Episode 67: Feeding Neurodivergent Children

Episode 67: Feeding Neurodivergent Children

Thanks for the request for this important topic - feeding neurodivergent children. After 24 years as a paediatric dietitian, I've seen how challenging this can be for families, and honestly, the standard advice for a picky eater just doesn't work here because these brilliant little brains work differently.

This isn't about defiance or stubbornness. We're talking about genuine sensory processing differences, anxiety around food, and feeding challenges that go well beyond typical fussy eating. Whether your child has Autism, ADHD, or other Neurodivergent Conditions, their relationship with food will often need a completely different approach.

I'm breaking down “why” the white, crunchy diet is so popular with Neurodivergent children, how the gut-brain connection plays a massive role, and why those artificial colours and additives are particularly problematic for neurodivergent kids. Plus, I'm sharing which nutrients are most at risk and why supplements might be necessary - but only with proper professional guidance.

This is about understanding your child's unique needs, not comparing them to anyone else. It's a long game, but with the right support and approach, your child can absolutely expand their intake and thrive.

Links
https://nourishwithkarina.com/feedingbabies
https://nourishwithkarina.com/membership

Highlights:

Introduction (00:00.138)
Why Standard Fussy Eater Advice Fails Neurodivergent Kids (00:29.656)
Nutrition and Gut Health for Every Brain (02:49.024)
Understanding Why Neurodivergent Kids Struggle with Food (05:14.368)
Why Food Selectivity is Common in ASD — and What It Means for Nutrition (07:31.04)
Why “Picky Eating” in Autism Is Really a Sensory Survival Response (09:47.318)
Why Predictability Matters: The Comfort of “Safe” Foods in Autism (12:12.664)
Feeding Therapy Is a Long Game (14:14.634)
Breaking the Stress Cycle at the Dinner Table (16:37.622)
Feeding Challenges in Children with ADHD (18:48.802)
How Gut Health Shapes Mood, Focus, and Behavior (21:08.3)
Nourishing the Gut to Support the Brain (23:23.65)
The Hidden Sugar, Salt, and Additives in Kids’ Foods (25:47.978)
The Southampton Study: How Food Additives Impact Kids’ Behavior (28:08.758)
From Iron to Vitamin D: The Nutritional Gaps Parents Need to Watch (30:35.97)
Do Special Diets Really Help? The Truth Behind GFCF, Feingold, and More (33:01.198)
Navigating Supplements Safely for Neurodiverse Children (34:59.31)
Creating a Calm, Predictable Eating Environment for Your Child (37:19.33)
Filling the Gaps: Helping Your Child Thrive with the Right Nutrition Plan(39:44.384)
Filling the Nutrient Gaps: Practical Nutrition Strategies for Kids with ASD & ADHD (41:56.61)

Show notes

READ TRANSCRIPT

Show Notes

Episode Highlights:

Sensory Processing and Food Selectivity Understanding why neurodivergent children often stick to white, crunchy foods and how sensory overwhelm affects their eating

The Gut-Brain Connection How gut health directly impacts behaviour, mood, and concentration in children with autism and ADHD

Food Additives and Behaviour Why artificial colours and preservatives are particularly problematic for neurodivergent children.

Medication Impact on Appetite How ADHD medications affect eating patterns and strategies for managing nutrition throughout the day

Nutritional Deficiencies at Risk Which nutrients are most commonly deficient in neurodivergent children and why professional supplementation guidance is crucial

Book a Consultation: Visit nourishwithkarina.com to book a consultation. NDIS plan-managed consultations also available. https://calendly.com/karina-dietitian

Contact: karina@nourishwithkarina.com Instagram: @nourishwithkarina

This episode provides general information only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always consult with qualified healthcare providers for your child's specific needs.

Show Notes:

More about Karina and Nourishing Kids!

📒 Grab Karina’s Time Saving Healthy Supermarket Kids Snacks Guide now for the INTRO offer https://karina-savage.mykajabi.com/offers/GkPU49mj

Karina's popular Nourishing Kids lifts the "food stress" load, giving mums a clear plan to get kids trying new healthy foods and guidance on how to feed their family more easily! Learn more here https://nourishwithkarina.com/nourishingkids

Her Podcast The Easy Feed dives into popular topics - check it out here https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-easy-feed/id1710594874

Karina is a regular on Channel 7, Sunrise. Check out her segments here: https://nourishwithkarina.com/press

For online consultations & personalised support. Click here https://nourishwithkarina.com/nutrition-consultation

