I just had a HUGE aha moment.

SSE posted this in another thread.

It's kinda scary - especially when you realize that all the thousands of additives in our food supply have NEVER been tested for neurotoxicity - not alone or in any combinations. There are thousands of artificial flavorings, for example, and almost NONE of them have even been tested for safety .... and the few that have been don't look so good, since they suppress liver enzymes and do other nasty stuff. That problem was solved by deciding that the rest of them should NOT be tested. It's called the "de minimus principle" -- a little bit can't hurt.


I did not know there is connection to suppressing liver enzymes.

This has been my next step in treating my son. I think of it as frosting my feingold cake.

A little over a month ago I started to wonder if my son was having an enzyme problem. Mostly because he has a tough time with gluten. This prompted me to look into enzymes.

When I researched enzymes I learned that enzymes are in bile, which is excreted by the liver. The bile colors stool.

I found this interesting. When my son was younger, he had diarrhea constantly. Eventually it went away, however his stool has always been yellow and kind of fluffy looking. I mentioned it to the doctor awhile back, but she wasn't concerned.

Now I am learning that bile is essentially what colors the stool, and bile is what has the enzymes in it. So to me it seems like it's all connected. He is not getting enough enzymes to break down his food properly.

I hope that made sense.

Does this mean his enzyme problem could be the result of artificial ingredients? If so I wonder if it's temporary.

BTW he has been taking the enzymes for a month now, and I think he is benefitting from them. The occasional behaviors that he had left seem even less. He also seemed to make another jump in reading and writing.

I thought that was interesting. Any thoughts?

Tilly, you may well be on to something with your son's symptoms. When you heal the guts, you heal your mind (and the rest of you for that matter). I know this can go off in another direction from Feingold, and I don't want to derail here, but this is definitely in line with some of the goals that Feingold members are trying to reach:

http://www.loveyourbelly.com/resources/gut.html

"In Gut and Psychology Syndrome, British neurologist and nutritionist Natasha Campbell-McBride, MD reveals the connection between the gut flora — the microorganisms in the digestive tract — and the brain.Campbell-McBride illuminates the gut's vital role in supporting the full range of our mental and physical health. Her findings relate to both children and adults."


She is just one of many who are treating the guts with this philosophy, and the one I am most familiar with. Interesting stuff. My sister-in-law is close to a family with an autistic boy who is now mainstream after a year of managing with diet therapy such as this.

Does this mean his enzyme problem could be the result of artificial ingredients? If so I wonder if it's temporary.



Since his exposure to artificial ingredients is not recent, I would think any problem now is not related to them. I would think any such suppression would be temporary and would resolve after a while of no longer getting those chemicals.

There are, also, many many enzymes - in fact not all of them have even been identified. Genetic factors or neurotoxic exposures to unknown environmental chemical could certainly be involved. And perhaps some damage is not temporary. For example, I went to college at Penn State in the 1960's (the time of Silent Spring by Rachel Carson) when birds were falling over dead all over our campus because of pesticide spraying. My sister went to the same college. We both married unrelated men from the same college. Both our husbands developed Graves Disease (the thyroid is very sensitive to toxins). ALL our children have ADHD to varying extents - that's my 3 and her 4 kids. None of our parents have any ADHD-type problem. We were okay. So where did all this genetic stuff come from? Were we poisoned somehow at college? To my knowledge no followup has ever been done to see what happened to the other 24,000 kids at that campus from those years.

Meanwhile, to get back on the subject, many parents of ADHD kids and autistic kids report that digestive enzymes help them. It may be some sort of metabolic problem many of them have; that may even explain why some seem to require more than the usual amounts of certain B-vitamins. This is kind of out of my league here, and I have not studied it, but if you are seeing an improvement, you are likely on the right path. The only word of warning I would sound is to try and find a knowledgeable health care professional or nutritionist who understands this sort of treatment; we parents can get into trouble by using too much of one particular supplement in our zeal to help, resulting in further imbalance in the long run. Remember to give supplements and enzymes the same attention and respect you would give any other drug.

Tilly, you may well be on to something with your son's symptoms. When you heal the guts, you heal your mind (and the rest of you for that matter).

Very interesting observation. One of the important enzymes used in the brain is phenol sulfotransferase - it is made in the gut and needed in the brain as well as the gut. I'm sure it's not the only one, either.

One of the problems the UK gastroenterologist, Dr. Wakefield, was seeing in autism was a very sick gut wall - what he called tonsilar tissue, I believe, which was very inflamed. Looking at the photos of it makes one wonder how the poor kids manage any metabolism at all.

When the suppression of liver enzymes due to artificial colorings was first brought up, I tried, but couldn't get any hits of Google that would give me some information. I did eventually find very technical information about liver enzymes.

Wow! I had no idea there were so many cures for Autism. A Google for digestive enzymes brought up a lot of hits from people trying to sell books and treatment plans. More here on digestive enzymes.

http://www.autism-help.org/intervention-secretin-digestive-enzymes.htm

No rigorous scientific studies have shown benefit in treating Autism Spectrum Disorders with the administration of digestive enzymes. A clinical trial did report that around 15% of subjects experienced significant side-effects form using digestive enzymes as a treatment (Brudnak, Rimland, & Kerry 2002).

I think, I am truly glad someone mentioned enzymes. Symptoms listed are what I've been having going on with me. Waiting till payday, then going to see if I can find some. Not sure if I should look at pharmacy or health food store, but it's worth a shot if it makes me feel better.

The link and information that I had posted was not specifically working with enzymes, tho that may be a part of it, I don't recall. It has to do with removing allergens/sensitivites/irritants in the diet (part of what Feingold does), allowing the guts to heal (one being leaky gut), the flora to reestablish, and for healthy metabolism and digestive processes to be regained.

I think, I am truly glad someone mentioned enzymes. Symptoms listed are what I've been having going on with me. Waiting till payday, then going to see if I can find some. Not sure if I should look at pharmacy or health food store, but it's worth a shot if it makes me feel better.

Mary, you may want to do this under a physician who can direct you, such as a naturopathic physician or clinical nutritionist. :) That's my 2 cents.

Mary,
I got some help from an autism group. I didn't end up following their advise, because the enzymes they reccomended were in the form of a pill and my son doesn't do pills. They all reccomended enzymedica and houston neutraceudicals. I don't know how to say this the proper way, but they base their choice on the amount of enzymes in a product and I believe the value.

I ended up getting a children's product, which they said might not be strong enough. But at least my son will take it.

You can also get a powder, but my son did not like the taste. I didn't think it tasted that bad.

Lots of info on enzymestuff.com

How would you go about finding a doctor who buys into enzymes and supplements. Do I need to go to a holistic doctor, or would there be a regular doctor who does this?

I kind of feel like a doctor would laugh at me if I bring up enzymes.

If there is enough interest in digestive aspects, we could/should start another thread. Anyone game?

If there is enough interest in digestive aspects, we could/should start another thread. Anyone game?

Sent a request to have the posts moved that concern enzymes. :)