Customer Reviews

Healing the New Childhood Epidemics: Autism, ADHD, Asthma, and Allergies: The Groundbreaking Program for the 4-A Disorders

5 star:		(81)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

Dr. Bock has done a FANTASTIC job of explaining why the rates of these 4 diseases have gone up and how we can help to heal our kids who have them. Since we're all focused on helping our kids, here are the 4 parts of his healing program: 1) Nutritional Therapy, 2) Supplementation Therapy, 3) Detoxification, 4) Medication, and Putting these 4 therapies together. The 4 changes that he feels strongly have caused these diseases to now effect 1 in every 3 kids are: 1) Toxins Proliferated (in the air, oceans, foods, etc.), 2) Nutrition Deteriorated (fast foods and processed foods), 3) Vaccinations Increased (doubled since 1991), 4) Ability to Detoxify dwindled (methylation and sulfation damage or not working properly).

This is a great book for those who are just starting down the road of Autism, ADHD, Asthma or Allergies. It is NOT however, the book that old timers who have been doing Biomedical for years will get much from. It is similar to Jacqueline McCandless' book "Children with Starving Brains" but with much more explanation and details behind it and a great approach that goes beyond just one of the four epidemics.

If you have to choose just one book for a new parent to read to get them off the ground and jumping towards Biomedical approaches for their child's A-disease, this is it.

My 3 year old son was diagnosed with autism at 20 months and has been Dr. Bock's patient for 1 1/2 years. His book is a miracle for all parents with children on the autism spectrum or related diagnoses. His treatment is simple yet extraordinary in bringing about changes and recovery in children. My son was mute, violent, refused to eat or sleep before Dr. Bock's treatment- now, 1 1/2 years later, he's ready to be mainstreamed into preschool. He has performed miracles with my son, simply by recognizing the root causes of my son's condition and treating it simply through diet, supplement therapy and removing metals. He makes no promises, but I can tell you from our experience that he has truly worked miracles for my son and our family!

We have been working with Dr. Bock for about four years and our son (now 18 years old) who is considered to be "on the spectrum" (most said Asperger's; some said PDD-NOS)has made tremendous strides.
When I went to my first DAN! Conference in 2004 what immediately surprised me was how the doctors who spoke said it was the parents--not the doctors--who need to take charge of their children's treatment and healing programs. Highly effective doctors like Dr. Bock are very much in demand. Appointments are made months in advance and then you have only so much time with the doctor--not that he doesn't want to give you more time but so many other patients are waiting! Therefore a parent needs to get as much understanding of what the problems are, what the treatments are supposed to do and how they work. Fortunately there are books like this as well as the internet that can provide this vitally needed education. It is clear that there is no one single cause of autism and as a result, no two autistic children are exactly alike.
When it comes to autism there are some treatments that aim at treating the effect while others aim at treating the cause. However, it is only the latter that truly promote healing. Healing a child's autism is not like treating an infection with antibiotics. Using natural treatments--vitamin mineral, herbal, enzyme, and nutritional supplements as well as dietary changes and hyperbaric oxygen can result in significant progress but the natural healing process, unlike treating with drugs, is painstakingly slow. Our son's digestion was also helped by another doctor, who gave him a homeopathic remedy.
We know that over time all cells in the body are replaced by new ones and my aim and hope is always that any defective cells in the brain or elsewhere be replace by new, healthy ones. This cell replacement process continues throughout life and so I believe there is hope for older people as well. In addition, we try to eat a natural diet and avoid nutritionally useless junk food. It's all been costly and we've pretty much have had to pay out of pocket for everything. But the fact that our son now has friends and is looking forward to going to college next year is for us priceless.
I know parents of autistic children who are either demanding that the government do something for them or else they sit around feeling sorry for themselves. There are always things WE can and should do. As for the government, it takes a lot more than it gives and makes us into a nation of guinea pigs by allowing all kinds of toxins into our foods and our environment in general. We all know a spoonful of arsenic can kill you, yet the government allows small quantities of arsenic in chicken feed. Is that going to do anyone any good? As for vaccinations, Americans should know that the government of Japan, the country with the world's highest life expectancy (unlike the U.S., which is around No. 48), banned the MMR vaccine in 1994.
In conclusion, this is an excellent book for families of children affected by any of the new childhood epidemics, as Dr. Bock refers to them. Also all couples who are expecting or planning to have children in the future should at least read the part about vaccines.

With all the five-star reviews on this book, I set my expectations too high. On the plus side, Dr. Bock's after-the-fact suggestions are undoubtedly helpful, although he handicaps the advice by common myths.

