Thursday, December 11, 2008

Guidelines on Treating Autism through Gluten and Dairy Free Diets

By Maxwell Smithson

When using the Gluten free diet you have to be careful and read all labels on foods. Gluten can be in foods you would not think of, like spices. The theory behind removing Gluten from an Autistic child's diet is that when the child eats a food with Gluten it causes their body to react differently than a child without Autism.

If you are going to try the Gluten free diet with your child you have to be prepared to follow it for several months to tell if it is going to make any difference. Gluten remains in the body for a long time. Most people do not give the diet a long enough chance to work. Trying it for a week or two will not give the body enough time to remove any remaining Gluten from its system. Some people do however see improvements right away in their Autistic child.

You should know that gluten free diet is not a cure for Autism. But it is used to help lesson the symptoms of Autism.

The dairy free diet

Parents are turning to their child's diet to when treating Autism. Some believe that Autistic children have food sensitivity. They believe dairy, also known as Casein, is one of the foods to cause problems with Autistic children. Removing all dairy from your child's diet can at first seem very difficult to do. Most kids love cheese and ice cream.

Following a Casein free diet can be expensive. Most milk replacements cost double the price of regular milk. Not all stores will carry the dairy free products. They can usually be found at specialty or health food stores. You can find Casein free products on the internet for mail order. There are also lots of Casein free recipes available online. To save on the cost of Casein free foods some families find another family in their area using the same diet, and share the cost of ingredients by buying in bulk. They then split the foods.

To find out if your Autistic child has a sensitivity to dairy (Casein) have them allergy tested. This will tell you if you should remove any other foods from the diet. If you want more information about Casein free diets visit your local library. You can find many books that deal with dairy free living. The internet is also a great source of information.

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