By KIM MORGAN FOR THE CHRONICLE

Feb. 17, 2010, 1:48PM

“Very nasty, very foul odor and full of undigested food particles,” said Houston resident Michelle Groogan of her then 18-month-old son's bowel movement. “It was the classic autism poop.”

Garrett was diagnosed with autism when he was 2, and Michelle Groogan began researching ways to ease her son's digestive issues, which she felt were autism-related. It wasn't long before she came across the Gluten Free Casein Free, or GFCF, diet.

Gluten is a protein found in wheat, rye, barley and oats. Casein is the protein in cow's milk, as well as all mammalian milk.

“It was very overwhelming,” Groogan said. “I mean, everything has gluten and dairy in it.”

Groogan said health food stores and grocery stores such as Whole Foods make it easier to find GFCF foods, but it comes with sticker shock. She spends about $75 a week on Garrett's food, the same amount she spends for food for the rest of the family.

“We had nothing to lose by trying it,” Groogan said. “Within a few months we started seeing normal stools. When his digestive system was feeling better, we noticed he picked up more language.”

Garrett, now 6, has been on the diet for more than three years.

“It certainly hasn't healed him completely,” Groogan said, “But we're not ready to stop the diet any time soon.”

Katherine Loveland, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and director of the Center for Human Development Research at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston, said the American Academy of Pediatrics released a statement recently that said it's possible that kids with autism have some problems that are related to gastric disturbances, but they do not see evidence that this is a cause of autism.

“That does not mean it might not be important,” Loveland said. “The percentage of kids with autism that has gastrointestinal difficulties can be 10 percent or 70 percent depending whom you study and how you study them. So it's not clear how many of them have it, or how many are relieved of it through diet.”

Anecdotally, for some, the proof is in the pudding.

“The observer is biased,” Loveland said. “That's one possibility. Or it could be that the child did have some gastric distress, pain they were not able to report, and the child is now more comfortable day to day, and therefore feeling better, so behaving better. To put it simply, it's complicated.”

Sugar Land resident Scott Jackson said he heard about the diet after his son Tyler was diagnosed with autism when he was 2.

“It seemed to be the first question people asked when they found out about Tyler's diagnosis,” Jackson said. “We decided to give it a try because just like every family desperately looking for ways to help their child, we will try most things that can help, with or without proof.”

Tyler, now 5, spent about 10 weeks on the diet without any noticeable improvement, Jackson said.

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