Food Regime for Phenylketonuria: Presenting Complications and Possible Solutions

In the category of rare inherited genetic disorders, phenylketonuria is a prominent example. Here, the defective phenylalanine hydroxylase enzyme fails to catalyze conversion of phenylalanine to tyrosine. This leads to not only excess deposition of phenylalanine leading to phenylalanine toxicity but also precludes the production of important glutamatergic and cholinergic neurotransmitters, leading to epileptic disorders, microcephaly, low intelligence quotient etc. For long, specialized food products are considered as preferred solution to prevent disease outcome. Different medical diets are developed for managing phenylketonuria includes amino acid mixtures, protein hydrolysates, cofactor-based therapy, large neutral amino acids and glycomacropeptides. However, despite the advent of alternate forms of diet products, the central form of treatment has still been free amino acid mixture. The formulated diet is by and large expensive and in-depth evaluation of several factors which contribute to the expense of medicated diet is requisite to create effective yet affordable avenues for management of disease. For this, we have discussed the role of various factors involved in increasing price of medicated diet and presented possible solutions to it. We have also extensively reviewed prevalence of disease, commercial diet for PKU patients, and their associated limitations. Overall, this is the first attempt to present a holistic view of balance between the overall impact of diet associated therapy and weighing it against the associated finances incurred.