Nutrition for Autism

Autism is a brain disorder that affects a person's ability to communicate, form relationships with others and respond appropriately to the external world. A special food supplement was formulated to address the various special needs of the autistic children using ingredients namely flax seed, brown rice, probiotic mixture, dates syrup, honey, roasted bengal gram dhal and vanaspathi. All the food components selected were having special health benefits for the autistic children. The subjects in the experimental group consumed 22 g of the supplement in the form of a sweet laddu everyday for a period of 90 days. The parameters considered for evaluating the impact of food supplementation were changes in the serum immunoglobulin G levels along with the observation of activity level, eating habits and behaviour changes of autistic children. The mothers were educated on 'Nutrition Intervention for Autistic children'. The results revealed that nutrition intervention to autistic children along with education to the mothers of autistic children brought out significant improvements in health status and biochemical profile of the children.