Autism children have been described as having bizarre eating habits, which may lead to situations of clinical or sub clinical malnutrition. It is well recognized that dietary factors play an important role in maintaining immune defenses. Thus, immune competence has been recently shown to be a sensitive and functional measure of the nutritional status. Since, autism children have been reported to be exceptionally free from infectious diseases, and because of the literature is scarce about the relationships between nutritional status and immune competence in this syndrome, the purpose of this work was to find out the nutritional assessment of autistic children by evaluating their immune competence. The results were compared to those obtained from a control group.
The study involved 20 autism children ranging in ages from 4 to 12 years, who were diagnosed according to DSM IV (American Psychiatric Association, 1994). The patients were divided into two groups: 1) with eating disorders (EDA) (n=9) and 2) without eating disorders (NEDA) (n=11). Control subjects included 11 healthy children (brothers of the patients) matched by age and sex, who were free of medical, psychiatric, and neurological conditions. Leukocyte and lymphocyte counts were tested. Lymphocyte subsets: CD2, CD3, CD4, CD8, CD19 and CD57 were determined by flow cytometry. No modifications were found in lymphocyte subsets between all the autistic children (n=20) and the control group, but both total number and percentage of CD19 cells were higher in the autism children.
However, when the three groups were compared each other, surprisingly the highest values for CD2, NK and CD19 cells were found in the EDA group. The results suggest that contrary to what was expected, neither EDA nor NEDA show signs of malnutrition, having the highest values of lymphocyte subsets the autism group with eating disorders. Therefore, there might be some defense mechanisms involved where neurotransmitters could play an important role.
Which foods are the right, healthy foods?
Many children have already simplified their diets by refusing a wide variety of healthy foods. The restricted intake of sick children may be limited to foods for which they have an allergic craving or which are not very nourishing, such as potato chips. It is helpful, therefore, to have a test that gives reliable information concerning safe, healthy foods, as well as potentially reactive foods.
IgG ELISA food testing controversy and proven benefits.
Food allergy testing is controversial. Many allergist/immunologists believe that IgE testing for immediate food hypersensitivity and limited use of skin testing and elimination diets is all that can be done to evaluate food sensitivities. I have found IgG ELISA to be a very useful tool for screening for safe foods, evaluating the overall state of immune activation against foods as reflected in the total number of reactive foods in the panel, and spotting reactive foods.
I have conducted two double blind, placebo diet controlled studies validating IgG ELISA by showing a significant difference in symptom reduction in subjects avoiding IgG reactive foods as compared with IgG non-reactive foods. I recommend such testing and, at least, a trial of avoidance of IgG reactive foods for children in guidelines in food elimination. Such tests are not absolute arbiters of every food that may be safe or unsafe. This is particularly true for foods for which the mechanism of sensitivity is not immunologic (because they interfere with phenosulfotransferase – chocolate, cheese, banana, citrus, contain fungal antigens and toxins, are a source of peptides, or contain sugar or additives).
Autism and food allergy
Connection between autism and food allergy This group is for parents, caregivers, professionals in related fields and relatives of of children who have both an autism spectrum disorder and food allergies. This group is also for individuals with or interested in learning more about autism and allergies. In this forum, parents and others can share their concerns and information they have gathered. For parents and others of children with both issues, one can have an affect on the other. This group is for those interested in exploring the connection between the two, as well as offer support for parents and others who are dealing with both issues.
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