Karina's popular Kids Food Reviews are here https://nourishwithkarina.com/food-reviews

If you have a Fussy Eater, register for Karina's online training and learn the 3 Essential Steps required to end fussy eating. https://nourishwithkarina.easywebinar.live/endfussyeating

Introduction (00:00.138)
You're listening to the Easy Feed podcast, episode number 67, feeding neurodivergent children.
Hi there, I'm Karina Savage and with over 20 years experience feeding children, including my own, I've learnt all the secrets that busy mums need to get their children eating better and actually enjoying healthy foods. So a huge welcome to the Easy Feed podcast.
Why Standard Fussy Eater Advice Fails Neurodivergent Kids (00:29.656)
Hello, hello, welcome back. I hope your week's going well. Now it's a Tuesday, you're listening to this, but for me, I'm actually recording this on a Friday night. Got nothing better to do with my time to sit here and chat with you. No, I'm actually recovering from being sick and my voice is going to be a bit coarse and husky, I'm afraid. But I wanted to record this because it was actually a special request. So thank you for the request to record this episode.
It's an important topic to talk about. And I have touched on this a little in a previous episode when I talked about ADHD and food additives, but I wanted to expand and really focus on all types of neurodivergent children because it certainly can impact feeding. And therefore we really need to consider our approach with them because sometimes they can be really fussy.
And the standard advice that you might give to a parent of a fussy eater really doesn't apply with feeding neurodivergent children because their brains work differently. What do I mean by neurodivergent children? Neurodivergent children are those whose brain functions in a way that differs from what is considered typical or neurotypical. It's not bad. It's not like a deficit. It's just different.
And this encompasses a range of neurological or developmental conditions, including, but not limited to this range, but this is, these are the main ones. We've got autism or ASD, autism spectrum disorder, ADHD, which is attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and learning difficulties like dyslexia. So neurodivergence, I said, isn't, it's not a deficit and it's not a diagnosis itself, but it's rather an umbrella term.
for these variations in brain function in humans, in children and adults. So we have actually some other conditions that also fall into this category. We have Tourette's syndrome, OCD, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, and some other mental health conditions can be associated with neurodivergence. It just means that these individuals experience and interact with the world and other human beings in different ways.
Nutrition and Gut Health for Every Brain (02:49.024)
And certainly this can play a role in how they eat, how they view food, their nutrition and their gut health. So there's a lot to unpack and a lot to consider in a child who does have neurodivergent tendencies or they have a diagnosis of ASD or ADHD or one of those other conditions that I mentioned. Look, I've been working as a pediatric dietician for 24 years now and I've seen, goodness knows how many over my time I spent.
12 years in a children's hospital and I, part of my role was actually working with children with special needs. And so I have worked with a lot of cases with children who have sensory feeding issues. They have tactile defensiveness. I'll talk about them in a minute, but they have these sensory feeding issues related to their underlying diagnosis. They have very unique feeding challenges that go well beyond just standard pick eating.
So I want to talk you through some of the common nutrition issues faced by families who have neurodivergent children and the types of diets often explored. The nutrient deficiencies possibly at risk, the types of supplements parents may consider. Now this is not a consultation and I recommend that if you are listening to this as a parent of a neurodivergent child, you find someone like myself who's a pediatric dietician, who's a professional, who has a degree who can give you
professional advice on managing the nutrition and also optimizing gut health, brain function for a child who has feeding difficulties, who is neurodivergent. Please don't just try and fumble along on your own because it can be hugely challenging and it's really important also that you're getting professional advice because there is so much advice out there. So many weird and wonderful wacky kinds of tests and potions that can be prescribed or
not prescribed really given to you. If it comes from a doctor or a dietician, it's more medical evidence-based, but sometimes you can spend hundreds and hundreds on things that aren't medically proven or evidence-based. It's a bit of a minefield and I just don't like parents being taken advantage of, especially parents who are desperate to try and help their child. It's really important that you find the right professionals to listen to. And that's why I wanted to create this podcast episode because
Understanding Why Neurodivergent Kids Struggle with Food (05:14.368)
I'm one of those people that has been around in the game for a long time. And I just want to give you some professional advice and I just want to give you some food for thought, but absolutely this episode is not professional advice for your child because I would say a different thing to each family dependent on their child's individual background, their child's individual need. And that's part of my assessment during a consultation is I
