Excerpt From Gut and Psychology Syndrome [GAPS]

1. The Diet – a Discussion

Nowhere is there so much misunderstanding and confusion, as on the subject of diet. At one end of the spectrum there are plenty of medical professionals and other people, involved in caring for people with autism, schizophrenia, ADHD and other GAPS conditions, who will tell you that diet has nothing to do with these problems. At the other end of the spectrum there are a few books, mainly written by parents, about the miraculous effects of dietary changes on their children’s condition. In between there are many families who have tried various dietary interventions with different results: from no effect to some improvement.

The amount of different information available on the diet for autism alone must be bewildering for the parents. The most heavily promoted is the gluten-free and casein-free diet. Then there are diets without salicilates and phenols. The anti-candida diet has to be taken into account, as GAPS people are without doubt affected by this yeast. Food allergies and intolerances are a big issue for many GAPS children and adults. And, as if all that is not enough, many parents of GAPS children have to battle with the fact that their child will eat hardly anything, as the majority of GAPS children are so finicky with food. Consequently, it is no surprise that many families try different dietary interventions for a while, see no results and drop the whole idea, joining the camp of cynics.

There is no doubt that appropriate diet is of paramount importance in treating any chronic degenerative disorder, including GAPS. But what diet?

Before we start talking about what is the appropriate diet for GAP Syndrome, we need to clear up some misunderstandings.

The Gluten Free and Casein Free Diet

In the previous chapter we talked in detail about research, done by Dohan, Reichelt, Shattock, Cade and others, where gluten and casein peptides, called gluteomorphins and casomorphins, were detected in the urine of autistic children, patients with schizophrenia, psychosis, depression, ADHD and some autoimmune disorders. These peptides have a similar chemical structure to opiate drugs and are thought to affect the brain in a similar fashion. The Gluten Free and Casein Free diet (GFCF diet) is based on this research. This diet has been very heavily promoted and has almost become the official diet for autism. Let us have a look at it in detail.

Gluten is a protein found in grains, mainly wheat, rye, barley and oats. Casein is a protein found in milk and milk products. The GFCF diet aims to remove all sources of these two proteins. The theory behind this diet is sound, the problem is the application. Autistic children, due to abnormalities in their gut flora, crave processed carbohydrates – the very foods that feed pathogens in their gut. The typical pattern of autistic development includes the fact that sometime in the first two years of life the child limits his/her diet to processed carbohydrates, dairy and sugar: breads, biscuits, cakes, sweets, crisps, breakfast cereals, pasta, milk and sweet yoghurts. In the majority of cases it is extremely hard to change the child’s food preferences: he/she just will not accept any other foods. So, to transfer this child to the GFCF diet, processed carbohydrates containing gluten are replaced with gluten free processed carbohydrates, made with rice, sugar, potato starch, tapioca flour, soy, buckwheat flour, etc. This sort of food will feed the abnormal flora in the child’s gut just as much as the previous diet did, perpetuating the vicious cycle of a damaged leaky gut and toxicity escaping from this leaky gut into the blood and brain. Of course, the fact that out of dozens of various toxins, flowing from the gut into the body, two toxins have been removed – gluteomorphin and casomorphins – does some good. In some children it has quite a noticeable effect. But unfortunately in the majority of cases it has very little or no effect at all, because the rest of the toxicity is still there, being produced by abnormal gut flora. As long as Candida, Clostridia and many other pathogens populate the gut, the inflammation will persist and the gut will stay leaky, allowing hundreds of different undigested and toxic substances into the body.

The fact that this kind of GFCF diet gained such a world-wide acceptance as the diet for autism is very unfortunate, because it addresses only a small part of the whole picture of autism: the gluteomorphins and casomorphins. As always, a lot of commercial companies jumped on the bandwagon, ready to supply GFCF pre-prepared foods, full of sugar, processed carbohydrates, denatured and altered fats and proteins and many other substances which autistic children must not have. Every publication on autism is full of advertisements for these foods, lulling the parents into a sense of false security: if it is GFCF it must be fine for my autistic child. Books are written full of recipes, based on these processed carbohydrates, sugar, altered fats and proteins. Websites and internet chat groups have been set up exchanging the same kind of recipes…..

This is just one of many examples in our human history of scientific data being used in the wrong way. There is no doubt that gluten and casein are better out of the diet of an autistic child. But these two substances are by no means the only decisive key to autism, schizophrenia and other GAPS conditions. The core issue, which we have to deal with, is the unhealthy gut ruled by abnormal microbes. An appropriate diet is an absolutely essential part of the treatment. But it is definitely not the GFCF diet, as we know it.

Phenols and salicylates

There is a theory that GAPS children and adults react to phenols and salicylates (a subgroup of phenols), so foods containing them should be out of their diet. Proponents of this theory advise cutting out pretty much all fruit, vegetables, nuts, seeds and oils. I don’t know why they stop there because there is no food on this planet which does not contain phenolic compounds. All grains, meats, fish, eggs, milk, fruit, vegetables and plant matter are full of phenols.

