An Italian Pilot Study on Epigenetic Factors in Early Children’s Eating Disorders

Abstract

Infants’ feeding disorders represent a crucial health problem for physical and psychological wellbeing during childhood. The international literature on this issue has recently focused on possible genetic and epigenetic variables that could be associated with various clinical manifestations of feeding disorders (Avoidant-Restrictive Feeding Disorder ARFID) among infants, such as children’s dopamine transporter (DAT1) genotype and methylation, children’s emotional functioning and maternal psychopathological risk. On the basis of the bio-psycho-social model, this pilot study aims to empirically investigate the relationship between children’s DAT1 methylation, children’s emotional-behavioural profiles and maternal psychopathologic risk, in families with preschool-age children with three different ARFID subtype (i.e., irritable/impulsive (I/I), sensory food aversions (SFA), and post-traumatic feeding disorders subtypes (PTFD)). Participants were 69 children and their mothers who were assigned to three different groups according to the clinical ARFID subtypes. Mothers’ psychopathological symptoms and offspring’s emotional–behavioral functioning were assessed through several questionnaires. Children’s DNA was collected using buccal swabs. The findings show that children’s genotype is associated with different feeding disorders subtypes and significant differences between the study groups with reference to children’s DAT1 total methylation, children’s emotional-behavioural problems, and maternal psychopathological risk. A relationship between maternal psychopathological risk, children’s genotype and children’s emotional-behavioural functioning was established in this study. This complex gene-environment interplay indicates a crucial implication in shaping children’s psychopathological problems and diseases such as ARFID. This study provides information on the issue of infants’ feeding disorders that may be useful in implementing early assessment and treatment programmes.