look at the whole picture, look at the child's upbringing, I look at their nutrition as they were getting older. I look at their gut health, I look at their exposure to sickness, to antibiotics, I look at the supplements they've had and I form my own assessment and it's very individual and personalized based on the individual child. listening to this podcast will give you food for thought, but it's certainly not a consultation and it's not prescriptive to say go and start.
magnesium for your child and go on start iron for your child. need to have a proper professional consultation. Look, I do those. can head to my website, nourishwithKarina.com click on book a consultation. But this is to give you a bit of a starting point and also to understand why your child may be struggling with feeding and why you might be feeling sometimes like you're failing in the feeding kids department because I've certainly had hundreds of mums.
feel like that over the years, probably thousands to be honest, makes me feel a little low, but that's okay. So it's important to understand that it's not your fault. This is a normal part of children who are neurodivergent. So understanding the why behind these feeding difficulties can make you feel more empowered and it can also make you feel less alone. It can really make all the difference in setting up a plan that then helps
your child feel more safe around specific foods, increase their variety and build their repertoire of safe foods and ultimately develop a healthier relationship with eating because some kids really aren't switched on by food. And sometimes there's weight issues, they're underweight and parents can be very stressed about that. Okay. So I want to start with autism because there are certainly feeding challenges in children with
Why Food Selectivity is Common in ASD — and What It Means for Nutrition (07:31.04)
Autism spectrum disorder or ASD. And it really varies according to the level of autism, but also the child. So you can't just say a child that's level one autism shouldn't have any feeding difficulties or not nearly as many feeding difficulties as a child with level three autism. I don't think it's that clear cut. There's a lot of crossover and.
feeding difficulties can exist the whole way through. Certainly the more severe children, likely more at risk of nutrition deficiencies, but even kids without ASD or ADHD are at risk of nutritional deficiencies. One in five young toddlers doesn't meet their dietary iron requirements. So there's a lot of iron deficiency without any diagnosis of neurodivergence. So it's important to understand that.
Just because your child's mild doesn't mean that they shouldn't have feeding difficulties because feeding difficulties can absolutely exist. In fact, feeding difficulties are reported in up to 70 to 90 % of children with autism. And it's not just relating to disobedience or stubbornness. Often these feeding challenges are deeply rooted in sensory processing differences or anxiety or communication difficulties.
or textural difficulty with tactile defensiveness. So it's not just fussy eating. So if we start with food selectivity, again, often called picky eating, many children with autism do eat a very limited range of foods and often it's dominated by the white diet, white crunchy salty foods. So white bread, crackers, chips, nuggets sometimes sneak in there and usually they exclude fruits, vegetables and most proteins.
Some children are very rigid with their routines and I've certainly got patients that have their down to two foods that they will eat a day, every day, these same two foods. And poor mum goes to all of the supermarkets just to buy up bulk with these two foods. And this mum goes to all of the supermarkets just to buy up bulk in these two foods so that her child continues to get what they need.
Why “Picky Eating” in Autism Is Really a Sensory Survival Response (09:47.318)
And look, of course we need to supplement that child because they are quite limited. So food selectivity can be very tight and that's why they get the diagnosis of aphid acute restricted food intake disorder because some children just are so limited in what they eat that they are what we call aphid and they are at increased risk of nutritional deficiency. Many children with autism experience sensory issues relating to feeding, meaning that their brains interpret.
certain tastes, smells, textures, even colors as overwhelming or really offensive. And this can show up in a few key ways. So we can have the absolute outright refusal of foods. And they often don't like the soft, wet foods or slimy foods or mixed textured foods. for example, soup with chunks in it. They can be very specific with temperatures.
or smells and some kids can't even be in the kitchen when food is being cooked. Some kids can actually have so much sensory overwhelm that they gag or vomit or are in extreme distress at the sight or smell of a food that is not within their sensory preferences. They may refuse to come to the table if they just feel too overwhelmed. Well, they might be very insistent on specific foods, specific presentation of foods can't be touching.
has to be a certain packaging. This is all very normal and very common. And it's not necessarily fussiness, it's their sensory survival response. And so the nervous system is trying to protect them from perceived discomfort or danger. To us it drives us not to see us eating, but to them it's genuine. It's a genuine need to avoid these foods. I mentioned tactile defensiveness and that really refers to an intense dislike or aversion to
the feeling of certain textures, whether it's in the mouth or in the hand. So for example, you might see some kids, they don't like touching sand or they don't like touching slime or they don't like touching anything wet like banana or avocado might trigger a meltdown or again, mixed textures can be a problem. It can be on their mouth, it can be in their mouth or it could be touching. So children for this reason, and definitely those who have an issue with those types of textures will definitely restrict to foods that are white.
