Dietary intake and body mass index in children with autism and their relationship with severity of autism

Introduction: Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder that the etiology of it is not well understood. Nutrition is proposed as one of the most important factors involved in the pathogenesis of autism. Nutritional deficiencies may affect the severity of the autism and other abnormalities in this disorder. Method: This study aimed to assess dietary intakes and body mass index in autistic children and their relationship with the severity of autism. Thirty children with autism and 30 healthy subjects were studied. Dietary intake and severity of autism were assessed by using 7-day food record, and Gilliam Autism Rating Scale, respectively. Results: According to the World Health Organization (WHO) categorization, 46.7% of autistic children had a normal body mass index, against this amount was 63.3% of healthy children and 46.7 percent of autistic children were overweight or obese group versus 16.6%. Carbohydrate intake was significant difference between the two groups and a significant inverse correlation was seen between the severity of autism and total energy, fat MUFA, PUFA, linoleic acid, linolenic acid, and oleic acid intakes. The rates of obesity in autistic children were greater than normal group and a negative correlation was between total energy, fat MUFA, PUFA, linoleic acid, linolenic acid, oleic acid intake and autism severity. Conclusion: Dietary interventions for children with autism should be aimed at addressing these nutritional imbalances.

Keywords:

autism , dietary intake , body mass index (BMI) , autism severity