Nutritional intakes of socioculturally mentally retarded children vs. children of low and average socioeconomic status.
The adequacy of dietary intakes of socioculturally mentally retarded children, nonretarded children of low socioeconomic status (SES), and nonretarded children of average SES were studied. The socioculturally retarded children showed significantly lower daily intakes of almost all basic nutritional substances than did the nonretarded children in either the low- or average-SES groups. We also found that the socioculturally retarded group's intake of iron, calcium, thiamine, and ascorbic acid was below National Academy of Sciences/National Research Council recommended daily allowance levels, a finding that did not occur for either of the other groups. Although the precise developmental significance of these findings is somewhat unclear, it seems prudent to incorporate a focus on dietary provisions (as well as on other home conditions) in future intervention programs for children at high-risk for sociocultural mental retardation.
D002648:Child; D002664:Child Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D004519:Education, Special; D006801:Humans; D008607:Intellectual Disability / Q000523:psychology*; D009520:New Zealand; D009751:Nutritional Requirements; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors