Dietary Patterns of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Study Based in Egypt.
OBJECTIVE
In the hope to assist in tailoring individualized nutritional therapy, this study aimed to assess the nutritional status of autistic children.


METHODS
This cross-sectional study included 80 autistic children, divided into two groups: group 1 (aged 3- 5 years) and group 2 (aged 6-9 years). Diagnosis was performed based on the criteria for autistic disorder as defined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Autism Diagnostic Interview Revised and Autism Rating Scale.


RESULTS
Socio-demographic data, anthropometric measurements and dietary intake patterns were recorded using a validated questionnaire. The daily intakes of calories and nutrients were converted to percentages of the Recommended Dietary Allowance or Dietary Reference Intake based on age- and gender-normalized DRIs. Plotting on the Egyptian sex-specific growth chart, BMI-z scores of both age groups were slightly overweight. Autistic children suffered inadequate intake of some micronutrients such as vitamin D and C, calcium, folate, magnesium, phosphorus, zinc, and iron, some deficiencies were highly significant especially at older age.


CONCLUSIONS
Tailoring a specially designed balanced diet with appropriate micronutrient supplementation may ameliorate the severity of autism symptoms and related abnormal behaviours.
National Research Centre, Research on Children with Special Needs Department, Giza, Egypt.
Nagwa
N
Meguid
National Research Centre, Research on Children with Special Needs Department, Giza, Egypt.
Mona
M
Anwar
National Research Centre, Child Health Department, Giza, Egypt.
Safaa
S
Zaki
National Research Centre, Biological Anthropology Department, Giza, Egypt.
Wafaa
W
Kandeel
National Research Centre, Food Science and Nutrition Department, Giza, Egypt.
Nihad
N
Ahmed
Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Westminster, Life Science Department, London, United Kingdom.
Ihab
I
Tewfik
Autistic Children; Egyptian; anthropometric measurements; dietary intake; micronutrients