Could this diet beat autism?

Jackie and Peter Stephenson were devastated when their daughter, Georgia, was diagnosed with autism at the age of two. She grew more and more remote from her parents, refusing eye contact or cuddles.

She was unable to talk, would bang her head on the wall, and bite everything in sight - toys, hot radiators, electric cables. Her parents were in despair.

Then, through an autism charity, they heard they could help Georgia by putting her on a stringent exclusion diet. The results have been astonishing.

The diet is based on a new theory that when the digestion breaks down gluten - a protein in wheat, rye, barley and oats - and another protein, casein, which is found in dairy products, they pass into the bloodstream and are carried into the brain, where they act like a drug.

The effects on autistic children can be catastrophic. Paul Shattock, head of the Autism Research Unit at the University of Sunderland, says: 'The proteins have a morphine-like effect, turning off the brain, and increasing typical autistic symptoms.'

Autism is a lifelong disability affecting about 91 in 10,000 children, impairing their social and communication skills.

Researchers have found that many of these children have associated bowel problems, and are more likely to have a leaky gut, through which peptides enter the bloodstream.

Paul Shattock has devised a urine test to measure the amount of peptides autistic children excrete, and found that more than half have unusually high levels.

Potentially, these children could all be helped by the special diet, which cuts out wheat, oats, barley, rye and all dairy products.

Rosemary Kessick, chief executive of Allergy induced Autism, a charity advising on the diet, says: 'When parents cut out the offending foods, many autistic traits, such as withdrawal, rocking and lack of eye contact, improve.

But it's not an easy option. All dairy products, bread, cakes, sauces thickened with flour and even curry powder are banned.

Parents are advised to keep a diary recording their child's behaviour and linking it to the food they eat, before they start the diet.

Parents must also seek medical advice. Dr Carol Millns, the community consultant paediatrician in Lincolnshire who diagnosed Georgia, has seen several autistic children improve on the exclusion diet.

She says: 'Georgia is on a remarkably restricted diet, because she is unusually sensitive to foods. There is no doubt that it has helped her autism.'

Now aged four-and-a-half, Georgia, whose family comes from Lincoln, is going to mainstream primary school with a full-time classroom assistant for learning support.

Her mother, Jackie, 35, says: 'Gradually, Georgia came back into our world on the elimination diet. It was like Sleeping Beauty waking up.

She gradually began to talk to us and bring toys for us to play with her. She is learning to read, and often cuddles up to us reading stories.'

However, if she strays from her strict diet, she slips back into her autism, and her disturbed behaviour returns until the things that are poisoning her work their way out of her body.

'We eat separately from Georgia, so she doesn't touch a morsel of our food, and we don't kiss her on the lips if we've had a cup of tea with milk in it,' says Jackie.

Consultant paediatrician Dr Michael Tettenborn, of Frimley Children's Centre in Surrey, believes improvements like Georgia's are not just wishful thinking.

'One proof of this is that there is no placebo effect,' he says. 'On the contrary, when children cut out the offending foods, they usually get worse before they start to improve. The diets are not easy to follow and medical supervision is essential.'

But he found that, of 57 of those who tried the diet in one year, 28 showed definite and sustained improvement, with several integrating into mainstream school.

Now the National Autistic Society is calling for further research into the reported links between allergies and autism.

Jackie Stephenson accepts that the diet doesn't cure autism, but she knows it can make all the difference for those with food intolerance.

She says: 'It has worked miracles for Georgia. From being a wildly self-destructive little animal, she's become a lovely little girl having normal conversations with me, saying please and thank you, and giving me cuddles.

• The National Autistic Society (tel: 020 7833 2299); Allergy induced Autism (AiA) (helpline, tel: 01733 331771, website: www.demon.co.uk/ charities/AIA/aia.htm).