MCADD - FAQ

What is the best diet for my toddler with MCADD?

A metabolic nutritionist will help you with the diet for your child. In general, children with MCADD should be given a balanced diet, avoiding simple carbohydrates that might lead to obesity and instead including complex carbohydrates, such as whole grains. Diets should also be low in saturated and trans fats and, overall, the diet should supply less than 30% of calories as fat. In MCADD, fats with carbon lengths between 4 and 12 (medium chain) cannot be broken down into energy by the body, leading to the buildup of toxins. There are no naturally occurring foods made up of medium-chain fats (except MCT oil), but longer fats are broken up into medium and short chains, providing some fat chains that the child cannot metabolize. There is no way to avoid this, as fats are necessary for the development of the nervous system and hormone synthesis. Fats, in the form of free fatty acids, can be monitored by your child's metabolic team to make sure that there are not too many, or too few, as some are essential for growth and immune and nervous system functioning, and the diet can be modified as necessary.