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FutureMrsLynch · October 2008

What are your thoughts on Jenny McCarthy's claims that she cured her sons autism by feeding him a special diet?

pixelvixen · October 2008

I wouldn't doubt it. Our society as a whole went from eating farm-fresh foods to almost 100% processed over the past 50yrs. Because there's no concrete link to the MMR vaccine, I have to think there are other environmental factors that play into this disease as well.

JRS72206 · October 2008

I'm glad she found something that helped her son! From what I've read he's on a Gluten/Wheat free diet? I've read all of Jenny's books and think that whats shes doing for Autism awareness is great.

Seattle_JiLLn · October 2008

we know so little about what causes autism, that I believe that changing his diet worked for him. I don't think diet is the cause, but I think that food sensitviies can be really severe for some kids and changing the diet can make a huge difference. Maybe his food sensitivies affected him in a way that looked like autism? maybe it really was autism? who knows. But he's better now and that's what matters I think.

FutureMrsLynch · October 2008

hmm.. that makes sense, it just seems too easy for me to believe! Also, the fact that he has had Autism for 6 years makes me think he couldnt just all of a sudden not have it. Like his development would be hindered from him being autistic throughout his whole life. I guess I don't know though, I used to babysit for special needs children and two of them were Autistic and I just cant picture them just being cured one day.

Jas*sGirl · October 2008

I think with autism there are so many varying degrees of it that I could see it being possible. I hate to say this, but I see autism as this generations ADD. I think sometimes kids get labeled it for not being part of the norm, but drs not really knowing what else to call it....I am not taking away from the kids that really do have it, I am more just saying the drs may be using this as a catch all for some other issues.

Anemic_Royalty · October 2008

My thoughts are the same as Pixel's on this. I haven't read her book on this yet but I really want to. I have seen her on some talk shows and I think what she is doing to bring this to everyone's attention is great.

MissBlush · October 2008

I recently read that there was a UW study where toddlers were tested for pesticides in their bodies. ?The ones who ate 100% organic produce had pesticide levels 60 times lower than those who didn't.

I also read that autism has NOT increased in the Amish community as it has in the rest of the country.?

With that in mind, I think it's definitely possible. ?Diet relates to all sort of different problems.?

iheartstuart · October 2008

I love her. ?If she did cure autism by his diet then more power to her. ?It's great she took initiative to do something like that. ?She has done a lot for autism awareness.

m&m823 · October 2008

It makes me wonder if he really was autistic or not. Maybe he has severe Celiac and the gluten-free diet corrected the damage. I'm not sure.... I haven't read her books so I am just going on when I saw her on Oprah recently (and a few years ago). Autism and Asperger's are the buzz words right now. A couple of years ago Bipolar was the big diagnosis, and before that it was ADHD/ADD (all of which manifest quite differently from each other!). I'm not sure if we are just getting better at diagnosing things or are too quick to diagnose (and medicate).

LuvBug12683 · October 2008

"Cure" is such a strong word. I definatley believe its dramatically helped her son but it takes a lot of dedication and money to do so as well...Im sure her celeb status didnt hurt either. I admire her and all of the hard work shes done in order to help her son but its not going to work for everyone.

pinktulips · October 2008

I believe that it is possible. Another factor to keep in mind - she was able to afford and provide early intervention, which probably had just as much to do with it.

In regards to how much our food has changed... I read somewhere that you have to eat 40 peaches to get the same vitamin benefits as 1 peach provided 50 years ago. We have robbed the soil of too much...

Em7.31.04 · October 2008

I don't know all the facts.....But I think she is a quack. I hate how she is using her celebrity status to promote non-vaccinating.

Seattle_JiLLn · October 2008

Well first, it didn't get cured in "one day"... it was a long process...

And like Michelle said, I wonder if maybe his food sensitivities just looked like autism. Maybe it wasn't "autism"... but then again, ther'es no real defined test for it, it's all just in a spectrum of sensory disorders. I bet in 10 years there will be several diseases that we used to call autism that will then be labeled as something else. It is sort of a catch all.

