Abstract
The nutritional status is important for the physical and mental development of children. Children should have sufficient nutrient intake, specially for the developmentally disabled children. In spite of the importance not much research has been done for their food habit and nutritional status. In this study, nutritional status of the disabled children were examined, the number of children studied is 50 children in Seoul between 5 to 6 years old, of whom 11 were austism, 5 were mentally retarded children and 8 were down\\`s syndrome. In order to get the data questionnaires about the food habit and other related factors, and two days food records were used. Their mean height was 108.8$\pm$21.0cm and their average weight was 19.5$\pm$4.6kg. The proportion of study subject with problems of the food habits was 36%, without keeping the regular meal time was 16%, and having snacks 2-4 time daily was 56%. They chose confectionery and fruits as their favorite snacks. The proportion of study subject with the sensitivity to the food colors and smells when they ate was 54%, unskilled using spoon and fork was 58%, and having medications was 20%. When we asked them whether their parents used the food as compensation means or not, 32% of them said that they did it often or sometimes. For the nutrient intake, energy was 1,703 $\pm$ 511kcal, carbohydrate was 242.5 $\pm$ 69.3g, protein was 61.3 $\pm$ 17.5g, lipid was 50.0 $\pm$ 24.4g. As the nutrient intake, it was compared with RDA. The intake of vitamin A and calcium were below RDA. Intake of protein was more than 150% of RDA. The proportion of subject with more than 125% of RDA was 72% for the phosphorus, 62% for the protein, 60% for the Vitamin A and calcium were below 0.75 and that of the others was above 0.75. The mean adequacy ratio(MAR) was 0.88. As we sum up the results of the research, the developmentally disabled children were shorter and lighter than the reference, were having medications, had excessive appetites, and had unbalanced diets. Also they had the bad food habit. As for the nutritional intake, vitamin A and calcium intake were a little less than RDA, and protein and phosphorus intake were too much. With the results of the above research for the disabled children, we can conclude that there are need to take some necessary measures for those children. To establish some programs measures for their better food environment, it is thought that much more research should be done in the future. (Korean J Nutrition 34(2) : 188-197, 2001)
