The Dr. Tomato Protocol pursues
comprehensive immunonutrition therapies

Autism is a spectrum disorder. There are many causes, and how it progresses is multi-layered, hence the multi-facets of symptoms. Treating this spectrum disorder can hardly be achieved with a single therapy. Integrating treatments with different effects gives an advantage in battling various symptoms. To address this challenge, Dr. Tomato’s protocol uses three immune nutrition therapies.

Of the many causes of autism spectrum disorder, the key cause is dual infections, i.e., viral infection and intestinal bacterial infection. The primary cause is viral infection, which leads to the deterioration of intestinal functions, and intestinal bacterial infection resulting from causes brain damage.

The Dr. Tomato protocol uses Korean herbal medicine and nutritional supplements as two key therapies. While Korean herbal medicine has excellent antiviral effects, nutritional supplements excel in antibacterial effects. Let me put it in figures. For antiviral actions, Korean herbal medicine accounts for approximately 95% of the effect, while nutritional supplements have an insignificant effect, which is around 5%. On the other hand, less than 50% of antibacterial effects come from Korean herbal medicine, and the majority come from nutritional supplements, thus making up for the shortages in the antibacterial effects of Korean herbal medicine.
In some cases, autism could be treated simply by tackling the viral infection. The early stages of autism development and mild autism spectrum disorder falls under the first stage of autism development, which does not involve very severe progression. In these cases, Korean herbal medicine will suffice. Nutritional supplements alone will not be enough to recover children to a neurotypical state.

As autism progresses, however, exacerbation by intestinal bacterial infection cannot be addressed with Korean herbal medicine alone. Korean herbal medicine prescriptions include medicinal herbs with antibacterial effects, but they are not effective in fighting bacterial infections that worsen autism. What comes in here is nutritional supplement therapy that protects the brain from intestinal bacterial infection. After all, nutritional supplements in the Dr. Tomato protocol remain an auxiliary therapy to make up for the shortfalls of Korean herbal medicine, and if used alone they simply lack efficacy against autism. But it is indisputable that they are an absolute necessity.

I am against recklessly using nutritional supplements for example, forcing children to take 10 or 20 nutritional supplements. What nutritional supplements do is address the outcomes of autism, rather than eliminating the causes of autism. In the autism development diagram presented by the Dr. Tomato protocol, they hardly have effects in the first or second stage and exert effects in the third stage. This is the lesson learned from the failure of functional medicine or DAN doctors who have tried to treat autism using nutritional supplements. The excessive use of nutritional supplements in functional medicine is not very effective compared to the effort involved.

I believe that if successfully tackling the viral infection with Korean herbal medicine, autism can be treated simply by managing the damage caused by the proliferation of enterobacteria. Thus, the nutritional supplement manual in this protocol is very simple, focusing on controlling the intestinal bacterial flora and protecting the brain tissues from the toxicity of them.

The third element of the immune nutrition therapy is dietary therapy. Dietary therapy itself will not help children recover from autism. However, bad eating habits can cause intense inflammatory reactions in the intestines, hence inducing autoimmune reactions. Avoiding bad foods that hinder the activation of immune reactions will naturally delay the progress of the autoimmune reactions, thereby protecting the brain tissues from being damaged. Stabilizing the immune system with this method will allow the human body to self-strengthen antibacterial and antiviral actions. In this sense, dietary therapy is essential for a fast treatment and recovery.

Some doctors dedicated to fighting autism claim that dietary therapy will not treat autism, hence it is unnecessary. I disagree with this belief. In countless cases I have seen slow progressing dietary therapy cause a counterattack against the proliferation of intestinal bacterial flora and the reversal of the betterment of symptoms, specially, a sugar-heavy and dairy product consisting diet. Once exposed, children may lose speech and become silent in just one or two days. Their diet cannot prevent autism, but recovering from autism without dietary therapy almost unattainable.

On the contrary, some doctors say ketogenic diet is a must. I am against this, too. It is true that a ketogenic diet helps with autism treatment and it is nutritionally very safe. In fact, the real trouble of dietary therapy does not lie in the nutritional risks. The problem is that it causes restrictions in social life. Where neurotypical children feel generally free and help themselves with food, it can be impossible to expect autistic children to interact with them and they usually have limitations in what they can eat. In this sense, the biggest challenge in dietary therapy is consistency. I believe that, for a successful dietary therapy, employing less burdensome methods helps ensure the success of the treatment.

In treatment, the faster they improve, the better. I recommend that even for mild autism these three therapies go hand in hand. For successful treatment, one should thoroughly understand the stages of these three therapies and stick to the instructions. Now let’s delve into each of these therapies.