Long-term Success Reported With Diet Restricting Gluten and Casein

by Bernard Rimland, Ph.D.

A gluten and/or casein-free diet may greatly benefit some autistic individuals, according to a long-term study by Norwegian researchers.

Ann-Mari Knivsberg et al, tested the urine of autistic subjects, and then selected 15 who had abnormal urine levels of peptides (protein fragments) possibly stemming from defective metabolism of gluten and casein (gluten is a protein found in wheat, oats, barley, and rye, while casein is a milk protein).

The researchers placed these subjects on gluten - and casein-restricted diets.  They report that during the first year of the diet parents reported marked improvements in all of the children, including increases in communication skills, social awareness, and learning.   Reductions in stereotyped playing, odd body movements, emotional outbursts, resistance to change, and dislike of physical contact were also seen.  "This positive development continued through the next three years." the researchers say, "though at a lower rate."  Teacher ratings and standardized tests also revealed improvements in language and cognition.

"In addition to the increase in social, communicative and problem-solving abilities," the researchers report "parents and teachers observed a change in motor abilities.   The children moved with more assuredness and ease.  They seemed to be more aware of their bodies... (and) bowel and bladder control increased."  Parents and teachers noted more normal reactions in children with under-sensitivity to pain, and four children who suffered from seizures had fewer incidences while on the diet.   Urine testing at the end of the first year, and at the conclusion of the study several years later, also showed that peptide levels were more normal.

While there was no control group in the study, Knivsberg et al, say that the length of the study, the remarkable improvements seen in the subjects during the first year on the diet, and the fact that none of the subjects regressed (as would have been expected), make their results "interesting and valuable".

Researchers have speculated that a metabolic disorder in some autistic children may allow neuroactive peptides to "leak" from the digestive system, and that these peptides may cause behavioral disturbances.

Bernard Rimland, Ph.D., is founder and director of the Autism Research Institute in Sand Diego, founder of the Autism Society of America and edit of the Autism Research Review International.  He is perhaps best known for his landmark work Infantile Autism: The Syndrome and Its Implications for a Neural Theory of Behavior.