Nutritional Risks for Children with Autism
The Autism News | English
By Physician Assistants
The strong preference children with autism have for certain foods places them at risk for nutritional deficiencies because their diets lack sufficient variety, according to research from Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies meeting in Baltimore in May.
The researchers said screening children for the amount of variety of food in their diets may be a good clinical marker to predict which children might be at risk for nutrition problems. Children with low food variety scores who are at risk could then be referred to dieticians or therapists to help them expand food choices and improve nutrition, said Michelle Zimmer, MD, lead investigator and a pediatrician in the division of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics at Cincinnati Children’s.
The study is one of two presented by Dr. Zimmer and colleagues at the meeting that deal with autism. The second study found that the red blood cells of children with autism have low levels of a fatty acid linked to cognitive function. This finding, the researchers report, warrants further research into how the low fatty acid levels may trigger biochemical changes in the brain linked to autism.
The team found that levels of docosahexanoic acid and total omega-3 fatty acids were significantly lower in the red blood cells of autistic children than in normally developing children. Omega-3 fatty acids are nutritionally important substances considered vital to the normal development of children.
Evidence of abnormal fatty acid metabolism in children with autism runs counter to at least one previous study that suggested no difference between normally developing and autistic children. The different results between studies may be explained by the current research focusing on an older group of children, Dr. Zimmer said.
“The fatty acid docosahexanoic is linked to other mental health issues, and this raises questions about whether there are functional issues in neural cells involving a deficiency of essential fatty acids,” said Dr. Zimmer. “The main point of the study is we cannot rule that fatty acids are part of the story of what is going on with kids who have autism.”
Dr. Zimmer said it is possible older children with autism have had more time to use up their bodies’ stores of omega-3 fatty acids and are unable to replenish those stores. The 21 children with autism in this study were between the ages of 3 and 18 years, as were the 20 age-matched normally developing children and 10 if their siblings who served as control subjects.
The research team is conducting a larger study with more children to verify its PAS findings. Dr. Zimmer said another study is also under design to give essential omega-3 fatty acids, such as docosahexanonic acid, to children with autism to see what impact it has on brain chemistry and/or the disorder.
Increasing foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids in the diets of autistic children has been suggested by some researchers as potentially beneficial, Dr. Zimmer said. Although doing so would not have a negative impact on the children, until studies are conducted it isn’t known what affect, if any, it might have, she added. Also, given the findings of the previous study on the lack of food variety among kids with autism, augmenting their diets could be challenging.
Most of the 19 children with autism in the food study had much lower food variety scores in their diets than typically developing children. A majority of the children with autism also suffered from nutritional deficiencies. The researchers concluded children with autism and low food variety scores are at risk for mild and serious nutritional deficiencies.
Researchers participating in studies were from the division of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics and division of Neurology at Cincinnati Children’s. Researchers from the department of Pathology at the University of Cincinnati participated in the study on food variety.
Source: http://physician-assistant.advanceweb.com/editorial/content/editorial.aspx?cc=202964
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Dawn Crotto BarnsdaleWow…does this hit the nail on the head- my son eats NOTHING of nutritional value AND has been giving up on “good” foods over the last couple of years! He takes supplements but I know that it can’t completely make up for his lack of good eating…ugh
Thu at 1:26pm
Pamela MariMy son is the same as yours I dont know if I want to read this article
Thu at 1:30pm
Michelle Weathers- Shaverumm, I am right there with you all!! My son will eat what the other kids are having at school but let me cook it at home- no way! My son only likes junk, some fruit, we go through 6 gallons of milk a week!!
