think works. What they learned to diagnose and treat, they will continue to use until some paper comes out, and they learn about it.

I think they should be intelligent enough to not dismiss a new treatment a patient has found purely on the basis they didn't know about it. If it has no potential to do any harm, what's the use in telling the patients "I haven't read about it, so it must be rubbish"?

They also shouldn't believe that "Chocolate doesn't cause acne" based on studies that gave chocolate bars to one study group and let the other one eat what they liked (including sugary, fatty foods), and then came up with the result that chocolate doesn't make a difference. (I don't know why such "studies" are even accepted as scientific studies)


I have no idea whether a gluten-free, dairy-free diet will change your behaviour, but you can always try it.
In my experience, you don't get anywhere if you wait till someone bothers to research a new treatment properly. (Of course you shouldn't try treatments that could harm you, but as for gluten-free and dairy-free, millions of people eat that way and have no problems at all with it)




I'm someone who's Asperger's has greatly improved my life, given me many advantages, made me good at the things I enjoy doing, etc...

How do you know it improved your life? Since you're (most probably) born with it, you don't know what your life would have been without it.

[Serpentine]

Firstly, it's their JOB to know about it. As a general rule, if something works, and has been demonstrated to work, doctors will be using it. And it is not part of their job to accept the testimony of any Tom, **** or Harry that makes whatever random claim; that claim may well have some value to it, but it is not the job of the doctor to experiment on their patients with untested treatments, but to recommend what is known - through real evidence - to work.
Secondly, suddenly and dramatically changing your diet with no medical advice most certainly CAN cause harm! Then there's other stuff like false hope, doing a treatment that has no evidence to support it at the expense of treatments that do, the allocation of finite resources, etc...

[Zrak]

Really? Wow. I'll go right ahead and tell my mother that she and everyone she works with are a bunch of drug-pushing uncaring hacks who should stop studying peer-reviewed medical journals and start reading books that aren't required to go through any sort of rigorous review process, thanks! :smallsmile:

To be fair, the process of peer review is pretty much a joke at this point. I mean, yeah, it's better than literally nothing, which is the alternative in this case, but c'mon, have you read some of the stuff that gets published in peer-reviewed journals? Then again, I've read some of the stuff that gets published in pop-science books. Eugh.

[Surfing HalfOrc]

I can't (and wouldn't, even if it wasn't against the rules) offer any medical advice. But what I can offer is this:

Eat Clean. Eat fresh, natural foods, and not the processed foods they sell in the grocery stores. Seriously, it works. This does not mean become a vegan/vegetarian, unless you want to. I still eat beef, chicken, pork and fish. I just don't eat anything from a can or box. Well, technically I do, as many pastas comes in boxes as well as plastic bags. :smallsmile:

I do most of my grocery shopping along the outer edge of the store, and it has done wonders for my health and well being. I had cancer a few years back, went through chemo and radiation treatments, and after all of that I was a beaten down wreck. I took up bicycle riding but kept eating what I used to eat (frozen burritos ranked high on my diet), and other bad eating habits.

After I changed my diet to clean (and got used to it), I discovered that I liked the way I felt. As the bicycle racing season progressed, I joked that after the final race of the season, I was going to eat Taco Bell. After that race, I had that long awaited Grilled Stuffed Chicken Burrito with Fire Sauce. It sucked. :smallyuk: :smalltongue: After you get used to fresh foods, you will find that you don't really care for processed foods afterwards.

This is much cheaper than the theory of the week, although it takes a bit of work to learn how to cook from scratch or near scratch.