Firstly, he repeatedly attacks saturated fats (e.g., Page 178, "Similarly, it's important to avoid foods that are pro-inflammatory, such as the trans-fatty acids found in margarine and other saturated fats" and, Page 182, "Food. It is often a major contributor to inflammation, specifically if is is high in saturated fat"). Per Julie Matthews, a renowned expert on autism nutrition, "Clinical research shows that both saturated fat and cholesterol are essential for growth in babies, especially for healthy brain development" and "[There have been] decades of incorrect nutrition information on fats fed to the public by almost all mainstream nutrition sources".

Dr. Bock is one of sources of disinformation. This disinformation leads inevitably to mothers on bagel and fruit fat-free diets; then, made unable to breastfeed, with the blessings of their pediatricians, they give harmful omega-6 loaded soy based formulas to their infants; and finally they ween their children to cereal and fruit juice centric diets. (Dr. Bock missed the fact that the increasing levels of gluten in today's popular wheat varieties contribute to the timing of these epidemics. And, he missed the fact that the excess omega-6 fats in soy-based formula are often harmful to the liver and thus impair digestion.)

Anyhow, the saturated fat scare that Dr. Bock repeats (although not hysterically himself) is a significant root cause of the autism epidemic. Firstly, the necessary fats are mostly absent, and secondly the grains wreck the gut, making the children particularly vulnerable to toxins that healthy guts easily chelate. (And the high blood glucose and insulin levels caused by the carbohydrate intensive diet are damaging as well).

While Bock correctly accuses Food Inc (as so well depicted in Food Inc.: A Participant Guide: How Industrial Food is Making Us Sicker, Fatter, and Poorer-And What You Can Do About It) of being a primary cause of autism (p. 18), Bock attacks sugar lightly. Sugar is the flagship ingredient of manufactured food, and sugar is indisputably harmful for everyone in any quantity.

Another missed factor is massive vitamin D deficiency from these poor sources of vitamin D (i.e., grains, fruit, and juices) coupled with the doctor supported sun scare (see the Vitamin D Council's papers on autism to understand the connection). And, the vitamin D deficiency contributes to the chelation problem, as well. While Dr. Bock gives a little attention to vitamin D, his recommended dosage is one tenth of being adequate to remedy the deficiency, per the best experts on Vitamin D.

Instead of recognizing the saturated fat scare and the sun scare as significant causes of the autism (and other immune system disorders), Dr. Bock propagates myths about mercury levels (Page 18, "Our oceans are so full of poison, especially mercury, that it is now unsafe to eat more than one can of tuna per week.") From other sources, the reality is "there's considerable evidence that the amount of mercury in fish has remained the same (or even decreased) during the past 100 years." [...]. The mercury myth not only helps create an omega-3 fat deficit, but it has helped create the self-chelation problem by contributing to a widespread iodine deficiency; iodine/iodide is a critical nutrient (particularly nearly absent in a low seafood diet) that goes entirely unmentioned in this book.

When the root causes of autism are somewhat misunderstood and instead blamed on (exaggerated) factors we largely cannot control (e.g., ocean pollution), it dilutes its benefits, as well as the partly flawed dietary advice.

Read this book for mostly credible information on supplements and drugs, but get your nutrition advice from the few trained nutritionists that actually understand nutrition, such as Julie Matthews, author of Nourishing Hope for Autism: Nutrition Intervention for Healing Our Children, (or perhaps doctors such as Michael R. Eades or John Briffa or Barry Groves). And read Good Calories, Bad Calories: Fats, Carbs, and the Controversial Science of Diet and Health (Vintage) for the foundation to distinguish nutritional fact from fiction.

On or about August 2007 I was informed by a speech therapist that my 7 year-old son may have Asperger's. I was stunned and a bit angered for her "diagnosing" him. Nevertheless, I looked further into the subject and knew right away she was right. Imagine my anguish, pain and guilt after five years of frustration in dealing with my child's behaviour. I thought that by screaming, yelling and reprimanding him he would change his ways. It's part of growing up, I thought.

Both my spouse and I are professionals in the field of Early Childhood, she as a special needs teacher and I as an administrator. Little did we knew about how close Autism is around us, from the friendly little faces we see and misunderstand every day---to those who suffer even greater anguish in the spectrum of autism.

After doing some research, we fell upon this book. THANK GOD!

I read the first half of the book immediately and followed Dr. Bock's advice: change his diet to Gluten Free Casein Free.

In less than three weeks we noticed a drastic change in my son. My son now concentrates well in school, hardly fusses anymore, falls asleep quicker and gives everyone eye contact!