A woman in my BCC class had a kid who really backslided and she changed his diet and he recovered. So I do think that food can be a huge part for some kids. Probably not all though.

June24Bride · October 2008

m&m823:
It makes me wonder if he really was autistic or not. Maybe he has severe Celiac and the gluten-free diet corrected the damage. I'm not sure.... I haven't read her books so I am just going on when I saw her on Oprah recently (and a few years ago). Autism and Asperger's are the buzz words right now. A couple of years ago Bipolar was the big diagnosis, and before that it was ADHD/ADD (all of which manifest quite differently from each other!). I'm not sure if we are just getting better at diagnosing things or are too quick to diagnose (and medicate).

I agree.. and yes cured is such a strong word. Like it's fantastic, dont get me wrong, that her son is better, and I do admire her in other ways, BUT, since my hubby is in the medical field I have sometimes *too* much info about stuff, therefore I'm very pro vaccinations. It drives me batty when ppl preach otherwise.

newbiewed · October 2008

I think that the word "cured" is pretty strong, too - I believe that her son appears to have recovered from his obvious symptoms. From what I have read she isn't anti-vaccination altogether, she is just for safe vaccines, a more spread out schedule, and transparency when it comes to ingredients.

We should ask Beth what her opinion is - she works with autistic kiddos.

My oldest son was just diagnosed as highly functioning autistic so I am verry interested in this topic. Thank goodness for msft insurance!

The biomedical approach of dealing with this has to do with the belief that autism is actually a problem in the gut that manifests itself with neurological symptoms. Some parents feel that the diet greatly improves their kids' symptoms. I believe that we need to try everything that may help as long as it doesn't hurt them or other people. Perhaps the improvement with their gut/digestion/allergies/toxin levels sets them up to be able to improve their other skills as they feel better. It may be a snowball effect.

We have been to a Naturopath who has a whole bunch of ideas. She took one look at my son and noticed his faint undereye circles and red ears - both of which are allergic reactions to "something." She won't do anything that we don't want, but there is a heck of a laundry list of supplements, diet changes, tests, possible chelation, fish oil, epsom salts, pillow cover for dust allergies, etc, etc, etc... It makes one's head spin.

Kuddos to Jenny for doing whatever she needed to do. I am trying to be open minded. I don't wish this on any of you, btw.... It's no picnic.

Kathzoo · October 2008

Great that it worked for her. Not a bad thing for anyone to try if they can afford it, but "cure" is too strong a word. Ditto what others have said, we could all benefit from a less processed, more local and organic diet (and more sleep, less stress, the list goes on).

IdahoGirl · October 2008

It's absolutely true that we need a more organic, less processed diet, more excercise and more sleep - more like previous generations.

However, it's interesting to me that even with all of those things going for them, their average life span was still much shorter than ours. They set the age for social security at 62 back in the thirties because people rarely lived past 65 - 68. (I read about that as I've been studying the problems of SS in the US and I'm a history buff). On average, we're living into our 80s.

Imagine how long we could live if we ate healtheir and excercised and got more sleep!

tfarabians · October 2008

Well my friend who's son is autistic (he is 8 now) thinks she is the biggest quack out there and that she has done NOTHING for autism. He was furious when she started in against vaccinations and then is even more furious that she claims that she "cured" her son though diet. So I think its pretty sad when people who's children are autistic have to deal with people like her, because they are very educated about the disease as well and it must be so frusterating to see this kind of publicity!

applecider · October 2008

So many things... I agree that she's kind of a quack, but at the same time, I'm really happy for her family.

No one understands the underlying cause of Autism so how can anyone claim that they know how to cure it?

sparkelz · October 2008

I have a client that has her son who has Autism on a similar diet and she has seen a huge difference in his behavior over the last year and a half that he has been on the diet. The hard part is that this diet is very expensive and/or time intensive and is difficult for the average parent because of the cost and time requirements.

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