Anecdotal reports and parent surveys have shown evidence that dietary interventions have had some success in ameliorating the symptoms of autism.
Methods
In this paper, key findings that prompt a dietary intervention strategy are reviewed and popular intervention diets are described.
Results
There is a significant body of literature pertinent to dietary interventions in autism from the perspectives of gastroenterology, immunology, and excitotoxicity. Some articles report benefits to patients on standardized rating scales.
Conclusions
This article presents a survey of the literature related to dietary interventions studied in the context of autism as well as various hypotheses on the rationale for dietary interventions. Patients or caregivers increasingly are attempting such interventions. Further studies are needed to establish the efficacy of these diets, the patients who would best benefit from diets, the mechanism of action, and the role of diets in addition to other treatments.
AshwoodP, van de WaterJ.A review of autism and the immune response. Clin Dev Immunol. 2004;11:165–174.
7.
Valicenti-McDermottM, McVicarK, RapinI, . Frequency of gastrointestinal symptoms in children with autism spectrum disorders and association with family history of autoimmune disease. J Dev Behav Pediatr.2006;27:S128–S136.
JyonouchiH, GengL, RubyA, . Dysregulated innate immune responses in young children with autism spectrum disorders: their relationship to gastrointestinal symptoms and dietary interventions. Neuropsychobiology. 2005;51:77–85.
10.
JyonouchiH, SunS, ItokazuN.Innate immunity associated with inflammatory responses and cytokine production against common dietary proteins in patients with autism spectrum disorder. Neuropsychobiology. 2002;46:76–84.
11.
KnivsbergAM, ReicheltKL, HoienT, . A randomized, controlled study of dietary intervention in autistic syndromes. Nutr Neurosci. 2002;5:251–261.
GoodwinMS, CowenMA, GoodwinTC.Malab-sorption and cerebral dysfunction: a multivariate and comparative study of autistic children. J Autism Child Schizophr. 1971;1:48–62.
14.
KrigsmanA.Gastrointestinal pathology in au-tism: description and treatments. Medical Veritas. 2007;4:1522–1530.
15.
TorrenteF, AshwoodP, DayR, . Small intestinal enteropathy with epithelial Ig G and complement deposition in children with regressive autism. Mol Psychiatry. 2002;7:375–382.
16.
GatesD.The body ecology diet. Bogart, GA: Body Ecology;2006.
NelsonKB, GretherJK, CroenLA, . Neuro-peptides and neurotrophins in neonatal blood of children with autism or mental retardation. Ann Neurol. 2001;49:597–606.
19.
ChessS, FernandezP, KornS.Behavioral con-sequences of congenital rubella. J Pediatr. 1979;93:699–703.
20.
BinstockT.Intra-monocyte pathogens delineate autism subgroups. Med Hypotheses. 2001;56:523–531.
21.
SinghVK, LinSX, YangVC.Serological association of measels virus and human herpes virus-6 with brain autoantibodies in autism. Clinical Immunology and Immunopatholgy. 1998;89:105–108.
22.
SinghVK, LinSX, NewellE, . Abnormal measles-mumps-rubella antibodies and CNS autoimmunity in children with autism. J Biomed Sci. 2002;9:359–364.
23.
PardoCA, VargasDL, Zimmerman Immunity AW., neuroglia and neuroinflammation in autism. Int Rev Psychiatry.2005;17:485–495.
24.
GuarnerF, MalageladaJR.Gut flora in health and disease. Lancet. 2003;361:512–519.
25.
OlivaresM, Paz Diaz RoperoM, GomezN, . Dietary deprivation of fermented foods causes a fall in innate immune response. Lactic acid bacteria can counteract the immunological effect of this deprivation. Dairy J. Res.2006;73:492–498.
26.
DriskoJ, BischoffB, HallM, . Treating irri-table bowel syndrome with a food elimination diet followed by food challenge and probiotics. J Am Coll Nutr. 2006;25:514–522.
