Have you seen how much gluten free foods are out there? Have any of you tried

@mommaj (23155)
United States
August 1, 2009 8:14am CST
Have you seen how much gluten free foods are out there? Have any of you tried them on autistic children? I know that they suggest gluten free diets for autistic children. Did you really see a difference in your child's behavior? I notice if he gets certain sweets at school that he is hyper. Do you think it's the gluten or the fact it's SUGAR.
1 person likes this
5 responses
@Canellita (12029)
• United States
2 Aug 09
Sugar is definitely a factor; it affects everyone not just those with autism. I know a woman who gets instantly sleepy if she has sugar. Can you imagine if that happened to everyone? Parents would let their kids have it all the time, lol!
@mommaj (23155)
• United States
3 Aug 09
Sounds like she has diabetes. I haven't seen a link to any one ingredient that effects my son. He will have reactions to some food but not to others with some of the same ingredients. It's really odd.
1 person likes this
@Canellita (12029)
• United States
10 Aug 09
I don't know about that unless she was hiding it or didn't know she had it. I get sleepy when my blood sugar is low.
@mommaj (23155)
• United States
7 Sep 09
Diabetes effects everyone differently. If you have diabetes and eat too much sweets or carbs, you go out. Just about everyone we are related to has it. My husband has it, his father, my dad, my aunt, and my grandmother had it.
@Foxxee (3651)
• United States
1 Aug 09
This is really tricky question to most. It's hard to explain with us... we did try the gluten free diet, we didn't really notice a change, but we did notice a chance when we took milk away & switched to ricemilk. I don't know, but every time we give him regular milk & we do at times, just to see if we can see a change & for some reason it does cause him to act more, hmmm, how do I put this, he will seem more in his own world. Weird huh? So we stick with rice milk because we feel its better for him, plus he uses the bathroom a lot better now. But as far as going all out on the gluten free diet, yes we have, for over a year, but it just didn't do anything & we only noticed a change, small change once dairy stuff was lowered. Does that make sense? LOL! Anyway, I'm curious to see what other parents have to say about this gluten free foods.
@mommaj (23155)
• United States
1 Aug 09
I've heard that with the dairy products but I read somewhere that the children need the vitamin D for something to help switch them on, if you know what I mean. I was really curious because my friend's kids when they were younger were allergic to just about everything. Flour and wheat products as well as eggs were really bad for them. I don't know what they ate. LOL I just wondered if it made a difference in autistic children.
@Foxxee (3651)
• United States
2 Aug 09
So many parents of Auistic children who have gone on the gluten free diet have said it actually pulled their child out of Autism, but then so many have also said they saw no change. But if you havn't tried it, you will never know. Are you thinking of trying it on your son? Takes a lot of work & alot of reading labels & can also be hard on the child, more so if he/she has picky food choices. Like mine does. LOL!
@mommaj (23155)
• United States
7 Aug 09
I was mostly trying to see what the effect was. I took my son off of Juice for awhile. I usually only give them milk or juice cut with water. He got sick but I think cutting down on the juice and sugar, calmed him a little. I just wondered what else he eats really has a lot of sugar. If he eats cookies you can't tell he ate anything sweet. If he eats certain icing, not all icing, he gets a little whacky. I can't really tell what is causing him to be hyper. I also read a little about selenium but I don't want to mess with that yet because you have to be able to get everything out of his system or it goes back into his body. It being the mercury which a lot of autistic kids have in their systems.
• United States
4 Aug 09
we tried the GF/CF diet and noticed no change whatsoever in our child and we eventually gave up because it is expensive and it wasn't worth continuing when we didn't notice change in our child. the only change that has been happening is for all the therapy she receives and wraparound services
@Foxxee (3651)
• United States
6 Aug 09
I think therapy is the best way to go.
@mommaj (23155)
• United States
4 Aug 09
I am glad you shared that with me. I am trying to get my child into the extra therapies. I don't know if the insurance will do it yet. It's so ridiculous what you pay in insurance, just to be told you don't have coverage for anything. I'm not sure I would put my son on the diet yet. Like you, it sounds expensive.
@scheng1 (24650)
• Singapore
1 Aug 09
Oh my goodness, no sugar no gluten, I think you have to train your son to eat grass like a cow. I wonder what will happen to your son if I give him a big glass of ice cream float, followed by a bar of chocolate. I guess he will have enough energy to run double marathons.
@mommaj (23155)
• United States
1 Aug 09
HAHAHA. That's the funny thing. Icecream is fine. A chocolate bar is fine. It's the icing on cupcakes from the store that are like confectionary sugar.
• United States
7 Sep 09
Just because many kids who have Autism are allergic to gluten doesn't mean every child with Autism should be on a gluten-free diet. They are two totally different conditions. People who are allergic to gluten have results that show up on allergy tests. Some of them also have Autism. The two are NOT a causal link. More research needs to be done to determine if there is a genetic link or if people with Autism are more likely to have a gluten allergy. What is known is that ANYONE with a gluten allergy will have some behavioral changes after ingesting gluten. Because of both neurological reactions as well as physical pain and symptoms. It's very easy to tell. Have your son tested for a gluten allergy. It's a bonafide medical test.
@mommaj (23155)
• United States
7 Sep 09
My son is not allergic. I had heard that the gluten free diet showed improvement over a gluten diet with autistic children. I wanted to know if anyone had tried it and if it did in fact work. Autism is an odd disease. Sometimes diet does effect an autistic child differently than a non autistic child. I do not know of any autistic children on a gluten free diet. I have a friend whose NON Autistic sons are on a gluten free diet because they are allergic. I was looking at behavorial aspects.