Why Predictability Matters: The Comfort of “Safe” Foods in Autism (12:12.664)
dry or beige, plain crackers, toast, chips, and those types of foods because they're predictable and they're non-threatening.
Colour is another one. Colour can be very overwhelming for some kids and again, that's why they prefer these white foods. Some children who have had a rough start, they've been nasogastric fed when they're little, maybe they've got issues with their oral motor and chewing ability. They can also impact their ability to chew, move food around the mouth with their tongue, coordinate the swallow with their mouth and tongue muscles. And this can lead to
particular dietary preferences as well. So they may have a preference for very soft foods, dissolvable foods. They definitely won't like meat if they don't like chewing and they struggle to move food around the mouth. They might pocket food in their cheeks or they might gag or spit. Some kids have got an incredibly sensitive gag reflex. And this is where occupational therapists, OTs and speech pathologists can work alongside someone like myself.
to support children with these oral development and sensory issues and help with desensitization. Children with autism often have a strong preference for predictability. This includes routines around food, as I said, like the packaging, the presentation, that that routine and that consistency, it's comforting for them and helps them to regulate. So food refusal might not just be because they dislike the food. It could be that it's
different to what they feel is safe or what is acceptable to them from a sensory preference perspective. If you change the plate, if you change the colour, if you change the packaging, it can increase anxiety and also mean refusal. So what this means is that any changes that are done have to be done gradually and sensitively. And it's a long game. And this is why, and I am
Feeding Therapy Is a Long Game (14:14.634)
Absolutely in support of allied health. I've always worked with them. I am an allied health professional, but sometimes feeding clinics where you go there and you sit and every Thursday at 10 a.m. you go and sit with a bunch of other kids and you try new foods. Sometimes that works for kids and it's great. And I encourage you to do it if it's going to work for your child. But sometimes I see parents and they're like, was a waste of time. It was a waste of like money. And it's those kids that it's.
They need more time. It's such a long game. It's such a journey. This is years in the making. so a 10 week feeding therapy clinic may not do anything in the short term for your child. Yeah, absolutely. Potentially is planting seeds long-term, but it's important to remember that this is a long game. These changes need to be introduced gradually and sensitively. So if you have tried feeding therapy and it doesn't work, perhaps stick with it or.
Just remember that it's a long game. the changes must be introduced gradually and sensitively. And that's why sometimes parents get frustrated with feeding therapy because they don't see any changes after a term or two where they might go every Thursday at 10 AM to a feeding therapy session, but they don't see any improvement in their child and it can be very frustrating. And it's not that the therapy session isn't working or
trying to do good, it is, and I certainly have utmost respect for my fellow allied health therapists, but it's just such a long game. And so parents need to, think, lower their expectations around feeding in children with autism because it is such a long game. Look, I say it's a long game for kids that are not neurodivergent. So definitely when you lay in neurodivergence, it can absolutely extend that time and also intensify how restrictive they are.
And therefore increase the risk of nutritional deficiency. Sorry, my voice is going, but we will press on. Okay. I now just want to talk about anxiety around food. Cause I mentioned that children that are presented with food that does not fit within their sensory preferences or their, I guess their rule book, what's a yes and what's a no. It can definitely increase anxiety and children can definitely have a genuine fear.
Breaking the Stress Cycle at the Dinner Table (16:37.622)
or very strong emotional response to eating a food that does not fit in their rule book. it can be related to sensory preferences, it can also be related to previous negative feeding experiences. So perhaps they've choked on something, perhaps they have reflux, which can absolutely impact feeding. They remember foods that made them feel really yuck and perhaps have pain. Also perhaps more forceful feeding.
kids can remember this and that can impact their willingness to try foods again. As I said earlier, tube feeding can influence things. So if they've had a bit of a rough start, it can absolutely impact on their willingness to try foods. And this often leads to stressful meal times and worry for parents and then more anxiety for parents and then they try.
to coerce the child to eat and then it's just this vicious cycle and everyone's getting more stressed and more frustrated. I read this online and I thought it was a really interesting quote. Trying a new food for a child with ASD can feel like jumping off a cliff. The sensory unknowns, the fear of gagging, the risk of a meltdown, all of it creates anxiety. I was like, wow, that's incredible. So it's something that we just need to be mindful of. We need to try and understand.
