20/11/2025
Today I have been trying to help a mum with a non-verbal son with (avoidant food restrictive disorder)
My belief is a starch rich diet is self-reinforcing as lack of gut diversity increases inflammation and autism presentation.
The plan we came up with was to gradually reduce starch (her son had a largely chip based diet) and increase protein using Huel protein (unflavoured) with coconut milk (which has Lauric acid, like breastmilk) and adding a powdered probiotics . I suggested breaking a capsule of Hey Nutrition probiotic complex.
I suggested doing this gradually as starving the yeast and harmful bacteria too quickly will cause a herxheimer (die off) reaction which can feel like bad flu and which will make her sonās behaviours temporarily worse.
By gradually reducing and replacing the unhelpful yeast and bacteria, inflammation levels should come down and her sonās autism presentation should improve.
I recommended Suckies yoghurts to increase fermented foods in his diet. Even though I think gluten and dairy can be inflammatory, fermented and as dairy is not as inflammatory.
You have to try to get the balance that works for you and your family.
Itās always difficult trying to advise for AFRID kids as I know firsthand how challenging mealtimes can be. By replacing hijacking safe foods (such as unflavoured Huel) with helpful probiotics, you can help tilt the balance of your childās gut microbiome, which might help them accept more nourishing foods, like chicken broth, soups, stews and fermented foods in future.
https://www.facebook.com/share/1JPNmzrWTn/?mibextid=wwXIfr
Three conditions. One surprising microbiome pattern.
A small but intriguing study has found that children with autism, ADHD, and anorexia share a similar imbalance in their gut microbiomes. These are very different conditions, yet the same microbial patterns kept showing up, raising questions about how closely the gut and brain might be linked.
Researchers in Slovakia analyzed stool samples from 117 children, including boys with autism, girls with anorexia, and children with ADHD, then compared them with neurotypical peers. Across all three groups, one signal stood out: a higher ratio of Bacteroidetes to Firmicutes, two dominant bacterial groups in the human gut. This shift has been seen before in inflammatory diseases, and has been linked to changes in metabolism, inflammation, and appetite regulation.
Microbial diversity was also lower in the autism and ADHD groups. Levels of Escherichia were elevated across conditions ā bacteria that normally coexist with us but can cause problems when they grow out of balance. Children with ADHD and girls with anorexia had more Desulfovibrio, microbes that thrive in lowānutrient environments and can contribute to inflammation. Meanwhile, both groups showed reduced Faecalibacterium, a bacterium usually abundant in healthy guts and often depleted in chronic inflammatory disorders.
These similarities may partly reflect diet. Children with autism and ADHD often have sensoryādriven food restrictions, while anorexia involves purposeful restriction. Limited diets can narrow microbial diversity, and that imbalance can, in turn, worsen mental health ā creating a feedback loop between gut and brain.
The study is small, and researchers caution against firm conclusions. But it hints at a shared biological thread running through conditions we usually treat as separate, and suggests the gut may play a bigger role in childhood mental health than we once realized.
