Autism and Diet?

[Sportster]

While searching for something related to nutrition, I stumbled across something about autism and diet. You know how it is; you end up going down a rabbit trail and then forget what you were looking for in the first place.

Anyway, I came across the following that I found interesting:

5 Foods That Can Make Autism Worse | Amen Clinics

Much of what is recorded in the article has merit, as one cannot deny that our food is chock-full of questionable things. Based on the article, it makes me wonder if Autism is something one is born with that is quickly exacerbated by certain foods; if it’s triggered or caused by certain foods; or if this is just more voodoo science.

What do you think?

 

[Southern Discomfort]

It's not caused by foods and it's not exacerbated by foods. This is likely conjuncture. Excuse me for sounding ignorant but I'm not going to click on the link if it means more traffic for people who may be trying to be quick money out of snake oil.

When you hear the phrase, "chemicals in the food we eat". That's usually the time to switch off.

 

[Iamnotarabot]

Well i'm already tryong to reduce sugar/gluten in my diet because this is generaly not healthy on a daily basis.

But dairy? come on what will I eat xD

 

[Catana]

Voodoo

 

[Graphin]

To sum up this article "Nearly everything you eat will make you worse, of course we barely provide data and no sources"

 

[Autistamatic]

I have no doubt that a healthy diet is a good thing. Absolutely none.
The idea that certain food groups such as ALL dairy, ALL gluten, ALL Corn, ALL sugar and ALL artificial ingredients of any kind can exacerbate autism is quite ridiculous. These particular food groups are targeted by quacks and snake oil salesmen the world over as causing or aggravating everything from schizophrenia to athlete's foot.
There's plenty of benefits to eating a healthy, balanced diet, but altering (or on the flipside, causing) autism isn't one of them.

Now healing Tibetan crystal suppositories - they work! Anybody want to buy some?

 

[Iamnotarabot]

But leaving junk food behind is definitly a good thing.

I am not sure about what I say but IMO a healty diet and way of life in general benefits even more to people on the spectrum.

 

[OkRad]

I don't think diet helps or hurts, necessarily. I say that because we don't have any truly clean food sources left. I think if we did, things would be very different.

Little Debbie was probably SAFER back in the day. No GMOs, just sugar, and wheat as God writ.

And that sentence will provoke others to say GMOs are great, which will just further elucidate the confusion over diet.

I try to eat right if it does not cause me to lose all pleasure in my life. If it causes the loss of some pleasure or even quite a bit, OK. But adhering to a strict diet in the hopes of cure is not something I will not do.

When my kidney function went down and I HAD to eat so little protein, no salt, no this, no that......THAT SUCKED and I realized that really was needed, but mercy.....not till I have to.

 

[Autistamatic]

The thing that I wonder about from back in the day is all the controversy surrounding certain food coloring

The one I remember particularly was Tartrazine aka sunset yellow. Sunny Delight used to be full of it. There was a scare that it caused/exacerbated ADHD in kids.

 

[Lysander]

I haven't personally noticed any differences based on what I eat and added to that, I'm not aware if there is any data supporting a direct link between autism and diet. I have noticed that sleeping enough improves my mood. Caffeine helps with managing burnout at work, by preventing my spoons from all running out before noon. Diet and exercise fend off negative feelings better than anything else I can think of. "Fake it til you make it" has a lot of merit - smiling and encouraging others helps me feel "okay" about things at work, even though work can be very overwhelming.

So, diet and mood; yes. Diet and autism; no. Your mood can effect your symptoms, and the way you feel physically can too.

 

[Graphin]

I definetly agree to cutting down artificial sugar, I'm one to get sugar crashes very quickly and notice the effects on my thinking without one

 

[BraidedPony]

There is probably some truth in the article that is relevant to everyone, not just Autistics.
Like Lysander says, diet can affect mood and mood affects symptoms.
Some decisions are more obvious, like reducing soda is probably a good thing. However when I crave a root beer I’m going to have one. Because life sucks enough without denying myself of some little bit of joy.
I make an effort to avoid trans fats and high fructose corn syrup, but again I don’t follow strict rules.
The one thing that helps with my general well being is to eat something, anything, when I’m hungry. I can’t afford wild caught salmon and organic asparagus but I make do with eggs and cabbage!
The other day I saw Mt Dew is selling a variety that is made with sugar (probably their original recipe). I’ve loved Mt Dew since it came out in the late 1960s I think!
Mt Dew Tale of The Tape:
Sweet....extreme, check
Bright green color...yes, beautiful, check
Caffeine!...high level, check
Fizziness...medium level, check!(keep away from nasal passages though)

 

[Pats]

