Factors for healthy food or less-healthy food intake among Taiwanese adolescents with intellectual disabilities.
Caregiver gender and teen health views shape junk-food intake in Taiwanese adolescents with ID—screen these variables to focus nutrition coaching.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team asked 1 419 Taiwanese teens with intellectual disability what they ate.
They also asked about caregiver gender, health ratings, and medical issues.
The survey looked for links between these factors and junk-food intake.
What they found
Four in ten kids picked less-healthy foods.
Girls with female caregivers, kids who felt "excellent," and those without asthma ate more junk.
Caregiver gender and health views predicted food choices better than ID severity.
How this fits with other research
Pan et al. (2016) later showed 35% of these same students were overweight or obese.
The two papers fit: poor food choices now can turn into extra weight a few years later.
Jin et al. (2020) moved the lens to adults and found obesity—not ID level—hurt perceived health.
Together the trio says: target diet and activity, not just IQ scores.
Why it matters
You can screen quickly: ask who shops and cooks, and how healthy the teen feels.
If a female caregiver or a rosy self-rating pops up, add extra nutrition coaching.
Pair this with active-play goals to cut later obesity risk shown by Pan et al. (2016).
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Little information is available on the prevalence and risk factors for less-healthy food intake among people with intellectual disabilities (ID). This study aimed to provide the information of healthy or less-healthy food intake among Taiwanese adolescents with ID and to examine the risk factors to their food intake. A cross-sectional data on 1419 adolescents 12-17 years of age were analyzed in the study. There were 1.4% of adolescents with ID who regularly smoke, 0.6% were regular alcohol drinkers and 0.5% currently chewed betel nut. Less than 40% of respondents expressed the ID individuals had regular exercise lifestyle and 41.0% were reported to have less-healthy food intake behaviors. A logistic regression analysis found that the factors of female caregiver's gender, perceived excellent health status and was not accompanied by specific diseases such as asthma or allergic rhinitis which were correlated with healthy food intake behaviors among adolescents with ID. This study suggests improving the ways of healthy food intake toward reducing the potential risks for less-healthy food intake in the lives of adolescents with ID.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2010 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2009.09.003