where they're coming from, put ourselves in their shoes. It's why it's so important that we really strip it back and we really focus on building comfort around the new food. Even if it's just visually, the meal times are calm, structured, non-threatening, repeated exposure happens without pressure. All of those things are so crucial for a child with autism.
There might be also behavioral issues at meal time. So children may struggle to sit still and get up from the table frequently. They may throw food or they may engage in power struggles with parents. Some children is super smart. We'll know how to push all the buttons and they may especially struggle to stay at the table where impulsivity. So whether you've layered it with ADHD as well or distractibility are really key components of their behavior. And this is a nice little segue onto.
Feeding Challenges in Children with ADHD (18:48.802)
feeding challenges in children with ADHD. So while the feeding challenges may look different, they are equally as real and often overlooked because ADHD can affect a child's attention, impulse control, emotional regulation. And I was really interested to learn that it can even affect the ability to tune into body cues like hunger and fullness.
So therefore individuals with ADHD may struggle with the inter reception and the sense of internal bodily sensation. So it's harder potentially to recognise when they're hungry or full, which can lead to inconsistent eating patterns, including skipping meals, overeating or binge eating. Similarly, children with ADHD can have a lot of difficulty sitting still or focusing at meal times.
They may rush through the meal, leave the table frequently, go out, come back, go out, come back, go out, come back. So come take a mouthful and then they're off again. And they can struggle to stay engaged long enough at the table to actually finish a meal. This can often lead to under eating at meal times and grazing later on ultra processed snacks, which drives us all nuts. Some children with ADHD may demonstrate food seeking or food fixation behavior.
repeatedly asking for snacks, fixating on certain foods, often processed carbs, struggling with portion control. And sometimes this can be related to low dopamine levels or needing like instant gratification. And this is, believe, one of the, not, I don't want to call it danger, but it's a downside of these fast processed snacks because they shoot kids' sugar levels up, they're very high GI, but then they're
Those sugar levels come crashing down again and then they go up again and then they go down again and then they want another hit and another hit. So every time they come crashing down, they want another hit. So these high GI foods, these highly processed snacks create this shark tooth like blood sugar level. So it's basically going up, down, up, down, up and it's not good for them. We also need to consider the impact that medication has on appetite. And I see this so often, whether it's medication such as Ritalin.
How Gut Health Shapes Mood, Focus, and Behavior (21:08.3)
Vivants, Concerta, they're stimulant medications used to treat ADHD, but they're known to suppress appetite. And so often I see kids not wanting to eat basically all day at school because of the effect of these medications. So they eat very little during the day and they become ravenous in the early evening when the medication wears off.
And this can really impact energy levels throughout the day, concentration throughout the day, because they just haven't got any fuel on board, then carbohydrates for their brain. So we really have to be specific about a nutrition plan and maximize the intake during their hungry time so that they are still getting what they need to grow to thrive and to have enough carbohydrate on board to be able to concentrate throughout the day.
Cause your brain needs carbohydrates. It's its primary fuel source. Okay. So this is a perfect segue into my next topic, which is the gut brain connection in neurodiverse kids. Whilst we're talking about the importance of the brain needing blood sugar to function properly. So we really need to make sure that a child who is neurodivergent has as good a gut health as possible.
And I took a lot about this actually in my five days to healthy kids challenge. We've just been in Toronto. It was a huge success and there was a lot of learning around gut health. It was really interesting to see how much people took on and understood about the importance of gut health and the link between the gut and the brain. You've possibly heard it, but more and more we are learning about the intricate relationship between the gut and the brain. It's called the gut brain axis.
And there's a good reason why people have always said, I've got a gut feeling because that's genuine. It's actually your second brain. And the gut brain access is the most exciting area of research, I believe, because it really helps us better understand the link between what we eat, our gut health, our brain function, our systemic health, our behavior, our mood. And this plays a huge role in children with autism and ADHD.
Nourishing the Gut to Support the Brain (23:23.65)
So in a nutshell, the gut and brain are in constant communication through the vagus nerve, which acts like a super highway between the brain and the digestive tract in your gut. The immune system where gut inflammation can impact the brain. And then our gut microbiome. These trillions of bacteria in the gut that produce these neurotransmitters, they're messengers like serotonin, like dopamine. They're all crucial for mood, for focus and for behavior.