Didn't read the article either, but because it already sounds like what I've heard on everything else. Today this causes that but tomorrow they find out it's helpful. I think the sugars may seem to agitate some traits because it might make you hyper while it's in your system. I don't remember hearing anything about the yellow, but I remember red food coloring being bad for you for a while. I do agree with diet and mood - but mostly in a sense that if I can't have what I like I'm going to get depressed. I've always eaten the same things all my life (except not as much pizza before bed. lol) and my moods and traits and so on continue to be different day to day, more affected by what's going on in my life than the food I eat. I have watched my sisters and others treat foods as life changing, and guess what? It doesn't. If you are more prone to this or that, you're going to be more prone period.
I also still use baby powder, burn scented candles and used to swallow my gum in school before getting caught chewing it. (Oh, in case you didn't know, baby powder and scented candles now cause cancer too, but just about everything around us does these days.)
To be honest, I believe changing things according to the new fad is more harmful. I think if you stick to what's typical for you, your body adjusts to that and when you make drastic changes, your body has to change, too. For instance, my mom and sisters always went on fad diets - grapefruit, etc - every time a new diet came out, they were all trying it. I never did - I ate what I liked and stuck with it - and what I ate was not the healthy stuff, it was hamburgers, pizza, sandwiches, fried foods, sweetened cereal and every day chocolate - anything chocolate. Before turning 50, my weight stayed around 120, I was the only one that did not have a problem with cholesterol and I was probably healthier than the rest of my family and I really believe it's because I didn't put my body through so many changes. Therefore I just don't listen to what these so-called specialists have to say which is only going to change anyway. Like eggs - they were good, then they were bad and now they've realized they are good again.

 

[BraidedPony]

You are so right Pats. My uncle has money and has always eaten whatever is considered healthy per the fad of the day. He is able to afford all the good stuff.
Just found out yesterday he has lymphoma. I’m not saying it’s diet related but just that sometimes no matter what, you may get cancer.
He is Aspie too.
There was a time when low fat was the thing, so we ate carbs. Then it was high protein and low carb. Then eggs were bad, then they are good. Whole wheat was good, now it has gluten which is bad today. Sugar was bad, but now it is seen as better than high fructose corn syrup. Artificial sweeteners where good, now they are bad. Vegan diet is good. Paleo diet, the complete opposite is good too. I give up!
Pizza is the perfect food. Period.

 

[Pats]

After reading the article, it caused to wonder about my ASD and what I eat. I'm a connoisseur of candy and enjoy most things made by Hostess and Little Debbie. That stuff was a lot more dangerous back when I was a kid than it is now; sort of like color televisions that you had to sit seven feet away or you'd get radiated or something.

Could decades of eating junk and ingesting all the respective chemicals have caused irreparable damage to my developing brain as a child? I also grew up in a rural community that was surrounded by farmland. What about all those chemicals being applied to the crops that would seep into the ground water? There's no way they could have gotten those chemicals out. It was community of 1000 people, so it would not have been that important like the water problems in Flint, MI.

Oh, and the water problem in Flint, if I recall correctly was because of all the homes still having lead pipes instead of updating them.

 

[Mattymatt]

I have to agree with @SouthernDiscomfort. The foods that are listed are not very healthy at all but to exacerbate autism? This is, at best, conjecture. Well, okay, sugar might have an effect because it directly effects the functioning of neurotransmitters but I doubt the effect is pronounced.

 

[Mattymatt]

You are so right Pats. My uncle has money and has always eaten whatever is considered healthy per the fad of the day. He is able to afford all the good stuff.
Just found out yesterday he has lymphoma. I’m not saying it’s diet related but just that sometimes no matter what, you may get cancer.
He is Aspie too.
There was a time when low fat was the thing, so we ate carbs. Then it was high protein and low carb. Then eggs were bad, then they are good. Whole wheat was good, now it has gluten which is bad today. Sugar was bad, but now it is seen as better than high fructose corn syrup. Artificial sweeteners where good, now they are bad. Vegan diet is good. Paleo diet, the complete opposite is good too. I give up!
Pizza is the perfect food. Period.

I am very sorry to hear about your uncle. Is his prognosis good?

 

[BraidedPony]

He said that he is going to have chemo. I don’t know what the prognosis is. My other uncle died last year from complications with Alzheimer’s.
Note to self: Enjoy life now!

 

[TempeFan]

I too have spent time wondering around in the nature (born predisposed)versus nurture (lousy/appropriate upbringing) debate. Is what ails me caused by environmentals such as toxins I ate, drank, breathed, or just the toxic hate-filled actions of the people who poison the world or by hereditary from bad genes or predestiny and divine intervention's random design flaws? For half a century I was under the impression that my so called weirdness and bad luck was simply a by product of an extreme upbringing devoid of love or guidance or consideration or respect or encouragement or affection or appreciation, etc. Then I found out about my HFA which seems to exascerbating and exascerbated by the other factors. Old age wisdom says
each individual is a unique combination of all the above.

My extensive research during my multiple cancer diagnoses indicates that cancer (and MMN and ALS and other auto-immune conditions) is called the "nice people's disease" for a reason, as these ailments most often afflict those of us in a 6 to 18 month grief window, who have silently suffered great amounts of LT internalized stress, as opposed to those who get violent and let off steam hurting themselves and others.
Comfort food protects one by relieving stress but their ingredients cause other bodily functions to go bonkers.