Objective: About 90% of autistic children are known to have a selective feeding disorder. In particular, methods are lacking for stimulating self feeding and treating selective eating amongst school-aged and adolescen...Objective: About 90% of autistic children are known to have a selective feeding disorder. In particular, methods are lacking for stimulating self feeding and treating selective eating amongst school-aged and adolescent autistic children. We developed a simple training programme for paediatricians in a general hospital to improve the eating pattern of autistic children and decrease selectivity. Methods: The study is an experimental patient series. The instructions for the training were given in 15-minute sessions by a paediatrician with the use of social positive and negative reinforcements. The negative reinforcement was an avoidance situation. The training was performed with parental participation in the home environment of the child. Results and conclusion: In the before and after measurement, the quantitative intake of fruit, potatoes and vegetables increased significantly (p < 0.05). Food selectivity decreased, expressed by an increase in variation of consumed fruit, meat, potatoes and sandwich filling (p < 0.01). The costs of the training are low, and the children stay in their home environment.展开更多
Background: Immunological mechanism and dietary nutrients are important mediators in the health of children. In this intervention study a dietary advice is given to children between 1 and 6 years of age with recurrent...Background: Immunological mechanism and dietary nutrients are important mediators in the health of children. In this intervention study a dietary advice is given to children between 1 and 6 years of age with recurrent respiratory tract infections. Could a change in nutrient intake result in an altered clinical outcome? Design: In this prospective cohort study 61 children were included and evaluated at a paediatric outpatient clinic. The control group consisted of 32 children included at an infant welfare centre. The patient group followed the dietary advice (green vegetables, beef, whole milk, full-fat butter) for three months, in which parents filled out their dietary intake and health status on a daily basis. A follow up form was filled out by the parents 3 months after completion of the study period. For statistical analysis the programme SPSS version 15.0 was used. Results: In the patient group there was a statistical significant reduction in days with a respiratory infection (15.7 to 11.5 days a month), subfebrile temperature days (1.9 to 0.5 days a month) and febrile temperature days (1.0 to 0.7 days a month) compared to the control group. Also, antibiotic use decreased significantly. No significant changes were measured in body mass index. Conclusions: A change of diet towards green vegetables, beef, whole milk and full-fat butter has positive health effects in children. This diet may work by adding nutrients to optimize immunological mechanisms. There were no adverse effects and it can be utilized by general pediatricians and general practitioners.展开更多
Background: Families function less efficiently when one of the children suffers from illness. Upper respiratory tract infections (URTI) are common among children. Though the child may have no critical or serious healt...Background: Families function less efficiently when one of the children suffers from illness. Upper respiratory tract infections (URTI) are common among children. Though the child may have no critical or serious health problem, the parents may frequently get worried and visit the general practitioner or pediatrician. Do children with URTI who visit the doctor frequently pass through a normal stage in childhood or are their parents more concerned than usual? Methods: A questionnaire was filled out for 76 children between 1 and 4 years of age. Two groups were created: a URTI group and a control group. Results: The URTI group suffered from these infections for 19.4 days a month, compared with 5.9 days in the control group. In addition, they also suffered from fever for a longer duration and used more antibiotics. The parents of these children were found to be more concerned, caused by a fear of a serious disease. They often keep their child at home and make their child consume more medicines. Conclusions: Parents of children with recurrent infections are found to be more concerned and a hypothesis of high parental concern and child's illness is discussed. Minimizing parental concern can therefore be a possible preventive treatment.展开更多
Background: There is no effective treatment for children with subclinical hypothyroidism. The natural course of subclinical hypothyroidism shows a normalization rate of 41% for Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH). Objec...Background: There is no effective treatment for children with subclinical hypothyroidism. The natural course of subclinical hypothyroidism shows a normalization rate of 41% for Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH). Objective;The thyroid needs (among others) iron, iodine, and vitamin A for a proper thyroid hormone synthesis. We hypothesize that with a dietary change, more children can normalize their TSH. Design: In this case-control study, 54 children aged 1 - 14 years with subclinical hypothyroidism were divided into a diet group and a control group. The diet consisted of green vegetables, beef, full fat milk, and butter. The diet was followed for at least 3 months. A total of 27 patients comprised the diet group and 27 the control group. TSH, Free T4 (FT4), and Body Mass Index (BMI) were evaluated during the follow up. Results: By following this diet, TSH levels decreased significantly compared to when following the natural course. FT4 levels did not change during the follow up. The diet group realized a change of normalizing their TSH with a RR 2.8 (95% CI 1.45 - 5.61). There were no changes in BMI after following the diet. Conclusions: Even though our study population was small, we observed the association of a dietary change and normalization of TSH in children with subclinical hypothyroidism, without adverse effects.展开更多
文摘Objective: About 90% of autistic children are known to have a selective feeding disorder. In particular, methods are lacking for stimulating self feeding and treating selective eating amongst school-aged and adolescent autistic children. We developed a simple training programme for paediatricians in a general hospital to improve the eating pattern of autistic children and decrease selectivity. Methods: The study is an experimental patient series. The instructions for the training were given in 15-minute sessions by a paediatrician with the use of social positive and negative reinforcements. The negative reinforcement was an avoidance situation. The training was performed with parental participation in the home environment of the child. Results and conclusion: In the before and after measurement, the quantitative intake of fruit, potatoes and vegetables increased significantly (p < 0.05). Food selectivity decreased, expressed by an increase in variation of consumed fruit, meat, potatoes and sandwich filling (p < 0.01). The costs of the training are low, and the children stay in their home environment.