Phenols are aromatic substances of small molecular weight. They give our foods their colour and flavour. They preserve foods in their natural state by protecting them from pathogens. They take an active part in the germination and growth of seeds and attract flower pollinators. They act as powerful antioxidants and detoxifiers, when introduced into our bodies. Many nutrients and active substances which are essential for us to have every day are phenols. Let’s look at some of them.

• Vitamin C. Nobody can live without it.

• Vitamin K. Essential in blood clotting and many other bodily functions.

• Vitamin E. Essential for brain development and hundreds of other jobs in the body.

• Vitamins B1 (thiamin), B2 (riboflavin), B3 (niacin), B6 (pyridoxine) and folic acid are phenols. All these vitamins are essential for us to have every day if we are to remain alive at all.

• Amino acids – cholin, phenylalanine, tryptophan and others. Without them we would not be able to produce neurotransmitters for our brain and the rest of the nervous system.

• Some neurotransmitters themselves: dopamine, norepinephrine and histamine are also phenols.

• Gallic acid. Cutting out this phenol is the basis of the Feingold Diet or low salicylate diet. Gallic acid is found in about 70% of all foods including food colourings. Though food colourings, E-numbers and other food additives should be out of your GAPS patient’s diet, cutting out 70% of all foods is rather punishing.

This list can go on. All natural proteins, fats and carbohydrates contain phenolic compounds. If we cut them all out we will have to starve.

However, there is no doubt that autistic children, as well as hyperactive, dyslexic, asthmatic, diabetic, schizophrenic patients and many other GAPS people do react to phenols and many other substances in food. Some people react to vegetables from the nightshade family (tomato, potato, aubergines/eggplant and all varieties of peppers). These reactions are very different from the classical allergy and cannot be described as allergic because they do not show the changes in the immune system typical of allergy. No clear scientific explanation for these reactions has yet been found. Here I would like to propose what I personally believe happens. Many food phenols have strong antioxidant and detoxifying abilities. Any naturopath, homeopath or doctor versed in natural medicine will tell you that before making you feel better any detoxifier initially makes you feel worse. This happens because we all have various toxins stored in the tissues of our bodies. When a detoxifying substance is introduced it washes toxins out of storage sites into the blood stream to be conjugated, taken to elimination organs and excreted in urine, sweat or bile. For those couple of hours, while these toxins are floating in your blood, being dealt with by the body, they cause symptoms. Depending on the nature of the toxin and individual susceptibilities these symptoms can be very different. They can vary from headaches and behaviour abnormalities to skin rashes and sneezing. So, in effect, what is happening is that the phenols from the food are trying to “clean you up”. This phenomenon is called “detox reaction” or “Herxheimer reaction” and is typically observed in patients doing any detox programme. Stored toxicity does not just sit silently in the tissues of our bodies. It causes symptoms of chronic disease and lays down the ground for cancer formation. So detoxifying is an important thing to do. It has to be an ongoing process throughout our lives. Nature provided us with plenty of opportunity to do that by placing phenols and other powerful detox substances into all our foods.

GAPS children and adults are very toxic. Tests show that they store heavy metals, petrochemicals and other toxic substances in the tissues of their bodies, sometimes in frightening amounts. Many of these toxins are probably responsible for various physical and mental symptoms in GAPS patients. For example, there are great similarities in the clinical picture of acute poisoning with mercury, lead and other toxins, found in these patients, and the clinical picture of autism and psychosis. Based on these findings, there has been a lot of attention to heavy metal chelation in autism, the purpose of which is to take heavy metals out of the body. Anybody familiar with chelation knows that this process always involves the child going through a detox period, when autistic symptoms get worse and a lot of unpleasant new physical symptoms occur. Why? Because chelation drugs wash out stored heavy metals from the tissues into the blood to be taken out of the body. This “cleaning up” process causes symptoms, often quite severe.

There is no doubt that detoxification or elimination of toxic substances has to be an integral part of the treatment for GAPS patients. Natural phenols found in foods are Nature’s way of eliminating toxins from the body on a daily basis. So, the last thing we should do is to cut them out of the diet. Of course, in the process of “cleaning up” they will cause the “detox reaction”. Most phenols in the foods will not cause a severe reaction (unless the patient has a true allergy to a particular food). The child or adult may experience worsening of behaviour and sleep, more self-stimulation, more hyperactivity and mood swings. This period is temporary and most patients survive it very well. As the body starts to detoxify, the negative reaction usually goes away. If your GAPS child or adult is particularly sensitive to some food, cut it out of the diet for 4–6 weeks and then introduce it slowly, starting with tiny amounts and gradually increasing them. This way you can keep the detox reaction under control.