UNICEF has warned that poor diets, largely driven by ultra-processed foods, or junk food, are damaging children’s health across Africa. In Nigeria, obesity rates have tripled, in part because of aggressive marketing of UPFs (ultra-processed foods) aimed at kids. UPFs are dense in sugar, salt, and unhealthy fats, but lack nutrients. For autistic kids, who may already struggle with restricted diets, this compounds issues as they are five times more likely than their neurotypical peers to have feeding issues.
So what exactly makes junk food so risky for children with autism? Here are some of the hidden ways junk food can quietly sabotage progress and make daily life harder for both child and family.
Easy-to-Grab But Hard to Digest
Many processed snacks are low in fiber and high in sugars, artificial additives, and unhealthy fats, all of which can wreak havoc on a child’s gastrointestinal system. For autistic kids, who are already more prone to digestive troubles like constipation, bloating, acid reflux, and food intolerances, this creates a perfect storm. Their gut often reacts strongly to chemical preservatives and emulsifiers found in junk food, leading to inflammation, discomfort, and even changes in stool patterns. What’s more, many of these children may struggle to communicate their pain or discomfort, so what looks like a meltdown or withdrawal could actually be rooted in a silent bellyache. Over time, repeated gut irritation can impact nutrient absorption, feeding aversions, and even immune function, making their developmental challenges even harder to manage.
Additives, Colours and Sugar: A Triple Threat
Processed snacks come loaded with artificial colours, flavours, preservatives like MSG, and excess sugar. These aren’t just “fun extras.” In children with sensory sensitivities, they can worsen behavioral issues: tantrums, hyperactivity, and attention problems crop up more often.
MSG acts as an excitotoxin. It overstimulates brain cells and may exacerbate emotional dysregulation in autistic kids. Meanwhile, sugar spikes and crashes can increase irritability and anxiety. These ingredients are doing more than sweetening. They’re affecting the brain and not in a good way.
Brain and Behaviour: More Than Just Sugar Highs
Besides the sugar spikes and emotional dysregulation, UPFs may carry microplastics from packaging. They also contain preservatives, refined sugars, trans fats and additives that alter brain chemistry and fuel inflammation, all of which affect neurodevelopment. Studies even connect prenatal ultra processed food consumption to changes in gene expression (nutritional epigenetics), potentially raising autism and ADHD risks. In kids already on the autism spectrum, these foods may worsen verbal delays, sensory overload, or repetitive behaviour.
Gut-Brain Axis: What the Stomach Tells the Brain
The gut and brain are deeply connected through what’s called the gut-brain axis. This means what happens in the digestive system can directly influence mood, behavior, and even thinking. This link between the gut and brain is more pronounced especially in children with autism. Junk food rich in sugar, unhealthy fats, preservatives, and little fibre disrupts the microbiome which is that delicate balance of gut bacteria. This imbalance can spark inflammation and leak gut by-products into the bloodstream, negatively affecting mood, cognition, and behaviour.
Imagine the gut as a communicator. When it’s upset, kids might act out or shut down. GI pain isn’t always obvious. It might just look like tantrums or withdrawal. Parents often miss the real culprit which is food.
Missing Nutrients: The Quiet Deficit
You think you're feeding your child but you're barely meeting the body’s real nutritional needs. Junk food fills the tummy, but leaves the body hungry and poor in nutrients like iron, zinc, vitamin D, B12, omega‑3, and more. A toddler whose diet is heavy on chips and soda may seem “full,” yet they could be vitamin‑C, thiamine or iron‑deficient. There are true stories of autistic children contracting scurvy, beriberi or even going blind because of severe nutrient gaps.
Just in November, a 12‑year‑old autistic boy stuck on hamburgers and doughnuts lost his sight due to vitamin A and zinc deficiency. This is not sci‑fi. It’s a real-life risk when junk food crowds out healthy choices.
Processed Food and Brain Development
It turns out that ultra-processed food doesn’t just feed the body, it also meddles with the mind. Research from UCF linked a food preservative, propionic acid, to disruptions in fetal brain development, triggering neuron inflammation, an echo of what we see in autism spectrum behaviors. Add to that epigenetics studies showing pregnant or nursing parents consuming UPFs can pass on risks like heavy metal exposure, less nutrient‑rich genes that affect neurodevelopment. Rough thought, right?
Hidden Threats: GI Discomfort, Anxiety, Behavior
Many autistic children have gastrointestinal issues tied to processed diets and gut dysbiosis. When kids drink sugary soda instead of water, acid increases and causes discomfort. They eat colour-rich snacks full of additives tied to anxiety and inattention. Over years, such patterns lead to blood glucose swings, mood volatility, and a miniature chronic disease landscape featuring diabetes, high blood pressure and compromised immune health.
Other Health Risks You Don’t See and what you can do about it
With this increase in junk food consumption, we are seeing a lot of Nigerian teens becoming obese. Juvenile diabetes and hypertension usually follows. Beyond what we can see, junk food also elevates the risk of asthma, autoimmune conditions, and even some cancers later on. For autistic children, who often experience co‑morbid conditions like IBS or asthma, the stakes are higher still.
It may sound bleak but there’s hope. We can use creativity, healthy eating and gradual steps to shift their diets.
1. Eye the Additives
Start reading labels. If you spot Red 40, MSG, sodium benzoate or the likes, swap it out. Replace that soda with fresh zobo or fruit juice. Jakamtonia sauerkraut juice.
2. Replace with healthy snack alternatives
Rather than ban junk outright, introduce healthy alternatives like gluten free plantain chips and dried fruits. Swap sugary breakfast cereal for millet porridge sweetened with honey. Jakamtonia has a collection of healthy snacks for nibbling. There's dried mango, pineapple, pears, coconut flakes and even plantain chips. You can stock up and enjoy them with your family.
3. Reinforce Gut Health
Add probiotic-rich foods like yoghurt, ogi (fermented pap) or iyakata (fermented cassava), if tolerable. Increase fibre through pounded yam with lemon or vegetable side soups. This supports the gut‑brain axis and balances mood and behaviour.
4. Fortify with Whole Foods
Raise intake of iron, B12, folate, omega‑3. Consider fish pepper soup, veggie-laden egusi, beans-rich ewa agoyin. When nutritional deficiencies are flagged, use dietary supplements only with a doctor’s guidance.
5. Talk with Experts
Dietitians, therapists, paediatricians can help identify ARFID (avoidant-restrictive food intake disorder), GI issues, or severe deficiency. Verywell Health encourages one‑food‑at‑a‑time introduction and sensory play to ease acceptance.
Here’s something you can start today, remove one item of junk food from your home. Start small. Replace soda with juice, chips with healthy dried fruit. Order here. Observe any change in mood, attention, behaviour. Celebrate small wins.