Part I.
> Dear Todd,
>
> Thanks for writing. But I have some questions:
>
> >I understand your predicament. I don't think the rice will do
> >any harm, especially if it is balanced by protein.
>
> But, doesn't the rice (disaccharide) nourish undesirable yeast and bacteria,
> whose waste and toxins then circulate up to the brain? In other words, from
> all the reading I have done, schizophrenia and many cases of autism, are
> caused by intestinal dysbiosis.(caused by incomplete digestion of
> disaccharides such as grains, sucrose, etc)
>
> And, from all my reading, a paleo diet which excludes grains and
> disaccharides starves out undesirable microbes, by not providing them with food.
I'm not a nutrition scientist, Mary, but I have read many of the
same things that you have read, and reached certain conclusions.
First of all, many of the theories put forward are based on
that are, though plausible, still fairly speculative. Second,
many claims are based on small numbers of cases that may or may
not be representative of other individuals.
There are many possibilities. For example, let's suppose that
gluten damages the digestive system of susceptible people. As a
result, they have difficulty digesting *many* things, not just
grains. And so it appears that they have an "intolerance" to
many foods, but gluten was the "master switch" that created these
intolerances. So, if one takes gluten out of the diet and gives
the system a chance to heal, perhaps the rice is not incompletely
digested after all. For a different example, I have read a few
accounts of people who, after going gluten-free, found that they
didn't have a "dairy intolerance" after all.
Is this also highly speculative? Of course. But we have to be
aware that we are only beginning to understand such interactions.
> See BREAKING THE VICIOUS CYCLE, INTESTINAL HEALTH THROUGH DIET, by Elaine
> Gottschall, and in particular, read chapter 7, "The Brain Connection" which
> discusses how the brain is affected by the bowel.
Yes, I have the book.
> The author cured her daughter of schizophrenia through diet.
Perhaps. Does she mention the fact that approximately one-third
of all cases of schizophrenia disappear on their own, never to
recur? Reichelt has shown that *chronic* schizophrenics benefit
from a gluten-free diet, but has not reported many (or any)
cures.
A couple of years ago there was a guy on the autism list who was
a "true believer" in the gf/cf diet, and reported with enthusiasm
all the positive results he had seen in his son after over a year
on the diet. Then -- and I admire his courage -- he decided to
see what would happen if he took him off the diet. So he
abruptly let the kid eat bread, milk, etc. again. What happened
was: nothing. No regression, no bad behavior, no increase of
symptoms.
Many cases of autism follow a pattern. The worst years are from
2 to 4; these are the "lost" years, where it seems that
development just stops or goes completely awry. In some cases,
it just stays that way. In others, the years from 4-7 are
"recovery" years, during which the child does a lot of "catching
up" and loses many of the characteristic behaviors of autism. No
one knows why this is so, and there seems to be no way to predict
it. During those awful years, we parents will try at anything to
help our kids. If we see progress, we credit it to whatever
intervention we have been using at the time. The truth is, we
don't know how much progress is caused by interventions and how
much is just gradual remission of symptoms.
Don't misunderstand me. I am in favor of dietary interventions
for autism, and in favor of a return to fresh whole foods
whenever possible, for everybody. I believe, however, in seeing
what works, and placing observation ahead of theory, because
theories are very fragile things.
[continued]
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