Feeding practices and dietary intake in Brazilian children with Down syndrome: A cross-sectional study.
Brazilian toddlers with Down syndrome are moved off breast milk too soon and given sweets too early, setting the stage for later weight and mouth problems.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Doctors asked parents of Brazilian toddlers with Down syndrome what their kids ate. They wrote down when babies stopped breast milk, how many food groups the child tried, and when sweets first appeared.
The team also noted if food texture matched the child's age. No one tried to change diets; they only wanted the facts.
What they found
More than half of the children had already left the breast too early. Most ate a narrow set of foods and started candy or soda before their first birthday.
Many kids were still eating soft purees long after they needed chew practice. Ultra-processed snacks showed up early and often.
How this fits with other research
Pitchford et al. (2019) tracked the same Brazilian Down-syndrome group years later. Seven out of ten adults now had severe gum disease, a likely echo of the early sugar start Klein et al. (2024) uncovered.
Bicer et al. (2013) ran a similar nutrition survey in Turkish children with autism. Both studies found poor diets, but the autism group missed vitamins while the Down-syndrome group faced early sweets and low variety.
Kovačič et al. (2020) gave adults with Down syndrome a weight-loss plan and they shed pounds like other adults with IDD. This shows dietary change is possible, even if early habits start off wrong.
Why it matters
Poor starter diets can set up obesity, diabetes, and bad teeth later. Ask about weaning age, food variety, and sweet introduction at every clinic visit. Coach families to keep breast milk for six months, add chopped table foods on time, and treat juice or soda as rare events. A five-minute diet check now can save years of health trouble.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: Studies investigating the quality of the diet and dietary intake of children with Down syndrome (DS) are required because the features attributed to the syndrome can affect growth, development and quality of life. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted with 77 Brazilian children with DS between 5 and 36 months of age receiving care at the multidisciplinary outpatient clinic of the University Hospital. Participants' sociodemographic, dietary and anthropometric data were collected from the care protocols. Dietary data were collected from 24-h recalls and dietary practices were assessed according to the WHO dietary guidelines. Associations between inadequate feeding practices and demographic variables were assessed using logistic regression models. RESULTS: Fruits, milk or infant formula, vegetables, beans and meat were among the five most consumed foods by the children investigated. Overall, we observed a high number of cases of early weaning (50.6%), low minimum dietary diversity (MDD; 40.3%), inadequate consistency for age (64.9%), early presence of ultra-processed foods (76.6%), sugars and sweets (33.8%) in the diet of the children with DS. In the associations of inadequate feeding practices by age group, low MDD [odds ratio (OR): 18.6; 95% confidence interval (CI): 3.4; 57.1] and inadequate consistency (OR: 6.65; 95% CI: 1.8; 24.7) were more frequent among children aged below 12 months while this relationship was inverse for early introduction of sugar and sweets (OR: 0.04; 95% CI: 0.01; 0.29). CONCLUSION: Our findings showed a high number of cases of inadequate dietary practices in children with DS investigated, which could adversely affect the long-term health of this population.
Journal of intellectual disability research : JIDR, 2024 · doi:10.1111/jir.13148