Marmite and ASD/biomed

[sphil]

Those of you with children with ASD on specific dietary or biomed regimes - do you/would you avoid Marmite? I ask because DS2 has been sticking his fingers onto my toast and licking them (lovely!) - it's so unusual for him to try something new that I wondered if I could give it to him occasionally? Do you think it's a no-no because of the yeast? I need your marmitey views please

We give it, it'sfull of B vits and nobody ever suggested to avoid it.

We were told to avoid the things on the lists, and then anything they became overly fixated on- as that can be a sign of intolerance- realted cravings.

Amrmte is esp.good I would think as you can get all manner o things in that taste, and use in stocks etc to expand

We ahven't followed a yeat free diet though, Just salicylate and GF / CF

I avoid (mostly because I hate it )

Seriously, I avoid in the same way i avoid stocks etc. I did give dd1 some marmite rice cakes once, and she reacted, so i steered clear after that.

Yeast could be an issue, as could the extracts (msg), and also the added vitamins, as could be contamination issues.

On the other hand, it is a great source of B vitamins, and you use such a tiny bit that it could well be worth a go?

Not on any diet ( so probably irrelevant to your question) but I well remember the days of coating everything in Marmite.. Happy Days ! I love it too I must admit

Well, could be a coincidence but...
gave him some bread and Marmite when he came home from school yesterday. This morning we couldn't get him up - then we had to rush for school - he was v groggy and wouldn't eat breakfast. But was this because of the rushing or the Marmite???

This is the problem with assessing reactions to foodstuffs - there's always so many other factors to take into account.

sphil
I know that Marilyn Le Breton (who wrote Diet Intervention and autism and helps run AiA) always suggests that parents remove it because it has a negative effect almost universally.

Oh - I rate her, so will probably avoid it. Thanks Pagwatch

My nephew who is also somewhere on the spectrum will only actually eat marmite and dairylea (together) in his sandwiches. I think it is a craving because of the yeast.