[noparlpf]

I can't (and wouldn't, even if it wasn't against the rules) offer any medical advice. But what I can offer is this:

Eat Clean. Eat fresh, natural foods, and not the processed foods they sell in the grocery stores. Seriously, it works. This does not mean become a vegan/vegetarian, unless you want to. I still eat beef, chicken, pork and fish. I just don't eat anything from a can or box. Well, technically I do, as many pastas comes in boxes as well as plastic bags. :smallsmile:

I do most of my grocery shopping along the outer edge of the store, and it has done wonders for my health and well being. I had cancer a few years back, went through chemo and radiation treatments, and after all of that I was a beaten down wreck. I took up bicycle riding but kept eating what I used to eat (frozen burritos ranked high on my diet), and other bad eating habits.

After I changed my diet to clean (and got used to it), I discovered that I liked the way I felt. As the bicycle racing season progressed, I joked that after the final race of the season, I was going to eat Taco Bell. After that race, I had that long awaited Grilled Stuffed Chicken Burrito with Fire Sauce. It sucked. :smallyuk: :smalltongue: After you get used to fresh foods, you will find that you don't really care for processed foods afterwards.

This is much cheaper than the theory of the week, although it takes a bit of work to learn how to cook from scratch or near scratch.

Don't forget whole-grain pastas. (Unless obviously you're following a gluten-free diet. Then avoid them.) Those are usually in a little from the edges of the supermarket. Aside from those and restocking olive oil, spices, or cereal (a whole-grain natural one) I also just loop around the edges through the fruits and vegetables and over to the meats, then to dairy.

Basic cooking isn't all that hard. Get a pan, put a little oil in the bottom, turn the heat up, put your meat out, rub a couple of spices in on both sides, put the meat in the pan, leave it on each side for a few minutes, depending on what kind of meat and how well-done you want it. Meanwhile, have some water boiling for pasta. You have an entire meal (just eat some lettuce or carrots or broccoli or something too) and anyone else who comes through the kitchen in a college dorm will be amazed that you actually know how to cook something besides cheap microwave noodles.

[Serpentine]

I can't decide whether I like wholemeal pasta... It's sort of drier, which sometimes I don't feel like at all, but I think it's more filling.

[Asta Kask]

My mom understands it can't be cured, but she has seen medications suppress a lot of effects of Asperger's. I believe this diet in her head was just a natural way of doing so. She doesn't want a normal child (if she did, I'd have left this home a long, long time ago; I wasn't exactly naive when I was 12), and I don't want to be normal.

There's a study (http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/maney/nns/2012/00000015/00000002/art00006) that suggest that a casein-free diet may be effective in patients with stomach problems. Of course, this may be because a kid with stomach problems is generallt more trouble than one without. We don't know.

However, seeing as you don't want to be normal, the whole case is moot anyway.

[Adlan]

To be fair, the process of peer review is pretty much a joke at this point. I mean, yeah, it's better than literally nothing, which is the alternative in this case, but c'mon, have you read some of the stuff that gets published in peer-reviewed journals? Then again, I've read some of the stuff that gets published in pop-science books. Eugh.

Peer reviewed isn't, or at least shouldn't, be a label we can stick on anything published. The Lancet itself has published articles later revealed to be funded by private interest and highly unethical (see: Andrew Wakefield).

And you are quite correct, there are publishing mills out there that claim the label 'Peer reviewed' that have published entirely nonsense articles. But equally there are also diploma mills out there that churn out Phds and will even issue them to cats. Diploma Mills don't devalue a real Degree, and a bunch of bad research published does nothing but document the failure.

There are a hell of a lot of problems with the modern science industry, but you can still apply basic scientific principles, and as someone who hates doing statistics, a little understanding of the way data is collated and treated (I have refresh myself every so often on my Stats, but understanding claims often means understanding the maths they did to make the claim) goes a long way to helping distinguish decent papers from crap ones.

As more and more papers become available to the public, and as more and more people get interested in scepticism, hopefully peer review will mean more than convincing some people to publish your work.

[Thajocoth]

How do you know it improved your life? Since you're (most probably) born with it, you don't know what your life would have been without it.

I can know what effects it's had. I can be certain of it's positive effects on my life. I can make reasonable guesses using basica logic & psychology.

So, yes I can.