We find his GFCF food at Trader Joe's..they have great selection and better prices. The food tastes great. We now eat GFCF ourselves and take nutrients, including multivitamins.

Dr. Bock---thank you so much for pursuing the field of medicine and concentrating on autism. We owe you a great deal of gratitude and recommend the book to everyone that has concerns about their children's behavior. We follow your advice, and keep track of my son's eating habits and school work. The teachers are impressed at his turn around, including his physicians.

If any one requires more information, please contact me by email.

My children don't have autism, but have struggled with asthma, gluten and casein sensitivities and nutritional deficiencies causing neurological and many other symptoms. Dietary changes and nutritional supplements to treat underlying deficiencies have resulted in great positive changes in health for myself and my children.

Unlike another reviewer, I loved the case studies!! I found them so interesting that I couldn't put the book down until I finished with that part. I thought the rest of it makes for an excellent resource for anyone wanting to explore biomedical treatment.

I would like to see this book in the office of every pediatrician, and anyone else dealing with children affected by ADHD and Autism on a regular basis, like school psychologists. At the very least, it will offer them a foundation of understanding for parents who may be interested in or already using biomedical treatments.

Biomedical treatment is here to stay, because it looks for and addresses the root causes, and results in positive changes for so many. Personally, I think we've entered a new age of medicine. Hooray!

I am so grateful for this book! Last summer I reached a point where I knew I'd have to take my 2 year old's healing out of the hands of traditional medicine because they couldn't offer me a CURE and I was losing my son and my sanity. After reading this book and working with a local naturopathic doctor, I am blown away by all the changes in my son's health, development, and social skills. Each step brought incremental improvements and all those little "good" moments are now the norm. Family, friends and teachers have all been impressed by his progress and I attribute it all to the things I learned from this book.
Recently my 1 year old began developing multiple allergies, but I knew the warning signs from this book and am already seeing improvements as I follow it's guidance.
I can't say enough good things about this book - I found it interesting, insightful, and well written. Thank you Dr. Bock! And thank you to all those who are doing research in this revolutionary field

This is an excellent, life-changing book for any parents with a child that has asthma, allergies, ADHD or is on the autism spectrum.

I have a 3 year old daughter with severe asthma, multiple food allergies and sensory processing disfunction, which is considered on the autism spectrum. The information regarding treatment options, diet, supplements, and detox information has absolutely changed our life. We are very lucky to have stumbled across this book and the medical movement it represents because the implementation of GF/CF diet, food allergy testing, natural detox methods, and dietary supplements have helped our daughter more than the multitude of specialists we have seen for her condition. Because of the changes we have made, that were never even on the radar of her regular doctor or the numerous specialists we have taken her to, we have been able to get a handle on her recurrent ear infections, her asthma is improving, her immune function is improving - her behavior and sensory issues are improving - I just can't recommend this book enough. BUY IT! There is hope for autism/ADHD/allergies/asthma - I am a complete believer.

As a parent of a child on the spectrum, I know first hand how confusing and scary it is to try and sort through all of the information that is out there regarding autism, therapies and treatment. I had heard about some success parents were having with the GFCF diet and biomedical treatments, and wanted to try it for my son (then age 3). Dr. Bock does an amazing job explaining why these childhood disorders have risen so dramatically, as well as a fantastic job explaining what we can do about it. This book has been one of the most helpful tools in our journey, and led to dramatic success and improvements with my son. If you are a parent starting on the biomedical route, this book is the one for you!

I bought this book because my son has ADHD and I was intrigued when I read the excerpt. He is the first doctor (that I have heard anyway) that is talking about a cure for ADHD and Autism. Every other doctor (ours included) just wants to throw these kids on Ritalin or other meds to cover up the symptoms. Dr. Bock takes a common sense approach to these ailments. He has CURED kids of Autism, ADHD, Asthma & Allergies!!! It is amazing! I know our doctor hasn't cured anyone with these ailments! I have started implementing some of the changes that the doctor talks about in this book. I have already seen results and it has only been two weeks! HUGE improvements. Dr. Bock is on the cutting edge. I just hope that parents are smart enough to listen! He does not have a magic pill or a magic wand, and he can't cure everyone, but he has a VERY comprehensive approach to address these comprehensive disorders. This book has changed our lives! I bought 3 of these books. One for me, and two for other people. I believe in it that much. It was worth every penny! If your child is suffering from Autism, ADHD, Allergies or Asthma, what have you got to loose? Just a few hours reading and $17. Is that too much to ask? Your kids will thank you. Mine already has.