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Feeding and Eating Disorders: Clinical and Nutritional Perspectives

A special issue of Nutrients (ISSN 2072-6643). This special issue belongs to the section "Clinical Nutrition".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 November 2026 | Viewed by 349

Editor


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Guest Editor
Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King’s College London, London SE5 8AF, UK
Interests: eating disorders; obesity; nutrition and mental disorders; weight regulation; psychopharmacology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

As the field of feeding and eating disorders evolves, new research continues to bridge the gap between metabolic and psychiatric understandings of these disorders. To capture these advancements, this Special Issue invites submissions of original research, secondary analyses, and meta-analytic insights.

Our scope encompasses all established diagnoses (e.g., anorexia and bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder, avoidant restrictive food intake disorder, pica, rumination-regurgitation disorder) alongside emerging clinical entities like atypical anorexia and bulimia nervosa, purging disorder and night eating syndrome.

In particular, we seek contributions that offer fresh diagnostic, therapeutic, and nutritional perspectives, or evaluate the efficacy of new interventions like novel nutritional or other approaches (e.g., microbiome-based treatments, psychedelics and GLP-1 receptor agonists), or virtual reality-based or AI-powered interventions.

Prof. Dr. Hubertus Himmerich
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Nutrients is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • feeding
  • eating disorders
  • anorexia and bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder
  • avoidant re-strictive food intake disorder
  • pica
  • rumination-regurgitation disorder

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

16 pages, 1256 KB  
Article
Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake and Selective Eating in Children: Clinical Profile, Nutritional Deficiencies, and Behavioral Correlates in a Tertiary Pediatric Center
by Livia Gargiullo, Valentina Colistra, Annalisa Grandin, Rosaria Marotta, Italo Pretelli, Ludovica Ricci, Mariangela Irrera, Antonio Musolino, Isabella Tarissi de Jacobis, Maria Rosaria Marchili and Alberto Villani
Nutrients 2026, 18(13), 2059; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu18132059 - 24 Jun 2026
Viewed by 196
Abstract
Background: Avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID) and selective eating are increasingly recognized in pediatric nutrition, but food selectivity has been predominantly studied in dedicated eating disorder settings and in underweight children, potentially underestimating its prevalence across broader clinical populations. This study aimed [...] Read more.
Background: Avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID) and selective eating are increasingly recognized in pediatric nutrition, but food selectivity has been predominantly studied in dedicated eating disorder settings and in underweight children, potentially underestimating its prevalence across broader clinical populations. This study aimed to characterize food selectivity as a transdiagnostic feature in children referred to a tertiary pediatric nutrition center, regardless of referral diagnosis or BMI status. Methods: This retrospective observational study included 417 consecutive children and adolescents (median age 9.3 years, IQR 4.1–12.9; 47.5% male) assessed at the General Pediatric Eating Disorders Outpatient Unit of Bambino Gesù Children’s Hospital IRCCS, Rome, Italy, between May 2024 and April 2026. Food selectivity was defined as clinician-documented avoidance of at least one of four food groups (vegetables, fruit, fish, and legumes). Patients were classified as having primary selective eating/ARFID (Group A, n = 141), unrecognized selective eating (Group B, n = 163), or no selectivity (Group C, n = 113). Results: Food selectivity was identified in 293 patients (70.3%), including 70.8% of those referred for obesity or overweight and 50.0% of those referred for eating disorders. Prevalence did not differ across BMI categories (p = 0.554), confirming that selective eating is independent of anthropometric status. Ferritin deficiency showed a significant gradient across groups (Group A 32.2%, Group B 17.9%, Group C 10.8%; p = 0.002). Screen use during meals and ultra-processed food consumption were similarly elevated in Groups A and B and significantly higher than in Group C (p = 0.002 and p < 0.001, respectively), with no difference between the two selective groups. Conclusions: Food selectivity is a transdiagnostic and BMI-independent feature affecting the majority of children referred for pediatric nutritional evaluation. Children with unrecognized selective eating share the same nutritional risks and behavioral correlates as those formally diagnosed with ARFID, supporting the integration of a brief food group avoidance screen into routine nutritional assessment regardless of the primary referral diagnosis. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Feeding and Eating Disorders: Clinical and Nutritional Perspectives)
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