Thu at 1:58pm
Regina Griffin Smithmy daughter eats fruits and veggies (yes even peas, green beans, broccoli) and her meat of choice is typically chicken. She loves apple juice, water and Diet Dr Pepper…she is not a huge fan of sweets either
Thu at 2:03pm
Natalie JordanMy son only eats one brand of cheese and onion crisps, nothing else at all
x
Thu at 2:03pm
Dionne Amanda Reedmy son eats normal food, only thing is that he just loves water all the time. Very rarely will he drink juice or sodas. My brothers eat any and everything
Thu at 2:05pm
Peggy Sampson Millermy oldest son eats cheerios only and drinks carnation instant breakfast, yougert mixed in milk and strawberry syrup, and berry flavored juice. My 2nd son drinks tons of milk, and will eat white/italian bread, saltines, eggo waffles, cheerios, nutragrain bars and chocolate swiss rolls only. I am almost afraid to read this too.
Thu at 2:51pm
Jacqueline Williams-HinesYou know what ladies, take a day off. We need another article to beat ourselves up about like we need a hole in our head. Would we like our children to eat GF/CF or nutritionally sound, of course. Do they have their own idea of what they want to eat based on scent, texture, color, temperature…whatever…of course. If you child is eating and is not emaciated or so nutritionally starved that they are curled in the fetal position helpless do yourself a favor and skip the article for the day…we need an article that talks about the tremendous jobs we are doing as parents/advocates/nutritionist/therapist/teachers/chemist/etc!!!! One of those days….dont mean to offend.
Thu at 2:57pm
Peggy Sampson MillerNever mind, I just read it. The first time I took Eric to the feeding clinic they did bloodwork and found that he had a fatty acid deficiency. At the time he was only drinking fruit juice and eating cheerios. I had to start putting corn and canola oil in his juice, which looked really nasty until he would accept pediasure. I can see the link to the fatty acids here.
Thu at 2:58pm
Heather Hawkmy son lives off cheeseburgers, french fries, tuna and soup. I try to vary his diet, but…… its not a fight worth having daily
Thu at 3:29pm
Cindy Smith HowardThink low Omega 3, too low cholesterol, food intolerances or allergies (casein, gluten, soy, corn, dyes, preservatives, MSG, hormones, GMOs…
, high gut yeast (from excessive carbs and starches), vitamin/minerals malabsorption, phenols, to name a few…
Thu at 4:04pm
Shelagh MiddletonI dont feel like reading another health article, Im just relieved that my son eats anything at all! When he first became autistic he just drank milk and nibbled biscuits every couple of days, this lasted for about a year. Now he eats about half a dozen things. As a baby he’d eat absolutely anything I gave him! Your right Heather its not worth the fight every day!
Thu at 5:13pm
Cindy Smith HowardBook Recommendation: “Nourishing Hope for Autism: Nutrition Intervention for Healing Our Children” (2008), by Julie Matthews – Autism Nutrition Consultant. Gives the nuts and bolts about the relationship of foods, biochemistry, and autism.
Thu at 5:36pm
Barbara JohnsonWow — sounds like a lot of the kids are good candidates for the GFCF diet — sure seems like some of the ones mentioned in this thread are definitely self-limiting to gluten- and casein-laden foods — they are addicted to the opiate affect the foods have once their undigested proteins make their way into the bloodstream!!!
Thu at 7:43pm
Heather HawkThe GFCF diet may help some children, but not all or even most. If these parents were interested in it, I am sure they would have tried it. Many of us did, wasted TONS of money and it did not help at all.
Thu at 8:16pm
Cindy Smith HowardGlobal research indicates that the GFCF diet helps a statistical majority of kids on the spectrum, but it’s not typically the cure-all. Biomedically, GFCF is an excellent starting point that can take up to 6 months (6 weeks for our child) to begin to see benefits. The GFCF diet does not have to be expensive, but it does require some preparation and cooking. Many factors are involved and kids’ issues vary greatly. One child may have significant viral issues, another clostridium (or other) bacteria, or parasites, yeast overgrowth in the intestinal tract, lack of probiotics and digestive enzymes, amino acid imbalances, metals toxicity, glutathione deficiency, nutrient deficiencies, and on and on. These are the areas that a doctor specializing in treating autism is absolutely essential. And yes, quality biomedical doctor’s consults and labs often come at a cost, even with the best insurance. I can recommend an excellent specialist in California (we visit him out of state).
Thu at 9:25pm