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These are the first three in series of short videos of a lecutre by Julie Matthews that address the value of special diets in the management of Autism.

Children’s Hospital & Research Center Oakland scientist and pediatric emergency medicine physician, Claudia Morris, MD says she has identified a syndrome which combines apraxia (a speech disorder) with symptoms often associated with autism. Many of these symptoms are precisely the ones that are pointed to by those whose children appear to benefit from biomedical treatments -- specifically Gluten and Casein-free diets and vitamin supplements.

The data clearly demonstrated a common cluster of allergy, apraxia and malabsorption, along with low muscle tone, poor coordination and sensory integration abnormalities. In addition, Dr. Morris was able to gather laboratory analyses in 26 of the children, which revealed low carnitine levels, abnormal celiac panels, gluten sensitivity, and vitamin D deficiency among others. All children genetically screened carried an HLA gene associated with gluten sensitivity and celiac disease.

Most significantly, the data indicate that the neurologic dysfunction represented in the syndrome overlaps the symptoms of vitamin E deficiency. While low vitamin E bioavailability may occur due to a variety of different causes, neurological consequences are similar, regardless of the initiating trigger. The study suggests that vitamin E could be used as a safe nutritional intervention that may benefit some children. Growing evidence support the benefits of omega 3 fatty acid supplementation in a number of neurodevelopmental disorders.

Despite this relatively high frequency, scientists do not understand the mechanism of this serious developmental problem. What they have discovered is that autism is one of the most heritable mental disorders known. In other words, autism appears to be largely genetic in origin, and most autistic children inherit the disorder from their parents.

In the case of PKU, geneticists have determined that retardation is due to genetics (a mutated phenylalanine hydroxylase gene) and the environment (a phenylalanine-containing diet).

In the case of autism, the likelihood that the sibling of an affected child also would be affected is between three and six percent.