by Steve Coldwell on August 12, 2010
People with celiac disease need to eat a gluten-free diet, but why are other consumers joining them?
The Hannaford store in Portland Maine recently expanded its Nature Place department –which used to include but a few shelves of gluten-free products– to a 40-foot area stocked with more than 500 items ranging from cookies to pasta sauce, all of them free of the protein that can pose real problems for people with celiac disease.
Oddly enough, the celiac disease population—the people who genuinely need gluten-free food—seem to have little to do with the current boom in gluten-free products.
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by administrator on August 8, 2010
by Melissa Jeltsen on August 3, 2010
While there’s currently no cure for autism spectrum disorders, experts agree that intensive behavioral therapies, like applied behavioral therapy (ABA), can make a huge difference. Research shows it needs to be intensive to be effective, to the tune of 20 hours a week. But in Massachusetts, insurance companies often don’t cover ABA and families must pay out of pocket for expensive therapies.
Now, the new autism insurance bill, signed by Governor Deval Patrick today, hopes to remedy that. “I really see this as a civil rights issue,” says Carolyn Bridgemohan, MD, of Children’s Hospital Boston’s Developmental Medicine Center. “This bill validates the rights of people with special needs to have fair and equal access to the health care that they need.” [click to continue…]
by Melissa Jeltsen on May 19, 2010
Eliminating wheat and dairy from a child with autism’s diet is a popular alternative therapy.
Families with kids with autism hear the stories. Someone’s child started stringing words together again, another could sleep through the night in peace. They are the holy grails in the autism world–therapies that, at least anecdotally, have improved lives of children with autism. And for families faced with few effective treatments, other than early behavioral intervention, they are often worth a shot.
One popular alternative treatment is a gluten-free/casein-free diet, known as the GFCF diet, where all gluten (a protein found in the seeds of several grains such as barley, rye and wheat) and casein (a protein found in dairy products) is eliminated. But recent evidence from the most controlled diet research in autism to date suggests that the GFCF diet doesn’t actually help. The University of Rochester study found that, for the 14 children monitored, a GFCF diet didn’t result in a change in sleep habits, bowel habits, activity or core symptoms of autism.
Leonard Rappaport, MD, MS, chief of Children’s Division of Developmental Medicine, says he’s been eagerly anticipating the results of this study. Even though he didn’t believe that the GFCF diet worked, he was still saddened by the study’s conclusion. “I was hoping I was wrong,” he says. [click to continue…]
by Tripp Underwood on April 30, 2010
Trips to the movies can be far more stressful than entertaining for many children with autism. The loud noises, big flashing images, and sudden change in lighting can be over stimulating— resulting in excessive excitement or anxiousness— and often times their reactions are met with glares and murmurs from fellow patrons who mistake their responses as “bad behavior.”
April is National Autism Awareness month. A year ago, in order to offer improved viewing experiences for kids with autism and their families, AMC Entertainment and the Autism Society teamed up to create “sensory friendly” movie screenings. The program is growing quickly. Initially sensory friendly screenings only occurred in a handful of theaters; now over 90 AMC cinemas throughout the country are participating.
“Some children with ASDs (autism spectrum disorders) can be quite sensitive to certain sensory stimuli and can be over-interested in, afraid of, or have an unusual reaction to the sight, sound, taste or feel of things,” says Ellen Hanson, PhD , a staff psychologist and lead researcher specializing in ASDs at Children’s Hospital Boston. [click to continue…]
by Tripp Underwood on April 28, 2010
According to data from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly all children who get the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine (more than 80%) will have no side effects. Still, despite scientific evidence, there are a growing number of parents who opt not to get their children vaccinated because they fear the vaccinations could be linked to autism.
Last night PBS aired Frontline: the Vaccine War, an in-depth journalistic look at vaccinations, and why some parents choose not to vaccinate their children.
As in most vaccination reports, the idea that there is a correlation between the mumps, measles and rubella vaccination and cases of autism was at the forefront of the discussion. The show has generated a good deal of debate about social responsibility versus parental choice, and is creating a stir on both sides of the vaccine issue.
The Frontline program is similar to a Thrive post from April 14, which looked at two separate outbreaks of measles in North America and the cost they posed to the public-at-large. Children’s Hospital Boston’s Ronald Samuels, MD, MPH discussed the vaccination controversy and his views on the subject.
by Childrens Hospital Boston staff on March 20, 2010
by Melissa Jeltsen on March 15, 2010
Very high-resolution microarrays such as this one, capable of spotting very small missing or extra pieces of DNA, have only become available within the past few years. Image courtesy of Agilent Technologies.
The cause of autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), the fastest growing developmental disability in the United States, is still a big mystery. While there’s clearly a genetic component, only 15 percent of people with autism have a known genetic cause. But researchers believe that a much larger percentage of autism can be chalked up to genetics. Now, Children’s Hospital Boston and Autism Consortium researchers have shown that a new genetic test, which samples the whole genome, may work three times better than standard tests.
Families expecting a child who have a family member with an ASD sometimes seek genetic testing to determine whether their baby is at risk. In a child who’s already affected, genetic testing can explain why the child has autism and let the parents know how likely it is that other children in the family could inherit the genetic risk for autism. [click to continue…]
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