My husband and I watched a fascinating documentary on David Suzuki’s, The Nature of Things on CBC this weekend. It was about the latest in autism research that shows that gut health may be the link. Some parents are already putting this into action with gluten/dairy free diets for their autistic children.

This documentary also brings up illnesses in infants and the onset of autism with anecdotal information from different parents of autistic children. It is especially poignant for those whose children were developing normally and then autism took over.

Rob has always felt that our youngest daughter’s life-threatening food allergies were created by an unknown illness just before she turned 1 when she was in Pediatric Intensive Care in the Isolation Wing and she was dosed with massive amounts of antiobiotics. Her food allergic reactions showed up shortly after that. Watching this documentary just gave him even stronger feelings that he is correct.

Here is the link to watch the documentary online at CBC:
Autism Enigma

Defeat Autism Now is an approach to treating autism backed by the Autism Research Institute that suggests autism cannot be cured but that symptoms can be managed based on the latest scientific research.  The West Coast Conference begins October 7.  If you’d like to learn more about this approach,  you can check out the website at:  http://www.autism.com/

Shows like The Natural Products Expo West in Anaheim last month can be a little overwhelming.  Open only to those in the natural products industry (stores, distributors, manufacturers, media, etc.), not the general public, it’s hard to share with you the vast size and amazing diversity of items available at these shows.  There is everything from allergy friendly foods to organic skin care to vitamins and pet food.

But while there were some wonderful new products to discover, I found an underlying bandwagon at the show:  gluten free.  New market research shows that 1 out of every 10 new products introduced this year will have a gluten free claim.  Some of this is good, some not so.  Read more »