And because of this, many children who are dysregulated can have poorer gut microbiome and poorer gut health. Research has shown it, many neurodiverse kids experience gut issues like constipation, bloating, diarrhoea and reflux far more frequently than neurotypical children. And they have a poorer gut microbiome, which then can impact behavior, attention, and even emotional regulation.
Studies show that children with autism often have less microbial diversity in the gut, not as good variety of good healthy bugs. And they can have higher levels of certain inflammatory strains of microbes, I should say. Sometimes this can impact the production of dopamine, which is the feel-good hormone. And that's linked also to focus and impulse control. So for me,
Nourishing the gut, getting the gut right is often a huge foundational first step when you're looking at the health of a neurodiverse child. Really important, shouldn't be overlooked. And it's really important to try and strip it back to basics and think about things like fibre, sexy name for it's prebiotics, feeds the gut microbes, fermented foods, probiotics, other things we can do. And as I said, this is not going to be a prescriptive consult, this podcast.
But it's just giving you food for thought. Now let's talk about additives because this is a big area of concern, I would say for me. And the reason it's of concern for me is because at the moment, as it stands in July, 2025 in Australia, too much junk is allowed into our children's food. I'm just going to call it, it's the truth. Okay. So much so that there has been a reform, which has been called a review, I should say, and hopefully then a
The Hidden Sugar, Salt, and Additives in Kids’ Foods (25:47.978)
reform of the baby and toddler foods in Australia on the shelves right now as we speak, because there's too much sugar, salt, and I believe misleading food labeling and marketing that goes on. Not only myself, the World Health Organization believes it too. Most of our food, 90 % of our food did not meet global nutrition recommendations to misleading. It's why the, I'm going to call them out on it, the Rafferty's Gardens.
Yogurt buds, 97 % fruit and yogurt. You flip the packet around and you look at the ingredients list and the nutrition table. It has more sugar in it than white chocolate. It is nothing like yogurt. So yes, we need a big review and a big reform of what's in our kids' food on the supermarket shelf. And while that's happening as parents, we need to make the decisions for our children and be really smart about what we're putting in our trolley. And that's why I've created.
Great affordable resources for parents. I've got a healthy kids snack supermarket guide. Super affordable. It's got over 75 healthy kids snacks and talk about cereals and ice creams and muesli bars and other kids snacks. It's a great resource. I'll pop the link in the show notes. I've also got a fantastic program. It's called Supermarket Guru. Again, super affordable. And it is a one-stop shop to teach you everything you could ever need to know about.
avoiding nasty food additives. And that actually teaches you all the names and numbers and what to avoid. It gives you masterclasses on foods. And I sit there at the table with all these different food products and I go through everything in detail. So that is the best $27 you could ever spend because it's really informative and it gives you the playbook basically for what to buy and what to choose in the supermarket.
I'll pop the link to that in the show notes as well. And I apologize if you're listening to this and the price has gone up, but as I'm recording this right now, I'm doing a promo and that's the price of it. So grab it now before the pros out. Okay. So back to food additives, behavior and attention in children. And this goes across ADHD and ASD. We really need to be mindful of the artificial colors, especially. Okay. So there was a brilliant study, came out of UK, a professor called Jim Stevenson.
The Southampton Study: How Food Additives Impact Kids’ Behavior (28:08.758)
It's called the Southampton study. It's one of the most famous studies in this space and it was published in the Lancet, about 18 years ago now. But what they found was that a mixture of six food colors and a preservative called sodium benzoate, it was linked to significantly increased hyperactivity, attention and behavior issues in kids with those who had ADHD. And I actually mentioned this study in my other podcast episode.
But even children without a diagnosed behavior disorder showed increased restlessness, inattention and impulsivity when consuming these additives. And as a result of this, the European Union has mandated warning labels on all foods containing these colors. And many manufacturers then removed them from their products because they didn't want warning labels on their foods. What happens in Australia? It's a free for all. Pour whatever you want into our kids' food.
So it's really sad that Australia has not adopted the same level of regulation and many Australian kids products. You just look at the ice creams. Anything that's brightly colored has got artificial colors in it. Even hundreds and thousands, burger rings, Doritos, all your standard food colorings. Everything's like satay sauce can have colors in it. It's incredible. Day three of my five days to healthy kids challenge was all about this. And the challenge was to find the color.
in your pantry and some people couldn't, which was pretty impressive or find it online and post an image of that food so that everybody was sharing and learning from each other. So not only do we have artificial colors and preservatives, but we've got other things in our kids' food as well, which can disrupt the gut lining. So they're called gut disruptors. They can affect the immune system, particularly in sensitive children. So again, this is not a consultation. So if you feel that
