With every child being different, it is hard to say where to start with supplementation. So lets break it down a bit. There are 3 goals involved in giving supplements, to improve general health, to treat issues and to treat the underlying problems. In this series we will look at these goals, one at a time. This post will deal with general health and obtaining nutrients.

One of, if not the, greatest obstacles to most children with autism’s health is the inability to properly digest food to obtain the nutrients. To answer this problem there are a few options. One is to introduce enzymes to break down the foods, another is to give foods that are easier to digest and another strategy is to supplement the vitamins and minerals they are not getting. The most successful approach seems to be to do all three.

So which Enzymes?

I personally like Houston enzymes. I give Sophie TriEnza which is a mix of the 3 main enzymes offered by the company. One enzyme takes care of the proteins for gluten and casein, one that helps with phenols and also breaks down the hard shell of yeast making it easier to kill and one that takes care of everything else. There are plenty of other brands of enzymes people have success with. Some children will not be able to tolerate trienza so you can try the 3 enzymes from houston seperately or try a different brand. Enzyme Stuff has great info.

I personally know a woman whose child was showing autistic symptoms, not officially diagnosed, but all of the symptoms stopped after beginning houston enzymes. She now has a totally neurotypical child.

That doesn’t heal your child, proceed to step 2

Diet

The gluten free/casein free(gf/cf) diet has caused many miraculous recovery stories. You can read some of these stories here http://www.gfcfdiet.com/Successstories.htm. Many people end up avoiding many other foods because they also cause problems for their child. The yahoo group GFCF Kids. Provides wonderful support of the diet and all other issues of biomedical treatment.

Supplementing for health

A good multivitamin, especially one designed specifically for children with autism, is a great way to help support a child’s nutritional needs. Kirkman’s labs has a very popular multi called Super Nu Thera. Super Nu Thera is formulated with very high amount of vitamin B and magnesium which enhances the effects of b vitamins. It was made for children with autism by request of the Autism Research Institute in the late 60’s.

Another popular multivitamin is made by Brain Child Nutritionals. I do not have personal experience with their products, but have heard good things. Another option is Juice Plus. This was to me by our DAN doctor.

One issue many parents experience is children with autism often have problems tolerating many different foods, vitamins, supplements and minerals. Many children will not be able to handle multivitamins. This was the case with Sophie. As an alternative, I had to buy vitamins and minerals separately and give them one at a time to make sure she could tolerate them.

When she didn’t tolerate something, the reaction would be huge melt downs. She would cry an yell and be extremely emotional. It sounds a little like die off from yeast or bacteria, but if you experience both with your child you will be able to tell the difference. This is more extreme then die off.

Buy everything in trial size or ask for free samples from the companies. If you have to go the route I did with trying one vitamin at a time, look at the ingredients of a multi and use it as a list of things to try.

One more quick note, B vitamins have been known to make children hyper, sometimes no phenol enzymes will help with that.

Now that I have all that out of the way I will start discussing the other supplements that are recommended for children with autism one at a time in this series, Supplements for Autism.

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