Specific carbohydrate diet

Restrictive diet which limits the use of complex carbohydrates
The specific carbohydrate diet (SCD) is a restrictive diet originally created to manage celiac disease; it limits the use of complex carbohydrates (disaccharides and polysaccharides). Monosaccharides are allowed, and various foods including fish, aged cheese and honey are included. Prohibited foods include cereal grains, potatoes and lactose containing dairy products. Haas described a trial with 10 children; all 8 children treated with bananas went into remission, and the two control children died. Before the banana SCD, one out of four children with celiac died. The diet was later re popularized by biochemist Elaine Gottschall, the mother of one of Haas's patients, in her 1996 book Breaking the Vicious Cycle. Gottschall advocated using SCD to treat Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, diverticulitis, cystic fibrosis, chronic diarrhea, and autism.

The claims that the SCD is beneficial for children with autism are based on the supposition they have too much harmful bacteria in their gut. Parents adopting the SCD for their children are at risk of experiencing guilt when their expectations of improvement are dashed. The SCD is one of many unevidenced treatments offered for children with special needs that have the characteristic signs of being pseudoscientific. The Gut and Psychology Syndrome Diet (GAPS Diet) is an even more restrictive variant of the SCD, devised by a Russian neurologist. The diet is promoted with claims it can treat a wide variety of conditions including autism, schizophrenia and epilepsy. and Quackwatch includes the GAPS Diet in its Index of questionable treatments.