ARFID-Strategies for Dietary Management in Children

• Published in: Nutrients Vol. 14; no. 9; p. 1739
• Main Authors: Białek-Dratwa, Agnieszka, Szymańska, Dorota, Grajek, Mateusz, Krupa-Kotara, Karolina, Szczepańska, Elżbieta, Kowalski, Oskar
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 22-04-2022; MDPI
• Subjects: Adults; Anorexia; ARFID; Autism; Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder; Body weight gain; Body weight loss; Bulimia; Child; child nutrition; Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; Eating behavior; Eating disorders; Enteral feeding; Enteral nutrition; feeding and eating difficulties; Feeding and Eating Disorders; feeding disorders; Food; Food chains; Food intake; Humans; Malnutrition; Mental disorders; Nutrient deficiency; Nutritional status; Patients; Pediatrics; Retrospective Studies; Review; Social interactions; Systematic review; Teenagers; Weight loss; Switzerland; feeding disorders; ARFID; eating disorders; child nutrition; feeding and eating difficulties
• ISSN: 2072-6643; 2072-6643
• DOI: 10.3390/nu14091739

Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID) is a relatively new disease entity in DSM-5 and ICD-11. This disorder continues to pose a diagnostic and therapeutic challenge for many professionals. This disorder can affect people of all ages. The most characteristic pattern is considered to be a lack of interest in eating or avoidance of food intake, which may result in nutritional deficiencies, weight loss or lack of expected weight gain, dependence on enteral feeding or dietary supplements, and impaired psychosocial functioning. This disorder cannot be explained by a current medical condition or co-occurring other psychiatric disorders, but if ARFID co-occurs with another disorder or illness, it necessarily requires extended diagnosis. Its treatment depends on the severity of the nutritional problem and may include hospitalization with multispecialty care (pediatrician, nutritionist, psychologist, psychiatrist, neurologist). The nutritional management strategy may include, inter alia, the use of Food Chaining, and should in the initial stage of therapy be based on products considered "safe" in the patient's assessment. The role of the dietitian in the management of a patient with ARFID is to monitor weight and height and nutritional status and analyze the foods that should be introduced into the food chain first.