What is Included in a Low Phenylalanine Food Pattern? The diet for PKU consists of a phenylalanine-free medical formula and carefully measured amounts of fruits, vegetables, bread, pasta, and cereals. Many people who follow a low phenylalanine (phe) food pattern eat special low protein breads and pastas.
What is the diet for a child with PKU?
Children and adults with PKU should eat a low-protein diet. They should avoid high-protein foods, like milk, dairy, meats, eggs, nuts, soy, and beans. A person with PKU also should avoid the artificial sweetener aspartame, which contains phenylalanine.
How do PKU patients get protein?
Today, the major source of dietary protein for those with PKU consists of mixtures of synthetic AA devoid of phe and a small amount of dietary protein from fruits and vegetables to provide phe.
What happens if someone with PKU eats protein?
A dangerous buildup of phenylalanine can develop when a person with PKU eats protein-rich foods, such as milk, cheese, nuts or meat, or grains such as bread and pasta, or aspartame, an artificial sweetener.
What can I eat on a PKU diet? – Related Questions
How long do people with PKU live?
PKU does not shorten life expectancy, with or without treatment. Newborn screening for PKU is required in all 50 states. PKU is usually identified by newborn screening. A child’s outlook is very good if she strictly follows the diet.
What foods should PKU avoid?
The main treatment for PKU is a low-protein diet that completely avoids high-protein foods (such as meat, eggs and dairy products) and controls the intake of many other foods, such as potatoes and cereals.
Can PKU damage be reversed?
Although the severe cognitive impairment associated with untreated PKU can in many cases be partially reversed with dietary treatment, prompt initiation of treatment following newborn metabolic screening is essential for optimal development and the prevention of disability.
What happens if protein is not digested?
Because the body cannot effectively break down these amino acids, which are found in many protein-rich foods, nausea and vomiting are typically experienced after ingesting protein.
How much protein does a PKU need daily?
For children with PKU, the prescribed target total protein intake was 3 g/kg/day (2) and median natural protein intake at weaning was 5 g/day (range: 3–7 g/day).
What goes wrong in phenylketonuria?
Classic PKU, the most severe form of the disorder, occurs when phenylalanine hydroxylase activity is severely reduced or absent. People with untreated classic PKU have levels of phenylalanine high enough to cause severe brain damage and other serious health problems.
How does PKU affect the brain?
PKU affects the brain.
High blood Phe levels can cause disruptions in neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine, which are important for mood, learning, memory, and motivation. In addition to disrupting neurotransmitter balance, Phe itself can be directly toxic to the brain.
Can PKU cause dementia?
This case demonstrates that late-onset PKU is a rare, treatable cause of rapidly progressive dementia and parkinsonism with certain constellations such as consanguinity and white matter abnormalities (WMAs) in imaging.
Can you outgrow PKU?
A person with PKU does not outgrow it and must stay on the diet for life.
Is PKU linked to autism?
In the group of 35 patients diagnosed late, two boys (5.71%) ages 16 and 13 years fulfilled the diagnostic criteria for autism. The present study confirms that classical PKU is one of the causes of autism, but the prevalence seems to be very low.
Can you drink alcohol with PKU?
Having PKU does not mean that alcohol is off limits, it’s just important to be aware of the amount and type of alcohol you choose to drink and most importantly that you drink responsibly.
What is everyday life like with PKU?
Results of the quantitative survey indicated common mental and general health effects of PKU in adults and children were: depression, low mood and anxiety, recurrent indigestion problems such as heart burn and stomach ache (Table 2).
Does PKU affect intelligence?
Untreated PKU typically results in profoundly lowered IQ and intellectual disability [7,8]. With early diagnosis and treatment to limit dietary Phe intake, however, individuals with PKU usually have IQs in the average range [9].
How does PKU affect a person emotionally?
As children and adolescents, patients with PKU may have learning difficulties, school problems, decreased motivation, less social competence, irritability, hyperactivity, mood disorders, and poor self esteem.
Can I eat meat with PKU?
Children and adults with PKU have to eat small amounts of Phe and they cannot eat meats, dairy, eggs, beans or nuts. Someone with PKU cannot eat pizza, birthday cake, regular bread, yogurt, cheese, ice cream, chocolate, hot dogs, hamburgers, or turkey on Thanksgiving!
Can PKU eat sugar?
People with PKU can have diet and sugar free drinks, as long as they don’t have aspartame in. More drinks are now using other sweeteners such as sucralose and acesulfame K which are safe for people with PKU to take.
