Relationship Between Food Selectivity and Mood Problems in Youth With a Reported Diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder

Background

Food selectivity and mood problems and disorders are commonly described independently in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, little is known about the relationship between food selectivity and mood problems and disorders in ASD.

Methods

To study the relationship between food selectivity and mood problems and disorders, we analyzed data from youth (ages 10–13 years) with a parent-reported diagnosis of ASD from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study (ABCD Study), with available data for the Block Kids Food Screener (parental report) and the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) (N = 173, male:female participant ratio = 6.5:1).

Results

We did not find a statistically significant association between food selectivity and mood problems or disorders. Food selectivity for protein foods (i.e., consumption of a decreased variety of protein foods) was associated with more severe aggressive behavior/irritability (CBCL Aggressive Behavior T-score) (N = 173, ρ = 0.196, p = .010) in youth with ASD, although the relationship was no longer statistically significant after multiple comparison correction (p = .086).

Conclusions

While our results are negative overall for an association between food selectivity and mood problems and disorders in children with ASD, our findings should be interpreted with caution in the context of limitations of the presented analysis. Accordingly, future studies and analyses could incorporate objective measures and prospective tracking of food intake and food selectivity, deeper phenotyping of mood problems (including irritability), and detailed information about factors that could affect the relationship between food selectivity and mood in youth with ASD (such as the use of supplements and medications).