Children with autism spectrum disorders show higher food selectivity, which restricts consumption of some foods and may cause nutritional deficiencies. The aims of this meta-analysis are to determine the overall differences in nutritional intake and food consumption between children with autism spectrum disorder and control (typical development) children, as well as determine the extent to which the nutritional intake and food consumption of autistic children comply with the dietary recommendations. Children with autism spectrum disorder consume less protein (standardized mean difference = -0.27, 95% confidence interval (-0.45, -0.08)), calcium (-0.56 (-0.95, -0.16)), phosphorus (-0.23 (-0.41, -0.04)), selenium (-0.29 (-0.44, -0.13)), vitamin D (-0.34 (-0.57, -0.11)), thiamine (-0.17 (-0.29, -0.05)), riboflavin (-0.25 (-0.45, -0.05)) and vitamin B12 (-0.52 (-0.95, -0.09)) and more polyunsaturated fat acid (0.27 (0.11, 0.44)) and vitamin E (0.28 (0.03, 0.54)) than controls. Autistic children also consume less omega-3 (-0.83 (-1.53, -0.16)) and more fruit (0.35 (0.12, 0.59)) and vegetables (0.35 (0.09, 0.61)) than control children; however, these results must be considered with care due to the low number of studies included in the analysis and the high heterogeneity. The results also suggest a lower intake of calcium, vitamin D and dairy and a higher intake of fruit, vegetables, protein, phosphorus, selenium, thiamine, riboflavin and vitamin B12 than recommended.
Keywords: autism spectrum disorder; children; food consumption; food selectivity; meta-analysis; nutrition/feeding; nutritional intake; nutritional status.