Dr. Sears and Autism

Post Reply New Topic

Dr. Sears was on the radio today and said autism is or most likely caused by eating processed foods, not vaccines. He said that children are getting these diseases that they are not getting vaccines for because of the parents fears of autism.

Has anyone heard the theory of autism being caused by processed food?

Autism is the bogeyman. The urban legend. The cautionary tale. If you do this thing, autism will steal your child away!

Disgusting, really.

Autism is not a disease. If it was a disease, I would have died in infancy or toddlerhood.

That is ridiculous. My mother always feed us chickens from the back yard and fruits and vegetables from the garden. We hardly got stuff from the American stores. Also my father was a diabetic and had high cholesterol so our diet excluded anything that might be bad for him. And I still have Asperger's. My uncle ate way healthier than us and he had classic autism.

Just to be clear here the Dr Sears you are referring to is probably Dr Bob Sears, not Dr William Sears. Dr William "Bill" Sears has written many books on attachment parenting and condones a natural lifestyle. Dr Bob is his son and has gone very pro-biomed and DAN and would probably make the statements you are referring to. Dr. Bob has a book coming out on Autism which condones a biomed approach to "curing" Autism. Although the younger Dr Sears has much less educational and professional merit and comes across as a quack, the older Dr Sears is a respected Pediatrician in my opinion.

Where did Dr. Sears get that idea? A catalog?

Did Dr Sears give any evidence for this theory?

I've heard the theory about processed foods, but more in connection with allergies and autism. There are contradicting opinions as to whether individuals with autism are more likely to have food allergies or not.

Before I started thinking that I might have Asperger's, I would tell people that I felt almost autistic when I had a bad allergic reaction to certain foods. My hypersensitivity is off the charts, my speech and thought patterns are severely limited, I exhibit a marked decrease in motor function, and I feel like my brain is totally misfiring when this occurs. When I am not having an allergic reaction, these symptoms are somewhat more manageable. I also am allergic to a couple of vaccines, but from what I have read, it's more that my body mistakes the proteins in those serums for one of the food proteins I am allergic to.

So in all actuality, I don't think that processed foods cause it, but I do think that more people have food allergies than are diagnosed. Along with that, undiagnosed allergies and sensitivities can exacerbate almost any problem.

Sounds about as likely as it being due to TV, video games, or "our fast-paced modern lifestyles."

I just thought eating processed food just made you contispated. Maybe autism is just constipation? I'd be unable to communicate while, well, you know.

Yawn. More propaganda. You think autism would get some serious study but it's obviously more useful as a fear tactic. Still it made me smile.