Probiotic for autistic children

Different Diets, Same Autism (Probiotics and Autism)

There have been many rumors circulating that a change in diet can help a child with autism cope with his or her surroundings. There are some grains of truth to this, but it should be kept in mind that even regular people can have a change in behavior and mood when they change their diets. The latest rumor running in autism circles is about the effect of probiotics. Here is the cold, hard truth. Children with autism often have poor diets, not because their parents don’t do everything they can to get them to eat healthy, but because autistic kids get stuck on certain foods and won’t eat anything else. There is also the problem of food textures and spices, which some kids with autism are extremely sensitive to, and therefore they simply won’t even try a lot of foods that may be healthier or could vary their diets more.

What this adds up to is a digestive system that does not run as smoothly as intended. Kids with autism often have constipation because they refuse to eat vegetables or fruits. They are hard-wired to consume carbs, although it is not certain why. Since you definitely do not want to give your kids laxatives all the time, some parents are wondering about the effects of probiotics.

What are Probiotics

Probiotics is a fancy word that describes the healthy bacteria in the human intestines. When it is properly balanced, you feel great and your bowel movements are regular and normal in consistency. It is completely natural to take probiotic supplements to aid digestion, and it can help your child with autism regulate his or her little system.

The thing is, it is not a fancy diet to follow nor is it a change in lifestyle. In fact, if your child does not have a lactose intolerance and is not sensitive to dairy products, he or she can get all the probiotics he or she needs simply by consuming one to two servings of yogurt daily. You do not have to overextend yourself financially buying probiotic supplements to give your child.

Can probiotics help autism

The drawback to this line of thinking is that probiotics can cure autism or that it dramatically improves the challenging behaviors of autism. It cannot be stressed enough that probiotics are not a cure-all, nor are they going to completely eliminate problematic behaviors. Will your child feel better and because he or she feels better behave better? Absolutely, but anyone eating yogurt or taking a daily probiotic supplement will. Correlation is not causation, and vice versa.

Plain and simple, when your child is not struggling to create a BM and then empty his or her system of that BM, he or she will be more comfortable, content, and less challenging. There is nothing wrong with trying this approach, especially if you notice your child has infrequent BM’s or really hard/hard to pass stools. What will ease their gut will ease some of their distress and in turn ease some behavior, but not all.

“Omega-3 fatty acids supplementation for autism spectrum disorders (asd)“