This impacts your child, then please reach out to me. Might even just put a direct link to book and consult in these notes. So if you want to just book a consult, you can do that. If you have a child who's with the NDIS, then I'm also registered with them and you can, I'll actually put the link to an NDIS plan manage consult as well in the show notes. So you can literally just click that, it straight away and it's done. Okay. So let's now talk about nutrients at risk in neurodiverse children.
From Iron to Vitamin D: The Nutritional Gaps Parents Need to Watch (30:35.97)
Because of their feeding challenges, children with autism and ADHD are at higher risk of nutrient deficiencies. So here are the most commonly affected nutrients. have iron due to potentially a lower intake of red meat or iron rich foods. Iron is critical for cognitive development, so brain development and attention and energy levels. Zinc is really important for immune function, taste perception.
And appetite regulation and low levels may exacerbate picky eating and lack of appetite. fact, both low iron and low zinc can impact appetite. Calcium and vitamin D. Often I find vitamin D is more at risk than calcium because often kids that love a white diet have plenty of dairy, but vitamin D may be more at risk. Calcium isn't as much at risk, I don't believe, but vitamin D, yes, because often children are huge dairy drinkers.
but they may not get out in the sun as much or they may not eat enough. Vitamin D deficiency we do see in some children, especially those that have lower sun exposure and don't get out there and don't get that vitamin D conversion because 90 % of our vitamin D comes from exposure in the sun and conversion to the active vitamin D that we need for our body. Selective eating can further exacerbate that, impacting bone health and also mood.
Fatty acids are essential fats and they play a key role in brain function and anti-inflammatory pathways. Children with ADHD in particular, but also ASD can benefit from supplementation here. Magnesium supports muscle and nerve function and can be depleted as can B vitamins, which are important in energy metabolism and protein can sometimes be impacted. And sometimes kids will have lower muscle tone.
But if they've got a really low intake of meat, eggs, dairy, then that can result in a lower protein intake and potentially affect muscle mass. So parents will often try particular diets to help their child to try to help their behavior, help their mood, improve their nutrition. And one that's quite common, it's been very prominent over the years and there's a lot of anecdotal benefits that you hear is the gluten-free casein free diet and it eliminates
Do Special Diets Really Help? The Truth Behind GFCF, Feingold, and More (33:01.198)
wheat gluten and gluten is also in rye and barley. It's not just wheat, rye, barley. And if you the book potentially it's avoiding oats as well. And then casein, which is a milk protein. So you're basically avoiding all dairy. And look, some parents report improvements in behavioural gut health, but the evidence is mixed, like clinical evidence. And this way of eating can result in nutrient deficiencies if not done carefully.
under the guidance of a pediatric dietician like myself.
And often to be honest with you, I like to then challenge both separately so that you understand whether a child needs to avoid both. There are plenty of other diets that if you Google ASD or ADHD, or I should say chat GPT, you might find information about the Femgold diet, which eliminates artificial colors, flavors, and certain salicylates. There's not.
significant evidence around avoiding salicylates for children that have behaviour issues. Colours, yes, as I talked about earlier. Inside the supermarket guru, I also talk about other additives that I think are really high on the hit list that should be avoided. And let me be clear, this is avoided for all kids, not just for children with ASD or ADHD, but definitely should be avoided for children with ASD and ADHD and also
pretty much every other child. Definitely there's a lot more layering with other nutritional requirements and nutritional supplements that I would layer with in the case of a child with ADHD or ASD, especially ASD that was quite restrictive with their intake. Now there's other diets. You might find the low FODMAP diet or the GAPS diet or the ketogenic diet, which is super low carbon can be very dangerous, has to be done under medical supervision.
Navigating Supplements Safely for Neurodiverse Children (34:59.31)
We've got the whole foods diet, look at you name it, there's a gazillion diets out there, but that they're the kinds of food restrictions or diets that you might see online as a treatment or to try to improve a child's behavioural mood or concentration with autism or supplements. Supplements are often used in children with ASD or ADHD, especially those that are super restricted with their intake and.
especially those that have a very restricted dietary intake because it's hard to get all the nutrients through food. And many parents explore supplements and will put their children on supplements just to have a safeguard. So some of the more common ones are omega-3 fatty acids, especially the EPA and the DHA. Magnesium, often combined with B6 or vitamin D. There may be zinc, there may be iron.
multivitamins, actually I should say with iron, you've got to be very careful and prescriptive with that because you can overdo iron. Iron can be toxic if given too high. To be honest with you, a lot of them can be problematic if you overdo it. So you've got to be really careful with supplements and again, get professional advice. Probiotics absolutely support probiotics, especially in children with potentially altered gut microbiome and that could need a good dose of good bugs.
