Dietary intake and gastrointestinal symptoms are altered in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: the relative contribution of autism-linked traits

作者：Hailin Li, Saijun Huang, Jing Jin, Hong Yu, Tingfeng Gu, Xiaoxuan Ou, Shuolin Pan, Yanna Zhu, Xi Su · 发表于：Nutrition Journal · 年份：2024 · DOI：10.1186/s12937-024-00930-8 · 被引用次数：24 · 研究领域：Child Nutrition and Feeding Issues、Autism Spectrum Disorder Research、Family and Disability Support Research

BACKGROUND: Dietary and gastrointestinal (GI) problems have been frequently reported in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, the relative contributions of autism-linked traits to dietary and GI problems in children with ASD are poorly understood. This study firstly compared the dietary intake and GI symptoms between children with ASD and typically developing children (TDC), and then quantified the relative contributions of autism-linked traits to dietary intake, and relative contributions of autism-linked traits and dietary intake to GI symptoms within the ASD group. METHODS: A sample of 121 children with ASD and 121 age-matched TDC were eligible for this study. The dietary intake indicators included food groups intakes, food variety, and diet quality. The autism-linked traits included ASD symptom severity, restricted repetitive behaviors (RRBs), sensory profiles, mealtime behaviors, and their subtypes. Linear mixed-effects models and mixed-effects logistic regression models were used to estimate the relative contributions. RESULTS: Children with ASD had poorer diets with fewer vegetables/fruits, less variety of food, a higher degree of inadequate/unbalanced dietary intake, and more severe constipation/total GI symptoms than age-matched TDC. Within the ASD group, compulsive behavior (a subtype of RRBs) and taste/smell sensitivity were the only traits associated with lower vegetables and fruit consumption, respectively. Self-injurious behavior (a subtype of RRBs) was the o...