Are lectins implicated in autism? (an invitation to brainstorm)

[Guest guest]

Hi all

I read a new VRP News article about lectins today that seems *very

applicable to gut problems in autism:

http://tinyurl.com/3amr8a

It seems to offer yet another possible reason why gluten-free or

grain-free (and possibly legume-free) diets often offer improvement

for our children, beyond the peptide issue. Have other people looked

into this?? I can't recall anything, but it's entirely possible that

everyone else already knows about lectins and I'm just a latecomer to

this concept! I find it interesting that some of the suggestions for

ameliorating the effects of a high lectin diet are using older grains

(like spelt) and sprouting - both practices are encouraged in the

Nourishing Traditions/Weston A. Price model.

I've only been able to do a little further research into lectins and

autism, but what does come up is the connection between lectins and

secretin:

http://www.disability-resource.com/Autism/cause-of-autism-part-iv.html

" D'Adamo and Whitney (104-105) report that although there is not a

published study , an informal accounting shows a marked prevalence of

blood type A among Asperger's Syndrome children. The other blood

types have low incidence, risk or severity of Asperger's Syndrome and

Autism. Since the type A limits several dietary lectins that are

thought to interfere with secretin, it is not too far-fetched to

consider that improvement in these children may have actually

resulted from enhancement of their own secretin metabolism. "

" A study by Horvath et. al (1998) on secretin and Asperger's reported

that children with Asperger's Syndrome or Autism and gastrointestinal

problems had improved gastrointestinal function after secretin

infusion and that the children become more sociable and

communicative. They also benefited with a low lectin and wheat diet.

This suggests that there might be a gastrointestinal and diet cause

of Asperger's or Autism. However, there was no control group of

normal children who had the same treatment. "

Also see these studies:

http://tinyurl.com/2s5cmb

http://tinyurl.com/2mdnvl

(I'm really hopeless at trawling PubMed, so if these are really lame

abstracts or have no relevance, I apologize.)

I'm thinking of trying the new VRP supplement " Lectin Lock " and

seeing if it makes any difference for me and my son. Anyhow, if

anyone cares to comment on lectins in autism, I'm all ears. Or

eyes. You know what I mean.

Best wishes

Rene