The International Meeting for Autism Research (IMFAR) officially gets underway tomorrow in Philadelphia, but already there is significant discussion about several studies that were presented at today’s IMFAR press conference.
Dr. Susan Hyman of the University of Rochester reported on her study that shows the gluten free casein free (gfcf) diet does not appear beneficial for children with autism.
“It would have been wonderful for children with autism and their families if we found that the gluten-free, casein-free diet could really help, but this study didn’t show significant benefits,” said Dr. Hyman
“The removal of gluten and casein from the diet of a controlled group of young children with autism did not demonstrate a change in sleep habits, bowel habits, activity or core symptoms of autism,” Hyman said.
Dr. Eric Courchesne of UCSD spoke at the press conference about his study showing a simple brain scan performed in infants and toddlers may be a biomarker for autism leading to early detection and early intervention.
The test involved using functional MRI to measure brain responses to spoken words in sleeping children.
“We discovered that autistic infants and toddlers displayed a pronounced abnormality of language activation and cortical development” said Courchesene. “At each age studied from infancy to young childhood, most autistic subjects had greater activation on the incorrect side, namely, the right temporal cortex, compared to the left side and this incorrect activation pattern did not change or “normalize” even by 3 or 4 years of age. The abnormal pattern was strong in a substantial percentage of autistic infants and toddlers suggesting that with further testing refinements, clinical tests revealing this abnormal activation pattern in individual cases could serve as a biomarker for risk for autism.”
Dr. Joseph Buxbaum of the Seaver Center at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine described a potential new treatment for individuals with autism who carry a Shank3 gene mutation (approximately 1% of the autistic population). “We have developed mice with a mutant Shank3 gene and observed deficits in the communication between nerve cells in the brain, which can lead to learning problems” said Buxbaum. “Some changes we observed implicate a neurotransmitter for which several classes of drugs have been developed and we are now testing those classes of drugs in the mice. These changes, as well as other changes in the mice, indicated that the nerve cells were not maturing at the normal rate, so we gave the mice an experimental compound to help the nerve cells. This compound, which is formed as a natural derivative of insulin-like growth factor-1, is known to cross into the brain. After two weeks of injections, the communication between nerve cells was normal. Moreover, adaptation of nerve cells to stimulation, considered a key part of learning and memory, which is reduced in the mice, is restored following treatment. This indicates that similar approaches might be helpful in children with Shank3 deletions or mutations”.
Another study described today shows that divorce rates are similar for parents with and without children with autism, debunking the myth that families raising children with autism have a higher than average divorce rate.
Parents of autistic children often hear that the divorce rate in families with is 80%, but Brian Freedman of the Kennedy Krieger Institute reported that “there really weren’t any significant differences in terms of family structure when you consider children with autism and those without.” ‘What we found is that children with autism remained with both biological or adoptive parents 64% of the time, compared with children in families without autism, who remained [with both biological or adoptive parents] 65% of the time.”
ASF Blog 
Regardless of what these particular scientists have found every time my Autistic toddler ingests anything containing any trace of dairy or casein he begins stimmimg visually (specifically obsessed with peripheral) to the point that he can no longer focus on the world outside. All joint attention disappears, and vocal communication is futile as it’s as though he is deaf. And yet after a week to two weeks of removing these triggers he is a happy, social, chatty four year old with Autistic disorder. With a dairy diet he qualifies for funding and special school, and without he does not….why would i lie?
And if you’re wrong once over then that is one Autistic child that you have denied the opportunity to explore one possibility. Please explain why my son benefited from these dietary changes. I am not saying this diet would ever cure Autism, just that certain changes benefit individuals in differing ways and that avenue should not be denied.
My daughter was put on the gluten and casein free diet and within a year went from entirely non-verbal, sitting in corner, rocking back and forth, constant stimming, did not appear to hear or even see us. She did not know her name, our names, could not control her bowels, was chronically ill… to becoming a verbal, loving attentive, potty trained, mild stimming little girl who can spell, count, sing, dance, color, makes friends and starts kindergarten at age 4 this fall….
I’m sure it doesn’t work for all children, but parents everywhere are reporting an improvement in their child after the diet- it’s unfortunate your study didn’t catch any of this. Seriously makes me question the validity and motivation behind the study.
It’s great to see an organization focus on other potential causes- but how can anyone say that vaccines have been proven safe- when the MMR and Thimersol are the only ones that have been studied? What about “one size does not fit all”. What about predisposition due to family health history? I fully agree with other research, but many of us are not so stupid that one vaccine, one ingredients biased study is enough to satisfy our curiosity and lay to rest our fears.
I and others are not looking for something to blame- we HELD 0ur children down for these shots- would the blame not rest on us? We are looking for a cause to help future children avoid the same fate.
I and others are not looking for something to blame- we HELD 0ur children down for these shots- would the blame not rest on us? We are looking for a cause to help future children avoid the same fate.
I can’t believe people are still sucked in with quackery around immunization shots. It was one study.. the doctor in question FAKED results he was stripped of his credentials and yet people refuse to accept facts. Over a decade later…the removal of the stabilizers no proven link found and people still refuse to let go of the myth. Worse at the risk of allowing things like polio back into the mainstream. STOP. Stop with the drama of statements above like holding our kids down for shots and damaging their lives nonsense. On the gluten free diet.. .our high function ASD child has shown ZERO change other than to tell us how horrible the food is. And we tried with cost and effort intensively twice. I think it’s entirely possible to have kids with food allergies masking as ASD behaviorally in their impact…. But it’s not a cure for ASD via diet by the removal of allergens in an ASD child. Its the removal of an allergic reaction in the diet of an otherwise normal child. Its not a subtle difference but a massive totally non connected event. In other words… your diet intervention worked BECAUSE your child was not ASD to begin with. This is why reliable bio markers are so essential to validating a treatment path. If you know your child is not ASD via proven bio markers then allergies is one of the first and valid paths you may look to for change in behavior. And if they are ASD…then chances are the diet change will have no impact. And that is what the study says…. ASD is a genetic disorder… it’s there at conception…why we don’t know …perhaps our diet…perhaps our lives… perhaps it’s adaptive evolution attempting to evolve the species to a level more capable of dealing with our surroundings. These are the valid questions to be asking…not blaming unfounded myths propagated by the clinically misinformed.