Feeding and Eating Difficulties in Children with Gastrointestinal Disorders, Including Disorders of the Gut–Brain Interaction

Dear Colleagues,

Pediatric Feeding Disorders (PFDs) are common, with up to 1 in 23 children under the age of five meeting criteria (Kovacic et al., 2021). Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID), a psychological feeding and eating disorder, is also common, with up to 15% of children and adolescents in non-clinical samples meeting criteria (Sanchez-Cerezo et al., 2023). Populations at greater risk of PFDs and ARFID include children with chronic medical conditions, particularly gastrointestinal disorders. Studies indicate that up to 37% of children/adolescents with eosinophilic esophagitis (Murphy et al., 2025), 17% of children/adolescents with inflammatory bowel disorder (Grossberg et al., 2025), and 50% of children/adolescents with disorders of the gut–brain interaction also meet criteria for ARFID (Kaul et al., 2024).

We are pleased to invite you to submit cutting-edge research on the relationship between feeding and eating difficulties, including pediatric feeding disorders and avoidant/restrictive food intake disorders and gastrointestinal disorders, as well as disorders of the gut–brain interaction.

The Special Issue aims to expand the current literature on the growing topic of feeding and eating difficulties in gastrointestinal disorders. Topics of interest include understanding prevalence and comorbidities with specific disorders, refining assessment of feeding and eating difficulties, intervention strategies for working with complex presentations of feeding and eating difficulties, and discussions around cultural adaptations of interventions and assessments of feeding and eating difficulties. Original research articles are encouraged, though case studies and systematic reviews will also be considered.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

References:

1. Kovacic, K., Rein, L. E., Szabo, A., Kommareddy, S., Bhagavatula, P., & Goday, P. S. (2021). Pediatric Feeding Disorder: A Nationwide Prevalence Study. The Journal of pediatrics, 228, 126–131.e3. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpeds.2020.07.047
2. Sanchez-Cerezo, J., Nagularaj, L., Gledhill, J., & Nicholls, D. (2023). What do we know about the epidemiology of avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder in children and adolescents? A systematic review of the literature. European eating disorders review : the journal of the Eating Disorders Association, 31(2), 226–246. https://doi.org/10.1002/erv.2964
3. Murphy, L. B., Buckley, C., O'Gorman, M., Fitzgerald, S., Muller, A., & Robson, J. (2025). Avoidant and restrictive food intake disorder among children with eosinophilic esophagitis. JPGN Reports, 6(4), 485–492. https://doi.org/10.1002/jpr3.70053
4. Grossberg, L. B., Mishra, K., Rabinowitz, L. G., Mecsas-Faxon, B., Mandal, N., Susheela, A., Naik, A., Patel, K., Gallotto, M., Greenwood, T., Burton Murray, H., Papamichael, K., Cheifetz, A. S., Kinsinger, S. W., & Ballou, S. (2025). A Multicenter Study to Assess Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder in Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease. Inflammatory bowel diseases, 31(9), 2381–2389. https://doi.org/10.1093/ibd/izaf016
5. Kaul, M., Mukherjee, D., Weiner, H. L., & Cox, L. M. (2024). Gut microbiota immune cross-talk in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Neurotherapeutics : the journal of the American Society for Experimental NeuroTherapeutics, 21(6), e00469. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neurot.2024.e00469

Dr. Ryan Davidson
Dr. Julia Carmody
Guest Editors

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