Nutrition Care and Autism
NCPA - Nutrition Care Process for Autism - is simple and effective.
Children with autism have nutrition problems and gastrointestinal issues more often than their typical peers (click here for rebuttal to the recent study in Pediatrics that claims this is not true). This makes their developmental challenges even deeper. All children benefit from being in normal nutrition status, and NCPA works to restore it for those with autism.
Decades of reliable data illustrate that even small shortages for various nutrients can impair learning, growth, and development in typical children. NCPA troubleshoots this, and restores normal appetite, normal absorption, normal bowel function, and normal status for individual nutrients. When these things are in tact, all children function better, learn better, feel better, and grow better.
NCPA restores adequate and appropriate sources for calories, proteins, fats, and carbohydrates; corrects essential mineral deficits; chooses which vitamins might best suit your child for therapeutic dosing; balances bowel bacteria; and can refer to qualified professionals to help your child use gentle methods to remove toxic heavy metals like lead, mercury, or aluminum. This care can accommodate users of a variety of special diets.
Ultimately, NCPA's goal is to help your child tolerate a less restricted diet with no ill effects. If your child has used a special diet for more than a year and is still requiring a complex set of dietary restrictions, supplements, and biomedical treatments, something may be missing from your intervention. Schedule a consult to see if NCPA will put the pieces together for your child so you can simplify food intakes and see better results.
Click here if you would like to read more about autism, bowel disease, and nutrition.
Do I need lab tests?
No, you do not need lab tests to begin NCPA. Child nutrition assessment begins with a comprehensive review of medical history, growth data, and food intake data. Lab data may be helpful, but is not necessarily required to begin an effective care plan. While many Defeat Autism Now doctors, naturopaths, and functional medicine MDs may require a battery of lab tests before seeing your child, NCPA does not require families to outlay hundreds or thousands of dollars for up front lab studies. Standards of care for child nutrition assessment require more than lab tests, because lab tests alone don't fully describe a child's nutrition care needs and concerns. See FAQs for more information.