Autism related
Did you know?
“Children with ASD are up to five times more likely to develop feeding problems, such as food selectivity, food refusal, and poor oral intake, than neurodevelopmentally normal children. Food intake is also often predicated on food category and/or texture aversion. Food selectivity in this population is often manifested as a preference for carbohydrates and processed foods.”
Child and adolescent Psychiatric Clinics North America
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8608248/
In Australia, a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is made by a specialist (paediatrician, psychiatrist or psychologist) after a referral from a doctor. The specialist will use a set of standard tests, such as questionnaires and checklists, to make a diagnosis. They will also ask questions about the patient’s development and behaviour, and observe how they act and play. The two main sets of diagnostic criteria used in Australia are the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) and the World Health Organization’s International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11). A diagnosis of ASD will also include assigning a support level between 1 and 3, with 1 being the lowest and 3 being the highest.
The diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder does not consider nutritional or underlying cellular physiological factors that may play a role in the presentation of ASD symptoms and observed behaviours. A specialist may recommend genetic testing to identify genetic disorders that may be associated with ASD. While this type of genetic testing may offer an explanation for the diagnosis of ASD, it does generally not provide the patient or carers with personalised dietary and nutritional strategies to optimise nutritional health as well as long term health outcomes.
Please note that a diagnosis of ASD is not required to access Clinical Nutritionist support from Personal Health Leadership.
The presentation of gastro-intestinal and nutrition related symptoms in people with Autism is diverse, there is no one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to support.
This is where nutrigenomic testing can make a real difference and empower parents and carers with person-centred personalised diet and nutritional therapy strategies to support the unique genetic blueprint of their child to optimise nutrition and health outcomes.
Image: Chronic inflammation and the hallmarks of ageing. Cellular Metabolism.
Inflammation is a key symptom for many children with Autism, whether it be gut-related, allergies and intolerances, or neuro-inflammation. The image above is a helpful visualisation, even though it is not directly related to Autism. It shows inflammation as a key driver for age-related diseases and lists the various mechanisms of inflammation and hallmarks of ageing. On the left, inflammatory drivers are listed, some of these, such as diet are modifiable by choice, offering an opportunity to be and active participant in health by making healthy food choices. These epigenetic exposures can turn certain genes on or off and affect the listed mechanisms on the top row, which can then result in cellular characteristics as listed on the bottom, which when present at a level interfering with normal organ and system function, may result in a medical diagnosis in one or more categories of disease listed on the right.
Autism in children is often diagnosed at a life stage where the child only has had a small number of years being exposed to the various factors on the left, so whilst these exposures may play a role in triggering symptoms consistent with an Autism diagnosis, there are more likely genetically and/or epigenetically inherited factors involved affecting the mechanisms of inflammation.
Nutrigenomic testing offers the opportunity to look ‘under the bonnet’, and gain insights into the unique personal variations in the functioning of the mechanisms at cellular level. So instead of only looking at the information downstream (the presentation, symptoms, challenges and intake and status of nutrients etc.) the clinical nutritionist can gain insights upstream, at the level where some of the issues might be originating.
With more data and insight available at the starting point, navigating the journey of nutritional health support for Autism can be even more precisely targeted and allows the clinical nutritionist to provide highly personalised advice and therapeutics.
Nutrigenomic testing provides clinically relevant insights into key cellular pathways and processes such as inflammation, detoxification, methylation, histamine regulation and oxidative stress.
- Histamine dysregulation plays a role in the presentation of allergies, sensitivities and neuro-inflammation common in Autism. https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnins.2021.680214/full
- “There is increasing evidence that epigenetic mechanisms that are highly sensitive to environmental factors and influence gene function without altering the DNA sequence, particularly aberrant DNA methylation, are involved in ASD pathogenesis.” https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10252672/#sec5-ijms-24-09138
- There is increasing evidence that people with ASD may have a different expression of genes involved in the detoxification processes of xenobiotics (chemicals, pesticides, carcinogens etc.), and may therefore be more vulnerable to the damaging effects of exposure to xenobiotics, such as oxidative stress and neuro-inflammation associated with Autism. https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnins.2022.862315/full