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RESEARCH UPDATE:
Research Looks at Link between Celiac and Autism By Rachel Kay NFCA Intern A study released last month by the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) found that children with autism are no more likely to develop celiac disease than healthy children, results that are surprising to many doctors and parents who have come to believe that a gluten-free diet can significantly improve the lives and behavior of autistic children. For the study, researchers compared blood samples of 34 autistic children with samples from 34 healthy children and found that anti-gliadin antibodies were only present in four children with autism and just two children without autism. (Biopsies for all six children came back negative for celiac). The research team was lead by Dr. Samra Vazirian of Tehran University of Medical Sciences in Tehran, Iran. In reaction to the AAN study, Maureen H. McDonnell, the conference coordinator for Defeat Autism Now! said, “When an irritant like gluten or casein is removed (from a subset of autistic children’s) diet, the bloating and gas diminish, bowel movements improve, typically the intestinal membrane which may have been permeable, becomes less permeable and even the finger like projections referred to as villi (which absorb nutrients) become healthier.” She added that other children show signs of mental improvement, behavioral changes, and improved socialibility when gluten is removed from their diets. McDonnell notes that because there is a difference between having celiac and being gluten intolerant, or gluten sensitive, she doesn’t think “anyone involved in treating children on the autism spectrum using the biomedical (DAN!) approach believes all or most of these [autistic] children have full-blown celiac.” However, she also agrees that, “a situation [for a child] does not have to be critical (full blown celiac) in order for a child to benefit from a gluten, and or gluten-and-casein-free diet.” Given the small sample size of the AAN study, the difficulty of conducting a double-blind clinical study, and the favorable response of many autistic children to a gluten-free diet means that the AAN study results should be treated with caution. Although there are no conclusive studies relating celiac disease and autism, the benefits of a gluten-and-or-casein free diet for many autistic children should not be ignored by parents or medical professionals as a result of this single study. Links to websites: AAN study press release: http://www.aan.com/press/index.cfm?fuseaction=release.view&release=468 |
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