<<Disclaimer:  Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>

I spend time hunting through some newsgroups looking for undiagnosed celiacs
and helping where I can. One of the groups is the bit.listserv.autism group.
They rarely discuss anything about food, so I had no opportunity to respond.
Then I found the following:

Thread Title: Gluten and Casein

-------------------- Original Post and My Reply ------------------------

<Richard E.> [log in to unmask] wrote:

>I am sorry if this has been discussed already, but is there any basic
>list/resource that exists or can be posted regarding what specific foods
>contain these?  Most of what I have read thus far appears to be for those who
>already have this knowledge and are looking for more info or comparing notes.

There are many sources available on gluten. We celiacs have to treat it
like poison and are therefore experts on it. For those of you that do not
know what we're talking about, if your autistic child is gluten and casein
free he will be so recovered that you can send him to school without
telling them he's autistic. (As for the special diet you can tell them he's
a celiac.)

As for casein I can't be much help, but perhaps Bill Elkus, a member of
this autism list, can.

For gluten:

(1) There is celiac mailing list at: [log in to unmask] [snip...]
(2) You can download the past log files from the mailing list. [snip...]
(3) Buy some cookbooks. Following is a list that I recently posted [snip...]
(4) You can join some celiac associations. They all have getting [snip...]

--------------------- A reply and My Response ------------------------

Ray Castagnaro <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>At last a panacea for Autism! Join the ranks of Lovaas and Bears &
>Suzi Kaufman, Mr. Wiss. Those of us who have been dealing with the
>cure-alls and miracle-makers for fifteen years or more can only be
>amused at first, then saddened by so simple an attempt at THE CURE
>for, perhaps, the most pervasive disorder in the world.

I did not use the word CURE. I said recover enough... It is *not* simple,
elimination of gluten, and presumably casein, is *extremely* difficult, as
it is in almost all prepared food. One generally has to cook all food from
raw ingredients. It is very difficult to eat out. There is always the
problem of contamination. That is why Richard E. asked for help.

>If it were as simple as eliminating certain foods from our childrens'
>diets, do you think organizations, Newsgroups, research, etc. would
>still be necessary.

People who do research do it so they can make money with the results. One
can't make money when the result is elimination of foods from the diet.
Organizations and newsgroups would still be necessary for help in
maintaining the diet.

>Or, was this a slightly delayed April Fool's joke?

You're the loser for not listening. There are others on this list who agree
with me, but people like you keep them from speaking out and demonstrating
their proof.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

There are currently two responses saying Ray Castagnaro shouldn't knock
parent's attempts to improve their children's condition. I'm still waiting
for Ray to respond to my post so I can respond back, but I guess he's laying
low.

Don Wiss.