Mini Review

Nutritional interventions in children with cerebral palsy: a mini review

Theano Talamagka

• Graduate Program “Metabolic Bones Diseases”, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Medical School, Athens, Greece

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Keywords: Nutrition, Cerebral palsy, Nutritional interventions, Childhood malnutrition

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Abstract

The aim of the present study was to review the current knowledge concerning the nutritional status of children with cerebral palsy. The aim was also to summarize the key factors which are responsible for the high prevalence of malnutrition. Significant reductions in anthropometric parameters were found in children with cerebral palsy in comparison to children of normal development. This deviation from typical growth, can be attributed to several factors, such as: inadequate food intake, deficiency of important trace elements (calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, iron) and vitamins (vitamin D, folate, vitamin 12) and reduced dietary density (which depends on dietary factors and mobility). Children with cerebral palsy, manifest nutritional problems and nutritional deficiency, which mainly is due to the inherent problems these children have to acquire dietary factors and their also inherent problematic in their mobility. Thus the present work attempts to provide a short review of the nutritional issues in children with cerebral palsy and the probable nutritional therapeutic interventions.

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