Short pasta is better than spaghetti, green vegetables are better than orange ones, foods that have similar shades are better than contrasting color combinations: are some of the practical tips to better address the implications of autism at the table. The evidence emerges from “Food-Aut”, a scientific research project conducted by the Laboratory of Dietetics and Clinical Nutrition of the University of Pavia directed by Professor Hellas Cena in partnership with the Fondazione Sacra Famiglia Onlus and coordinated and supported by the Pellegrini Group: they are been collected in a small manual that can be of help to families and collective catering. On the other hand, this is precisely the aim of “Food-Aut”: to improve the state of health of people with autism spectrum syndrome (ASD) through the development of menus for collective catering and nutritional indications aimed at caregivers/parents, in order to support them in managing meals at home.
«There is a high percentage of autistic people who have this food selectivity: they eat only one food for a very long time, cooked in a single way. This becomes a problem, for many reasons: because it impacts on the daily life of the family, because it conditions the social and group life of the person and the family, because an incorrect diet leads to a greater probability of incurring illnesses. They are all fragilities that add up to a situation of fragility», he explains Monica Conti, director of Innovative Services for Autism of the Holy Family. «For our organization – which follows more than 350 people with autism every year – this study represents a precious opportunity to focus even more effectively on their eating habits which significantly affect psycho-physical well-being. Through a gradual and careful approach of the specific sensory sensitivity of people with autism, it is possible to make progress towards a more varied, balanced, healthy diet always connected to sociality. The results encourage us to continue in this direction and to involve children and adolescents in similar studies».
In addition to the question of the subject, in fact, Conti continues, there are two other reasons that explain why the Holy Family accepted the proposal to participate in the research, obviously together with the seriousness of the players: «The second is the approach that focuses on sensoriality, very innovative. Consider nutrition in all its aspects, bearing in mind all the characteristics of autistic sensoriality: the research has not only evaluated whether a boy liked a certain type of food or not, but has evaluated the color of the food, the plating, the place where the meal is served, the noise of the environment. It’s very interesting,” she says. Third point «it is a concrete research, so much so that one of the products is a small manual that can now be delivered to families or collective catering. He is not taken for granted ».
How did the research take place? For one year, from March 2022 to March 2023, the study observed the behaviors of 22 people with Autism Spectrum Disorders, aged between 19 and 48, who attend the Holy Family Day Center in Cesano Boscone (Milan). People diagnosed with first, second and third degree autism spectrum syndrome. Standardized evaluation forms were used to evaluate their food consumption, but a qualitative evaluation form was added to the quantitative evaluation form, aimed at identifying the pleasantness of the dishes consumed with respect to the sensory characteristics: name of the dish, color ( one or more), intensity of aroma (intense or soft), texture (crunchy and/or soft and/or slimy and/or gelatinous) and temperature (hot, cold, ambient). «After the phase of observation and evaluation of the satisfaction of the “ordinary” menu, a new menu was developed, which took into account the observations made and the satisfaction was recorded again, that has grown. The Laboratory of the University of Pavia has developed ad hoc menus, both from a nutritional and sensorial point of view. We have seen, for example, the consumption of bread has dropped, because they ate more of the foods on the menu…. Families were also involved, with an observation on eating behavior at dinner», says Conti.