Success story with enzyme treatment

Re: your April 2 Healthy Skeptic column on enzyme supplements [“Enzyme Tablet Claims Don’t Wash”], as the mother of an autistic boy, I know that many autistics are helped by digestive enzymes. My son had chronic diarrhea and enuresis until the age of 11 when we removed gluten and casein from his diet and began giving him digestive enzymes with every meal. Before this, he would wake up soaking wet every morning and was unable to control his toileting during the day. After we introduced the diet and enzymes, he became toilet trained.

I have heard and read many parents’ accounts of their autistic children benefiting from enzymes. Not only does digestion improve, but this also often impacts cognition, behavior and emotions.

I’m tired of the Health section of The Times cavalierly dismissing all alternative treatments. Yes, these treatments have not been studied enough. But you are leaving out half of the equation, which is that these remedies should be studied more.

I am also sick and tired of studies being referred to as if they are God’s word carved in stone, whereas parental/patient reports are dismissed as totally unreliable and not even worthy of investigation. Every few months, studies come out that refute other studies. The results of studies are influenced by statistical methodology, selection criteria, etc., which are influenced by who is funding the study. And studies tend to look at what works for the majority, not at what may work for a minority.

Yes, there is a lot of quack medicine out there. But I wish the “experts” such as those you quote would pay more attention to the legitimate information on alternative treatments.

TWYLA RAMOS

Glendale