Dietary Patterns of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Study Based in Egypt
Open accessAbstract
AIM: In the hope to assist in tailoring individualized nutritional therapy, this study aimed to assess the nutritional status of autistic children. MATERIAL AND 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.
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Consistent findings across various studies indicate deficiencies in calcium, zinc, potassium, sodium, magnesium, iron, selenium, and copper in children with ASD.
“Consistent findings across various studies indicate additional deficiencies in micronutrients: calcium, zinc, potassium, sodium, magnesium, iron, selenium, and copper [58,59,60].”
From Unraveling the Connections: Eating Issues, Microbiome, and Gastrointestinal Symptoms in Autism Spectrum Disorder (2025) · cites this paper as [58]
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- Authors
- Meguid, N., Anwar, M., Zaki, S., Kandeel, W., Ahmed, N., & Tewfik, I.
- Affiliations
- National Research Centre (EG)
- University of Westminster (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Anwar, Mona
- Venue
- Open Access Macedonian Journal of Medical Sciences
- Published
- 2015-05-07
- Volume
- 3
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 262-267
- ISSN
- 1857-9655 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC4877864
- OpenAlex
- W1872255622
- Cited by
- 35
- References
- 31
- Citations by year
- 2025: 2 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 11 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 5 · 2017: 4
- FWCI
- 2.44
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- diamond
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Open Access Macedonian Journal of Medical Sciences (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
- Open Access Macedonian Journal of Medical Sciences (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- Open Access Macedonian Journal of Medical Sciences (submittedVersion)
- WestminsterResearch (University of Westminster) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Child Nutrition and Feeding Issues
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Autism Spectrum Disorder Research
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Nutritional Studies and Diet
- Keywords
- autism spectrum disorder, children, dietary habits, nutritional status, micronutrient deficiency, vitamin D, vitamin C, calcium, iron, zinc, folic acid, magnesium, phosphorus, overweight, anthropometry, dietary intake, micronutrient supplementation, Egypt
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