Specific carbohydrate diet

Origins

In 1924, Sidney V. Haas (1870–1964) described the first SCD for the treatment of children with celiac disease; this was known as the banana diet. Haas described a trial with 10 children; all 8 children treated with bananas went into remission, and the two control children died. Before the banana SCD, one out of four children with celiac died.

The diet was later re-popularized by biochemist Elaine Gottschall, the mother of one of Haas's patients, in her 1996 book Breaking the Vicious Cycle. Gottschall advocated using SCD to treat Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, diverticulitis, cystic fibrosis, chronic diarrhea, and autism.

Unconfirmed claims

The claims that the SCD is beneficial for children with autism are based on the supposition they have too much harmful bacteria in their gut. Parents adopting the SCD for their children are at risk of experiencing guilt when their expectations of improvement are dashed. The SCD is one of many unevidenced treatments offered for children with special needs that have the characteristic signs of being pseudoscientific.

A 2013 review on SCD and other exclusion diets concluded: "However, we lack large prospective controlled trials to provide the dietary recommendations patients’ desire. Taken together, studies of exclusive enteral nutrition, exclusion diets, and semi-vegetarian diets suggest that minimizing exposure of the intestinal lumen to selected food items may prolong the remission state of patients with inflammatory bowel disease. Even less evidence exists for the efficacy of the SCD, FODMAP, or Paleo diet. " It also said that the diet risks imposition of an undue financial burden and potentially causes malnutrition.

there was preliminary evidence that the SCD may help relieve the symptoms of adults with inflammatory bowel disease.

The Gut and Psychology Syndrome Diet (GAPS Diet) is an even more restrictive variant of the SCD, devised by a Russian neurologist. The diet is promoted with claims it can treat a wide variety of conditions including autism, schizophrenia and epilepsy. and Quackwatch includes the GAPS Diet in its Index of questionable treatments.

References

References

1. (October 2014). "Diet and inflammatory bowel disease: review of patient-targeted recommendations". Clin. Gastroenterol. Hepatol..
2. (December 1, 1964). "Dr. Sidney Valentine Haas Dies". The New York Times.
3. (Summer 2007). "A Brief History of Celiac Disease". Impact: The University of Chicago Celiac Disease Center, Summer 2007.
4. (2008). "Frontiers in celiac disease". Karger.
5. Fitzgibbon EJ. (1998). "Breaking the Vicious Cycle. Intestinal Health Through Diet". Journal of Nutritional & Environmental Medicine.
6. (2010). "Does evidence exist to include dietary therapy in the treatment of Crohn's disease?". [[Expert Review of Gastroenterology & Hepatology]].
7. "Nutritional interventions for autism spectrum disorder". Nutrition Reviews.
8. Deisinger JA. (2010). "Chapter 14: Scientifically unsupported treatments for students with special needs". Emerald.
9. Levy SE, Hyman SL. (2005). "Novel treatments for autistic spectrum disorders.". Ment Retard Dev Disabil Res Rev.
10. Kakodkar S, Mutlu EA. (2017). "Diet as a Therapeutic Option for Adult Inflammatory Bowel Disease.". Gastroenterol Clin North Am.
11. Connor Z. (2015). "Autism spectrum disorders". John Wiley & Sons.
12. Hall HA. (7 May 2013). "GAPS Diet". Science-based medicine.
13. Hall HA. (7 May 2013). "GAPS Diet". Science-based medicine.
14. (3 September 2018). "Index of questionable treatments". Quackwatch.