Review of Sources

In searching for the material for my argumentative paper, I came up with some information that I believe will be very valid in making the points.

The source that I believe best agrees with my argument is “Breaking the Vicious Cycle:Intestinal Health Through Diet.”. Even though the title implies that is all about intestinal health, it actually makes a link between a certain way of eating and the neurological system. It recommends a diet called “The Specific Carbohydrate Diet” which is essentially a meat, vegetable and fruit based diet. It describes the way that carbohydrates break down into glucose in your body, and the way the glucose affects your nervous system, potentially increasing the symptoms of autism. My doctor gave me this book because of some neurological symptoms I was exhibiting as a child, and it has showed me the importance of a healthy mind through a healthy diet.

The source that disagrees with my argument is called “Primary Care Approaches. Diet and Child Behavior Problems: Fact or Fiction?”. In this article, the author claims that diet does not affect children with ADHD and autism, and any changes in the child are due to placebo or change in parental discipline practices. They also state that parents are looking for “magic cures” for these diseases instead of focusing on the “successful treatment [through] educational, behavioral and parental interventions.”

My favorite source is “Autism and Diet: Is There a Connection?”. The author of this article, William L. Wilson, shows different scenarios of how diet can affect autism, as either a trigger, a secondary trigger, or even an overlapping brain disorder. He assumes an unbiased stance on the subject, taking into account research from both sides of the argument and current, indefinite studies. He also looks into a study showing that there could be a common pathological process between brain disorders, including ADHD, anxiety disorders and OCD. He proposes the idea of a disease called Carbohydrate Associated Reversible Brain syndrome (CARB), claiming that our recent changes in modern diet could be triggering neurological symptoms, or in his words “Adding gas to a fire.”.

Overall, I am happy with my selection of sources, and if I end up changing any of them, it will be to narrow my argument in order to concentrate on a more specific aspect of the topic.

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