27.
AtkinsonW, SheldonTA, ShaathN, . Food elimination based on Ig G antibodies in irritable bowel syndrome: a randomised controlled trial. Gut. 2004;53:1459–1464.
28.
ShawW, KassenE, ChavesE.Assessment of antifungal drug therapy in autism by measurement of suspected microbial metabolites in urine with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The Clinical Practice of Alternative Medicine Magazine. 2000;1:15–26.
29.
BlaylockRL.Excitotoxins: the taste that kills. Albuquerque, NM: Health Press;1996.
30.
ShinoheA, HashimotoK, NakamuraK, . In-creased serum levels of glutamate in adult patients with autism. Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry. 2006;30:1472–1477.
31.
McCannD, BarrettA, CooperA, . Food additives and hyperactive behavior in 3-year-old and 8/9-year-old children in the community: a randomised, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial. Lancet. 2007;370:1560–1567.
32.
RossignolDA, BradstreetJJ.Evidence of mitochondrial dysfunction in autism and implications for treatment. American Journal of Biochemistry and Biotechnology. 2008;4:208–217.
33.
ChauhanA, ChauhanV.Oxidative stress in autism. Pathophysiology. 2006;13:171–181.
34.
SchreckKA, WilliamsK, SmithAF.A comparison of eating behaviors between children with and without autism. J Autism Dev Disord. 2004;34:433–438.
35.
WaringRH, KlovrzaLV.Sulphur metabolism in autism. Journal of Nutritional and Environmental Medicine. 2000;10:25–32.
36.
TrajkovskiV, PetlichkovskiA, Efinska-MladenovskaO, . Higher plasma concentration of food-specific antibodies in persons with autistic disorder in comparison to their siblings. Focus Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities. 2008;23:176–185.
37.
ElderJH, ShankarM, ShusterJ, . The gluten-free, casein-free diet in autism results of a preliminary double blind clinical trial. J Autism Dev Disord.2006;36;413–420.
38.
VojdaniA, PangbornJB, VojdaniE, . Infections, toxic chemicals and dietary peptides binding to lymphocyte receptors and tissue enzymes are major instigators of autoimmunity in autism. Int Immuno J.-pathol Pharmacol.2003;16:189–199.
39.
GotschallE: Breaking the vicious cycle: intestinal health through diet. Kirkton, Ontario, Canada: Kirkton Press;1994.
40.
VargasSL, PatrickCC, AyersGD, . Modulating effect of dietary carbohydrate supplementation on Candida albicans colonization and invasion in a neutropenic mouse model. Infect Immun. 1993;61:619–626.
41.
FeingoldB.Why your child is hyperactive. New York, NY: Random House;1985.
42.
GoldsteinS, SchwebachA.The comorbidity of Pervasive Developmental Disorder and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. J Autism Dev Disord. 2004;34:329–339.
43.
DengateS.Fed up. North Sydney,Australia: Random House Australia;2008.
44.
JohnsonRR, McClureKE.High fat rations for ruminants. I. The addition of saturated and unsaturated fats to high roughage and high concentrate rations. Anim J. Sci.1972;34:501–509.
45.
EvangeliouA, VlachonicolisI, MihailidouH, . Application of a ketogenic diet in children with autistic behavior: pilot study. J Child Neurol. 2003;18:113–118.
46.
AhearnWH, CastineT, NaultK, . An assess-ment of food acceptance in children with autism or pervasive developmental disorder-not otherwise specified. J Autism Dev Disord. 2001;31:505–511.
47.
AhearnWH.Using simultaneous presentation to increase vegetable consumption in a mildly selective child with autism. J Appl Behav Anal. 2003;36:361–365.
48.
SchreckKA, WilliamsK.Food preferences and factors influencing food selectivity for children with autism spectrum disorders. Res Dev Disabil. 2006;27:353–363.
