Evaluation of Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder and Nutrition-Related Factors in Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Case-Control Study.
Autistic kids screen positive for ARFID and GI bloating far more often than peers, so assess feeding early.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Islamoğlu et al. (2025) compared 40 autistic children with 40 matched peers without autism.
They used a short ARFID screen and parent checklists on food fussiness and tummy pain.
All kids were outpatients at one Turkish clinic.
What they found
Autistic children scored much higher on ARFID risk, food fussiness, and bloating.
The higher the ARFID score, the pickier the eating and the more GI complaints.
How this fits with other research
Gurbuz Ozgur et al. (2025) extends this work by showing mom’s orthorexia also predicts child ARFID severity.
Wallisch et al. (2026) adds that picky autistic preschoolers show more aggression and withdrawal.
Martins et al. (2008) seems to disagree, finding only small eating differences, but that study used a wider age range and a looser picky-eating question, so the clash is mostly about how we measure the problem.
Why it matters
If you see an autistic client, add one quick ARFID screen to your intake. Early flags let you loop in an OT or dietitian before food refusal turns into long-term weight or vitamin issues. Share the bloating link with parents so they track GI signs and not just table behavior.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
AIM: This study aimed to compare the prevalence of Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID) between children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and typically developing children (TDC) and to examine the influence of ASD on the development of ARFID. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The sample included 25 children diagnosed with ASD and 30 TDC. Anthropometric measurements were taken and participants completed the Nine-Item ARFID Screen (NIAS), the Children's Eating Behavior Questionnaire (CEBQ), and the Bristol Stool Scale (BSS), along with researcher-developed questions on gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms. Data were analyzed using SPSS 22.0, employing descriptive statistics, t-tests, chi-square and correlation analyses. RESULTS: The mean age of participants was 8.02 years (± 3.28) and 61.8% were male. NIAS scores were significantly higher in the ASD group (24.2 ± 9.7) compared to the TDC group (14.17 ± 8.8). In the CEBQ, ASD children scored significantly higher in food fussiness but lower in emotional overeating, desire to drink, and enjoyment of food. NIAS scores were positively correlated with food fussiness, slowness in eating, and satiety responsiveness and negatively correlated with emotional overeating, food responsiveness, and enjoyment of food. Among GI variables, only bloating was significantly more common in the ASD group. NIAS scores were positively associated with complaints of indigestion and bloating. CONCLUSION: Children with ASD are at higher risk for ARFID and exhibit more picky eating patterns. Increased ARFID risk is linked to greater food selectivity, slow eating, satiety responsiveness and GI symptoms such as bloating and indigestion.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2025 · doi:10.1016/j.appet.2017.11.111