Associação entre hábitos alimentares e alterações comportamentais em crianças com transtorno do espectro autista (TEA) : uma revisão sistemática

Abstract

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is considered one of the neurodevelopmental disorders, characterized by deficits in communication and social interaction. Eating habits also tend to present specific changes and adequate nutrition is associated with significant results in the child's cognitive and adaptive functioning. Thus, the objective is to systematically review the scientific literature on the association between eating habits and behavioral changes in children with ASD. METHODS: The search for articles was performed in the electronic databases MEDLINE via PubMed, SciELO and the Virtual Health Library (VHL), by two researchers independently. Observational studies carried out with children diagnosed with ASD between 0 and 9 years old, of both sexes, of any ethnic origin, which evaluated the association between eating habits and behavioral changes, were included. RESULTS: Database searches resulted in 9965 articles. After removing duplicates, reading titles and abstracts, 25 articles were selected for full reading, of which only 2 studies were included in this review. In these, it was observed that food acceptance, mealtime behaviors and caloric intake by children with ASD may be associated with behavioral problems, social and communication difficulties, restrictive behavior, emotional symptoms and conduct and peer problems. CONCLUSION: It was observed that diet may be associated with behavioral changes in children with ASD. The importance of further research on this topic is highlighted, since the association between eating habits and behavioral changes in this population is little investigated in the country, especially in observational studies.