ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Nutr.
Sec. Nutrition, Psychology and Brain Health
This article is part of the Research TopicImpact of nutrition on brain healthView all 19 articles
Imbalanced nutrition and increased dietary inflammatory index in children with autism spectrum disorder: associations with neurodevelopmental disorders
Provisionally accepted
Jing Shen1Junqiao You1Wenjing Wang1Wenli Yang2Wenli Zhao2Jianan Zhao1Huini Ding1
Yuandi Xi1,2*Hongmei Huang2*- 1Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
- 2Beijing Children's Hospital Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
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Background: The incidence rate of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) has been rising, this study aimed to explore the relationship between nutritional intake and neurodevelopment in children with ASD. Methods: This study is a case-control cross-sectional comparison including 50 children with ASD and 50 typically developing controls. 500 children with neurodevelopmental disorders and 500 typically developing children (TD) were recruited based on clinical diagnosis to compare levels of inflammation. Among them, 50 children were diagnosed with ASD based on DSM-5 criteria by experienced developmental behavioral pediatricians. 50 typically developing children were matched with the 50 ASD, dietary survey, Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS) and physical development evaluations were conducted on these 100 children. Results: The children's dietary inflammatory index (C-DII), systemic immune inflammatory index (SII) and systemic inflammatory response index (SIRI) in the ASD group were significantly higher compared to the TD group (p<0.05). A positive correlation was observed between C-DII and SII (r=0.323, p=0.022) as well as SIRI (r=0.283, p=0.046). The dietary diversity in the ASD group was lower than TD group, while a higher prevalence of picky eating behaviors among ASD group. After adjusting for demographic characteristics, the C-DII may be correlated with ASD (OR=1.842, 48 95%CI=1.114~3.046, p=0.017). Conclusion: Children with ASD displayed higher C-DII scores. The results of this study suggest that there may be a correlation between C-DII and neurodevelopment of children with ASD, not causality. Inflammatory dietary patterns may represent a modifiable factor linked to neurodevelopmental outcomes.
Keywords: nutrition, neurodevelopment, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Dietary patterns, Inflammation
Received: 15 Sep 2025; Accepted: 30 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Shen, You, Wang, Yang, Zhao, Zhao, Ding, Xi and Huang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Yuandi Xi, sdykd2020@163.com
Hongmei Huang, hhm15@tsinghua.org.cn
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