Researchers are calling on doctors and therapists to give greater attention to autism-related food aversions in light of findings that these issues place significant stress on the entire family. While confirming that extremely narrow eating is common among children with autism, their studies also find that it disrupts family mealtimes, increases parents' stress levels and restricts what the entire family eats.
“While such findings come as no surprise to families affected by autism, they should be on the radar screens of those working with children affected by autism,” says study co-author Carol Curtin. Curtin directs the Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.
“It’s critical that clinicians and dietitians understand the unique issues that families of children with autism face during mealtimes,” Curtin adds. “[They need] to offer families support in addressing these challenges."
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The UMass study appears online ahead of print in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. The investigators enrolled 53 children with autism and 58 typically developing children between the ages of 3 and 11 years. Their parents completed in-depth questionnaires that assessed eating patterns, food intake and family interactions at mealtimes. As a group, the children with autism had significantly more self-imposed food restrictions and their parents reported more mealtime behavior problems, higher spousal stress and significant limitations to what the family ate.
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Also see the Autism Speaks ATN/AIR-P Guide to Exploring Feeding Behavior in Autism. This tool kit provides guidance from experts in the Autism Speaks Autism Treatment Network.
Further evidence of the toll on family and child come with a related report in the journal Appetite. Valentina Postorino and colleagues at Rome’s Children's Hospital Bambino Gesù followed 158 children with autism, half of whom were highly selective in what they would eat. Overall, the parents of the children with extremely narrow diets reported higher levels of stress and greater challenges with their child’s behavior.
In addition, the Italian researchers found that at all the children with restricted diets had at least one – and often more – hypersensitivity to particular textures, flavors or other sensory aspects of food.
“Food selectivity is a significant stressor for families with a negative impact on quality of life,” Dr. Postorino says. Contrary to hopes that children will simply “outgrow” the problem, she adds, research shows that food aversions persist without treatment.
The good news is that research has demonstrated the effectiveness of autism-specific behavioral therapies aimed at broadening diets. These interventions range from in-patient, feeding-disorder programs to in-home strategies for parents. The latter are particularly important, Curtin and her team write, and deserve further research and development.