Autism Treatment – Curcumin and Phenol Sensitivity in Autism

I’d like to talk a little about phenol sensitivities and the use of curcumin, or turmeric, products. What I have seen is children with Autism who make improvements using products like Enhansa and turmeric, curcumin being the active ingredient in both. The belief is that curcumin has both anti-bacterial and anti-fungal effects, which it has been shown to do. Curcumin is also an anti-inflammatory which could also be very helpful for children on the Autism spectrum. In addition, there is mounting data to suggest that curcumin also raises glutathione levels. So, you can see that curcumin has many different benefits which could manifest as improvements in children with Autism.

But, for some children with phenol sensitivities, even supplements with high phenols can cause reactions. What are phenols? They are chemicals that are found in many, many different types of foods and are especially found in artificial flavors and colors. A child with phenol sensitivity can become hyperactive after exposure, or can become irritable or suffer from over stimulation. So anything containing phenols, including supplements, that cause reactions may need to be stopped. So if you have given your child a supplement with curcumin, like Enhansa or other turmeric supplements, and you see these reactions like hyperactivity, irritability or over stimulation, the issue could be phenol reactivity. These reactions don’t mean that there is anything wrong with the supplement but your child’s body may have a hard time processing phenols.

With phenol reactions to supplements, I very often will ask the parents to stop giving that supplement for several days to see whether the reaction subsides and it usually will. Many times if a parent begins to see a phenol reaction from a supplement, or maybe they already know that their child has phenol sensitivities, they will stop the supplement to give the reaction a chance to go away, then they can restart the supplement but with the addition of an enzyme called No Phenol. No Phenol is made by Houston Enzyme and aids in the processing of phenols in the body. While some children react very positively to No Phenol, others still have to be careful about phenol exposure and it varies by each child. You have to try it and see how your child reacts and whether using the enzymes is enough of a help. Some children are very able to tolerate Enhansa and other turmeric supplements by using No Phenol along with them. I consider supplements with curcumin to be effective for many children with Autism and if you want more information on them you can look at my website www.autismactionplan.com where I have a lot of information on specifically Enhansa, or do other online searches as well. I believe them to be very worthwhile supplements for many children with Autism, but it is wise to understand the phenol reaction possibility.