Can a gluten-free diet reverse autism?

Can a healthy diet reverse autism?  There’s a real possibility it can after a groundbreaking study was able to almost reverse all the symptoms in twin sisters who had severe autism.

By the end of the two years of the study, their behaviour and speech were “indistinguishable” from other children who didn’t have autism.

Researchers from the University of Maryland School of Medicine developed an approach that included speech therapy, behavioural analysis, and a diet known as the Reduced Excitatory Inflammation Diet that excludes gluten, casein (a protein in milk and dairy), low sugar and processed food, and instead emphasizes organic, fresh and home-cooked food.  The girls were also given daily supplements including omega-3, a multivitamin, vitamin D, carnitine, 5-methyltetrahydrofolate and homeopathic remedies.  The parents also used osteopathy, which seemed to help ease symptoms too.

The girls had been severely autistic and needed substantial support.  They started were unable to talk, and displayed repetitive behaviours, and suffered from constant gut problems.  Substantial improvements were seen within months of starting the therapy, and the extent of one twin’s autism symptoms had halved in the two years of the study while the other’s fell almost to zero.

The twins, who were born in 2020, started showing signs of autism from 20 months, and the therapy started soon after.

The improvements have continued six months since the study finished, said lead researcher Christopher D’Adamo.

Is this the answer to the autism epidemic?  A case study of just two subjects doesn’t provide that answer, but it does point a path forward.

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