Abstract

The prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has increased within the past decade, which has increased the health authority concern due the higher demand for health services. Nutritional problems, such as food refusal, restricted dietary intake, nutritional deficiencies, food allergies and food intolerance, are known as common nutritional challenges among individuals with ASD. Unhealthy dietary pattern and their adverse health outcomes may affect individual’s health and increase the risk of several health complications as a result. the result of unhealthy and restrict dietary pattern may be manifested in cell health, mitochondrial function and regulatory gene expression, which can predict the risk of cell damage, inflammation, oxidative stress and chronic disease. The purpose of this case study was to assess the relation between dietary intake using food recall, food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) and one-week food record with the level of TNF-α, IL-1 and IL-6 in a 10 years old high function girl diagnosed with ASD.

Keywords

autism spectrum disorder, nutrition, dietary pattern, cell function