Food behavior and growth of cerebral palsy children - A study for the development of snack

The purpose of this study is to provide fundamental information for snack development contributing to physical growth of children with cerebral palsy. The study was conducted on the children with cerebral palsy of age 1 to 7 by investigating their food behavior, physical growth development, nutritional status, and snack intake. As a result of assessing physical growth by WLI (Weight-Length Index), the proportions of the children with cerebral palsy were the following: underweight 45.5%, normal 45.5%, overweight 6.0%, and obesity 3.0%. The mothers of the children with cerebral palsy mainly bought milk and dairy products for their children's snacks (43.5%) as well as fruits (33.3%). They wanted development of new snacks that helped growth development (50.5%), and preferred more development of the following snacks: Korean rice cakes (47.5%), biscuits (24.2%), bread (22.3%). The result of dietary intake showed that the percentage of RI in zinc and folic acid did not reach the RI in every age categories. The proportion of subjects with less than 75% of RI was 76.8% for the zinc and folic acid, and 52.4% for the calcium and iron. These results indicate that children with cerebral palsy had slower physical development and lesser nutrition intake than normal children. Hence, this study provided the basis to develop the snack for the malnutrition state children with cerebral palsy which helped their physical development. The shape of new snack considered was a rice cake which included zinc and folic acid that were insufficient in RI in children with cerebral palsy.