Dietary Practice and Physical Activity in Children with Down Syndrome and Their Siblings in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Background: Feeding difficulties and inappropriate nutrition are common problems among children with Down Syndrome (DS). Objective: The aim of this study is to investigate the dietary practice and physical activity among children with DS. Methodology: The study groups were pre-pubertal DS boys and girls, aged 5 to 12 years clinically and cytogenetically proven to be suffering from DS. Healthy siblings, closest in age to the DS children were used as a control group. Breast feeding, eating difficulties, fast food intake, and physical activity were measured for both groups. Results: During infancy period, 36.4% of the DS children were bottle fed, compared to only 5.5% of the normal siblings. Nearly half of the breast-fed DS children were fed for duration of less than 6 months. The percentage of the DS children experiencing dietary difficulties is significantly higher compared to the siblings. Concerning physical activity, 73.1% of DS children did not exercise as compared to 44.2% of the control siblings. Conclusion: Controlling feeding practices and encouraging Down syndrome children to participate in physical activity either through support from parents or through designing special programs and facilities and are two avenues that can be used for obesity prevention.

Feeding and swallowing difficulties in children with Down syndrome

“…This result is in agreement with the studies done by Mohamed et al (2013) and Mitchell et al (2003) who found feeding difficulties in CWDS. Hennequin et al (2000) also found that suckling, swallowing and chewing were delayed, and the feeding pattern was found to be an intermediate pattern between a primary suckle-swallow pattern and full rotary chewing.…”

“…The results indicated that the children with Down syndrome faced greater difficulties in solids than liquids in both the phases of the swallow. The present study is in consensus with the study conducted by Mohamed et al (2013) who found difficulties in the transition from liquids to solids in CWDS. Gisel et al (1984) revealed that CWDS exhibited a reluctance to chew and preferred sucking of food with decreased masticatory efficiency when it comes to chewing solids.…”

“…This result is in agreement with the studies done by Mohamed et al . () and Mitchell et al . () who found feeding difficulties in CWDS.…”

“…The present study is in consensus with the study conducted by Mohamed et al . () who found difficulties in the transition from liquids to solids in CWDS. Gisel et al .…”

“…Field et al (2003) revealed a high prevalence of texture selectivity, oral-motor problems and swallowing difficulties in CWDS. Mohamed et al (2013) found CWDS to have difficulties in chewing, swallowing and food rejection. Chewing was also found to be affected in a clinical evaluation of eating behaviour where chewing was characterised by forward placement of the tongue, the absence of the maturational patterns and prolonged masticatory cycle (Gisel et al 1984).…”