Dietary habits and nutrition status of school-going children 5-12 years with autism in City Primary, Nairobi County, Kenya

Abstract

Background: Autistic children experience challenges and disorders with unpredictable eating behaviors, such as preferring one food to  another. Prevalence of autism among children in Kenya is high (4%) with little research being done on their eating habits and nutritional  status.

Objective: To investigate eating habits and nutritional status of children 5-12 years old with autism.

Design: A cross-sectional  survey design.

Setting: City Primary School, Nairobi, Kenya.

Subjects: Forty-four school children aged 5-12 years with autism.

Results:  Dietary habits results show that 95.5% of children consumed grains, grain products, and other starches, 72.7% dark green leafy  vegetables (i.e. kales), 93.2% other vegetables (i.e. tomatoes), and 52.3% vitamin A-rich foods. 47.7% of children took animal-source foods,  27.3% eggs, 34.1% milk, and milk products, and 55% pulses and legumes. While 4.5% consumed nuts and seeds, 97.7% consumed  oils and fats. The results indicate inadequate consumption of eggs, meat, milk, nuts, and seeds, which can be a risk factor for nutrient  deficiencies among children. At least 40.9% of children had normal BMI-for-Age, 29.5% had MAM, and 22.7% were overweight, only 6.8%  had SAM. There was a relationship between dietary habits and nutrition status x^2(3, n=44)>=8.255 with a p-value of 0.041.

Conclusion:  Autistic children are at risk of double burden of malnutrition due to bad eating behaviors. The study concludes that it is important to  watch dietary behaviors of autistic children, which may influence their nutritional status. There is need for development of Kenyan dietary  intake reference guidelines for autistic people targeting different age groups.