Gluten-Free, Casein-Free Diet and Autism Ranking:

Aims and Claims

Aims

The gluten-free, casein-free diet is designed to exclude all foodstuffs containing gluten and casein from the body. According to Christison and Ivany (2006), there are four overlapping theories as to why gluten and/or casein may be harmful to some individuals.

• “opioid-related: excess of … opioid peptides may result from abnormal gut production of, and/or leakage of, gluten and casein related metabolites leading to altered CNS … activity
• peptidase-related: diminished or altered peptidase activity could lead to abnormal GI leakage of pathogenic peptides, including gluten or casein metabolites
• immune dysregulation/autoimmune-related: increased antibodies to dietary proteins similar to gluten and casein may cross react with CNS antigens
• gastrointestinal-related: gluten and/or casein may act as a pro-inflammatory stimulus in the gut, contributing to autoimmune responses in the GI mucosa”.

Claims 

There have been numerous claims for the gluten-free, casein-free diet as a treatment for autistic people. For example, according to Zhang et al (2013), researchers have reported using “… GFCF diets to increase communication skills (e.g., eye contact, vocalization, echolalia, nonverbal communication social interaction, motor abilities, or cognitive abilities, or to decrease challenging behaviors (e.g., tantrums, pica, self-injury, physical aggression, property destruction, stereotypy, play, food consumption, food rejection, gagging, escape) “.

Notes

Antibodies (protective proteins); antigens (toxic substances); autoimmune (disease caused by antibodies); CNS (central nervous system); GI (gastro-intestinal); mucosa (mucous membrane); metabolites (small molecules produced by metabolic processes); opioid (substance resembling opium); pathogenic (capable of causing disease); peptides (substance containing two or more amino acids); peptidase (enzyme which breaks down peptides into amino acid).

Updated

16 Jun 2022

Last Review

01 Aug 2017

Next Review

01 Nov 2023