Definition
Antigluten therapy is the elimination of gluten from the body by dieting and/or supplemental enzymes. This entry will examine enzyme supplements that break down gluten. (For elimination diets, see “Gluten-Free Diet.”)
Historical Background
In 1979, Jaak Panksepp hypothesized that the symptoms of autism may be caused by an opiate excess, although he was unsure how such an excess might come about. Starting in the 1980s, some investigators reported abnormal peptide concentrations in the urine of children with autism and proposed that enzyme deficiencies caused this abnormality (Trygstad et al. 1980; Reichelt et al. 1981, 1990). Additionally, these investigators speculated that the abnormal peptide concentrations reflected abnormal levels of opioid peptides in the brain (Trygstad et al. 1980; Reichelt et al. 1981). More recently, Andrew Wakefield (Wakefield et al. 1998) described intestinal abnormalities in several children with autism and hypothesized that this abnormality...
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References and Readings
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Panksepp, J. (1979). A neurochemical theory of autism. Trends in Neurosciences, 2, 174–177.
Reichelt, K. L., Ekrem, J., & Scott, H. (1990). Gluten, milk proteins and autism: Dietary intervention effects on behaviour and peptide secretion. Journal of Applied Nutrition, 42, 1–11.
Reichelt, K. L., Hole, K., Hamberger, A., Saelid, G., Edminson, P. D., Braestrup, C. B., et al. (1981). Biologically active peptide-containing fractions in schizophrenia and childhood autism. Advances in Biochemical Psychopharmacology, 28, 627–643.
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Wakefield, A. J., Murch, S. H., Anthony, A., Linnell, J., Casson, D. M., Malik, M., et al. (1998). Illeal-lymphoid-nodular hyperplasia, non-specific colitis, and pervasive developmental disorder in children. The Lancet, 351, 637–641.
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Pilato, M. (2016). Antigluten Therapy. In: Volkmar, F. (eds) Encyclopedia of Autism Spectrum Disorders. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6435-8_1285-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6435-8_1285-3
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