I have 2 children with autism and food almost definitely effects them. When my oldest was 12 I did a lot of research regarding food and ASD he went on a gluten,Casein,MSG and aspartame free diet. He was on this diet for about 10 months we stopped because my husband felt it was too expensive and there were no benefits to it. It was time consuming (I know better now) and difficult when we ate out. Looking back on it now when we reintroduced all the above his ASD became much worse, he became angry, aggressive, depressed and started self harming. We had 2 years of hell for everyone (mostly for Marcus) with many hours in therapy, he was withdrawn from school and home educated. I felt useless as a mother (when your 4 year old comes to you and tells you her brother has cut his feet and their is blood everywhere what do you do protect the four year old from psychological damage or deal with the physical injury). It wasn't a great time. He is now 18 and thankfully in a much better place, he has recently expressed feeling of depression and guess what he eats crap' looking back I should have put him straight back on the diet but hindsight is a wonderful thing.
My other son has aspergers and ADHD if he has food colourings especially blue we all know about it. He was lactose intolerant as a baby and he naturally avoids dairy he has some but declines icecream, yoghurt etc he says it doesn't make him feel good.
I am dairy/gluten intolerant I recently reintroduced both and major depression yesterday. So for my family food makes a big difference. I have to find a way to clean up my children's diets they all are sugar addicted I don't know how to do this without looking like a big meanie. Sorry this post is long.

Bellenlee wrote: »

I have a similar issue as you describe about your husband. I have a random anger issue that I have been tracking for nearly 2 years. It starts a few hours after some meals and can last for days. There is no rhyme or reason for it, no outside influence to justify the emotion. I actually came across this thread while trying to research it.
My current guess is that it is some kind of reaction to rice for me. I've been tracking every food ingredient I eat for months and rice is the most consistent ingredient when I have issues.
Have you found any answers?

@Dragonwolf is still around. Here's hoping she replies soon.

wanderinjack wrote: »

Coffee and alcohol both put me in rare form. Alcohol is by far the worst and one of the main reasons I quit drinking about 6 years ago. I only drink coffee once a week and thempn only an Americano which seems to have less of an impact. Tea doesn’t do this though so it’s not the caffeine.

Out of curiosity, how soon do you feel the anger?

(Anyone who wants to answer)

Is it immediate/soon? Or something like 6 hours later, or next day?

I only ask because I'm trying to figure out a food intolerance issue of my own, and I'm thinking it's a 2-3 day delay before my symptoms (tinnitus etc.) appear.

wanderinjack wrote: »

Within an hour and lasts several

That doesn't sound fun at all.

Food can definitely effect your biochemistry and trigger emotional and physiological reactions. It's not necessarily an "allergy" reaction, but how the biochemistry of a particular food responds with your individual biochemistry. Your body's biochemistry can be affected by the food, your gut flora, your physiology and, chemicals, pesticides, dyes, and mold that could be on or in the food. With most food issues you have to test by trial and error. There are some blood tests, but most aren't 100% accurate. If you repeatedly have a reaction to the same type of food or the same restaurant then there's something in it your body doesn't like. If you can't find a reasonable reason for an unexplained emotional reaction or physiological sensation it's probably something you ate, drank, or breathed in.

I have noticed that If I eat processed foods, especially grain-based foods my moods get very wonky and I can have unexplainable anxiety, depression, irritability, and a tendency to over-react any where from a few minutes after eating to a few days later. Mild to moderate food allergies or food sensitivities often show up in odd ways such as flu-like symptoms, and mood and behavior changes. Theses types of reactions usually aren't immediate and may show up anywhere from a few hours to a few days after ingesting the offending food.

Good Luck!