On Our Local News Last Night....

[JerryK]

There was a story on our local news here in Portland, about a local lady with two children

diagnosed with autism. She visited a naturopath...who tested them for wheat and it was off the charts.

During the interview, this lady basically said her children now had a chance for a normal life, because the gluten-free diet had cured their symptoms. I'm sure this isn't hard for anyone on here to believe, but it

gets better.

(Oh yeah, I got to tell you my mother and skeptical brother were watching this story with great interest)

Next came the national news...one of the lead stories was the CDC talking about the alarming rate of autism in the United states....something like 1-150 children.

Hmm, anyone besides me see a possible connection here

[jayhawkmom]

Verrrrry interesting!!!

So, if you had a room filled with 150 kids - one would be autistic and one would be required to be on a gluten free diet. What are the chances that it would be the same kid??

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

[JerryK]

Verrrrry interesting!!!

So, if you had a room filled with 150 kids - one would be autistic and one would be required to be on a gluten free diet. What are the chances that it would be the same kid??

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

This is the new diabetes. A product of our 20th century diet, where people have stopped cooking their own food and are buying pre-packaged food, all loaded with wheat.

The problem is, unlike diabetes, the symptoms come on slow and don't kill you right away. The most obvious symptoms are quite personal in nature, and people either don't know they have a problem, or are embarrassed to talk about it.

And the less obvious symptoms, like autism, depression, fatigue, lethargy etc...are easily explained away as mental illness and the patient might even get a prescription! Thus supporting our booming pharmaceutical industry...

My two bit analysis, jerry

[JerryK]

This is the new diabetes. A product of our 20th century diet, where people have stopped cooking their own food and are buying pre-packaged food, all loaded with wheat.

The problem is, unlike diabetes, the symptoms come on slow and don't kill you right away. The most obvious symptoms are quite personal in nature, and people either don't know they have a problem, or are embarrassed to talk about it.

And the less obvious symptoms, like autism, depression, fatigue, lethargy etc...are easily explained away as mental illness and the patient might even get a prescription! Thus supporting our booming pharmaceutical industry...

My two bit analysis, jerry

And I bet at some point they realize there are two distinct types of Celiac...juvenile and adult onset...

Just like diabetes....

Just thinking out loud.

[jayhawkmom]

And I bet at some point they realize there are two distinct types of Celiac...juvenile and adult onset...

Just like diabetes....

Just thinking out loud.

Another interesting point. I often wonder about myself. Mainly because I had GI symptoms my entire childhood. Once I hit my tween years, they disappeared. I had "issues" on and off starting in my mid 20's - but nothing like what started happening after the birth of my 3rd child. When they say Celiac is triggered, I believe that the 3rd pregnancy was my "trigger." My 3rd was not yet a year old when I had my blood tests done - so I wonder what they would have looked like had I waited longer.

[larry mac]

Next came the national news...one of the lead stories was the CDC talking about the alarming rate of autism in the United states....something like 1-150 children.

jk,

I watched the national news story here in the dfw area and was dissapointed it didn't mention celiac, as I had read several articles about the connection. Oh well, maybe next time.

best regards, lm

[Tina81980]

As the mother of one child already diagnosed with mild autism and one that is developmentally delayed & suspected of having autism those numbers are heartbreaking. I was until last week a little skeptical of diatary intervention for autism, but after removing wheat from my daughters diet I saw a huge improvement in her joint attention etc. I now believe there is a connection to autism & diet.

Tina..Mommy to Justin 6 Aspergers, Kelsey 4, & Megan almost 2, developmentally Delayed & food allergies

[Fiddle-Faddle]

Did anybody notice that the study involved a survey of public schools? Which means that home-schooled children and children attending private school (which would include a huge chunk of all moderately-to-severely-autistic children) WERE NOT EVEN INCLUDED.

When are they going to realize just how many children are involved?

[darlindeb25]

I research a lot and I have read about autistic kids. I have a friend here on the island with an autistic son and he was tested a few years back for celiac and it wasn't found. Many autistic kids are celiac and I'm sure there are sites to attest to it.

Interesting thought--child and adult onset celiacs. I wonder if that will truly happen. I have read that we are born gluten intolerant, sometimes it lays dormant in our system until a trigger happens. I used to work with a lady who told me she was celiac as a toddler, but it went away. I'm thinking maybe it sort of went into remission, if there is any such thing.

I too had symptoms all my life, mild at first. My trigger was when I was pregnant with my 2nd child, he is 30 now.