can improve mood, behaviour and support the health of that gut brain access, that communication pathway, so important. Vitamin D is another one and glutamine is another one that may be supplemented. So as I said, it's really important that you are choosing the right supplements for your child's need, not overdoing it, choosing the right supplement brand. And that's where you really need to have that professional advice.
So I think if you're listening and you're still holding on, well done, and you're saying, so where do I start, Karina? I would start by really focusing on the basics. I would be looking at what your child's currently having, perhaps even write it all down. And certainly when I have consults with parents, I'll get them to email me a four day food diary so that I can really have a look at what their typical eating pattern is, how regular their meals and snacks are.
Creating a Calm, Predictable Eating Environment for Your Child (37:19.33)
What their eating environment is like and whether it's calm, whether it's predictable, what foods are served, how food is talked about is our whole feeding ecosystem, which is a framework, backbone of my Fussy Eating program inside Nourishing Kids. It's a feeding ecosystem that we really need to look at and make sure it's working like a well-oiled machine so that all of the aspects of a child's feeding ecosystem are
working towards expanding their intake. And if parts of that feeding ecosystem are going against it, then it's like trying to put your foot on the accelerator and have your foot on the brake at the same time. You're not going to go as far. You're not going to go anywhere. So it's really important that all aspects of a child's feeding ecosystem are optimized. Now, Narrowthin Kids is currently full, but if you're interested in putting it in the waitlist or applying,
to jump in when there's more spots, then just email me, jump on my website and press the contact button and send me an email. We can chat further about your child's specific dietary challenges and their needs. If you are trying anything new, you're trying a specific supplement, you're trying a specific way of eating. It's really important that you just do one thing at a time. If you're trying too many things at once and you know, goes well, it's what worked or it went worse.
or things became worse and you don't know what made it worse. It's really hard to know. So you really need to try and do one thing at a time. So then you can go, right, that helped that or that made it worse. It can really help to isolate what's going to help your child. But it's really important to be patient. Children that are neurodivergent, ASD, ADHD often take longer to adjust.
to new foods, new routines, and we really need to celebrate the small wins. So please don't feel like you are needing to go it alone. It's really challenging sometimes feeding kids in general, especially children that have a neurodivergent background. So it's really important to seek the right support from someone like myself or occupational therapists or speech pathologists that are specialized in feeding. And try not to compare your child to
Filling the Gaps: Helping Your Child Thrive with the Right Nutrition Plan(39:44.384)
any other child because every child is different and what works for one child may not work for another. And the supplements that work for one child or the supplements that one child may need are not going to be the supplements that another child needs. So it's really important to try and swim in your lane and just focus on what your child needs and get the professional advice for what your child needs based on their history. But as I said, you're not alone on this and with the right tools, your child can absolutely expand their intake and thrive.
It's just about feeling the nutrient gaps and that's really important. And then having the plan in place to slowly and gradually expand their variety and their tolerance and acceptance of new foods. But first and foremost, you need to plug the nutrient gaps and make sure that their intake is set up for success. It's filling the nutrient gaps first, supplementing when needed, professionally advised.
And creating a successful feeding ecosystem that's going to enable your child to expand the variety of foods over time. So that's where I would start. That's what I would focus on. But as I said, this is a very complex area. can be complex kids, complex feeding challenges. So please reach out to me. If you want to chat further about this area, you can even email me and I'll pop my email in the notes as well, but it's.
nourishwithkarina.com. Thanks so much for listening. It's been wonderful having you on this podcast episode. I hope it's been really helpful for you, especially if you have a child with ASD or ADHD, because parents need to be supported with any challenges around feeding and certainly kids that are neurodivergent can have that extra layer of feeding challenge. So please don't feel like you're alone.
Got plenty of support, plenty of people like you. Trust me, I've got plenty of mums inside nourishing kids that have children. Probably very similar to your child. So you're not alone and reach out if you need. And please leave me a review of this podcast episode if you've loved it, or I should say of my podcast because
Filling the Nutrient Gaps: Practical Nutrition Strategies for Kids with ASD & ADHD (41:56.61)
I don't think you can leave a review of an individual episode, but leave me a review of the podcast and reach out to me on Instagram, nourishwithKarina. I will leave it there. Thank you for listening to my husky voice for this whole episode. Hopefully it's not as husky next time and have a great week. Bye for now