What is reflux esophagitis, does anyone know?? Also what if anything should
be done for the inflammation mentioned here? Or would a paleo diet alone
help reduce the inflammation?

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     Reuters Health - Unrecognized gastrointestinal problems may contribute
to behavioral problems in autistic patients.
     In the November issue of The Journal of Pediatrics, Dr. Karoly Horvath
and colleagues at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in
Baltimore, Maryland, report that they evaluated upper gastrointestinal
structure and function in 36 "low-functioning" autistic children with
chronic diarrhea, abdominal pain, gaseousness and bloating, nighttime
awakening or unexplained irritability, or a combination of these symptoms.
     According to the authors, 25 children, or 69.4%, had grade I or II
reflux esophagitis. Of these 25, 22 had "...nighttime awakening with
irritability, signs of abdominal discomfort, or pushing on the abdomen,
which are typically reported by nonautistic children with esophagitis."
     Fifteen children had chronic inflammation of the gastric mucosa, and 24
had chronic nonspecific inflammation of the duodenum. Two children had
partial villus atrophy without "...histologic or serologic evidence of
celiac disease." In addition, the authors report, duodenal biopsy specimens
showed Paneth cell hyperplasia, and when the biopsies were compared with
those from nonautistic controls, the autistic children had significantly
elevated amounts of Paneth cells in the duodenal crypts.
     Twenty-one children, or 58.3%, had decreased activity of the
carbohydrate digestive enzymes disaccharidase or glucoamylase. All of these
children had loose stools or gaseousness.
     In 27 children, the authors observed elevated pancreatico-biliary fluid
output after stimulation with secretin. They note, however, that in children
with chronic diarrhea and a high fluid response to secretin, stool
consistency "...improved...after the procedure, and [this improvement]
lasted for a few weeks or was sustained."
     In an accompanying editorial, Drs. Pasquale Accardo and Howard Bostnick
of New York Medical College in Valhalla, New York, write, "In its
complexity, autism is beginning to look like the proverbial horse put
together by a committee." More seriously, they comment, "[This]
study...demonstrates consistent physiologic abnormalities...in autism that
are not known to occur in any other specific gastrointestinal disorder."
They add, "The correlation of these findings with a clinical symptom...and
its response to secretin...provide further support for a true physiologic
abnormality."
     J Pediatr 1999;133:559-563.
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