文摘Background: Immunological mechanism and dietary nutrients are important mediators in the health of children. In this intervention study a dietary advice is given to children between 1 and 6 years of age with recurrent respiratory tract infections. Could a change in nutrient intake result in an altered clinical outcome? Design: In this prospective cohort study 61 children were included and evaluated at a paediatric outpatient clinic. The control group consisted of 32 children included at an infant welfare centre. The patient group followed the dietary advice (green vegetables, beef, whole milk, full-fat butter) for three months, in which parents filled out their dietary intake and health status on a daily basis. A follow up form was filled out by the parents 3 months after completion of the study period. For statistical analysis the programme SPSS version 15.0 was used. Results: In the patient group there was a statistical significant reduction in days with a respiratory infection (15.7 to 11.5 days a month), subfebrile temperature days (1.9 to 0.5 days a month) and febrile temperature days (1.0 to 0.7 days a month) compared to the control group. Also, antibiotic use decreased significantly. No significant changes were measured in body mass index. Conclusions: A change of diet towards green vegetables, beef, whole milk and full-fat butter has positive health effects in children. This diet may work by adding nutrients to optimize immunological mechanisms. There were no adverse effects and it can be utilized by general pediatricians and general practitioners.
文摘Background: Families function less efficiently when one of the children suffers from illness. Upper respiratory tract infections (URTI) are common among children. Though the child may have no critical or serious health problem, the parents may frequently get worried and visit the general practitioner or pediatrician. Do children with URTI who visit the doctor frequently pass through a normal stage in childhood or are their parents more concerned than usual? Methods: A questionnaire was filled out for 76 children between 1 and 4 years of age. Two groups were created: a URTI group and a control group. Results: The URTI group suffered from these infections for 19.4 days a month, compared with 5.9 days in the control group. In addition, they also suffered from fever for a longer duration and used more antibiotics. The parents of these children were found to be more concerned, caused by a fear of a serious disease. They often keep their child at home and make their child consume more medicines. Conclusions: Parents of children with recurrent infections are found to be more concerned and a hypothesis of high parental concern and child's illness is discussed. Minimizing parental concern can therefore be a possible preventive treatment.
文摘Background: There is no effective treatment for children with subclinical hypothyroidism. The natural course of subclinical hypothyroidism shows a normalization rate of 41% for Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH). Objective;The thyroid needs (among others) iron, iodine, and vitamin A for a proper thyroid hormone synthesis. We hypothesize that with a dietary change, more children can normalize their TSH. Design: In this case-control study, 54 children aged 1 - 14 years with subclinical hypothyroidism were divided into a diet group and a control group. The diet consisted of green vegetables, beef, full fat milk, and butter. The diet was followed for at least 3 months. A total of 27 patients comprised the diet group and 27 the control group. TSH, Free T4 (FT4), and Body Mass Index (BMI) were evaluated during the follow up. Results: By following this diet, TSH levels decreased significantly compared to when following the natural course. FT4 levels did not change during the follow up. The diet group realized a change of normalizing their TSH with a RR 2.8 (95% CI 1.45 - 5.61). There were no changes in BMI after following the diet. Conclusions: Even though our study population was small, we observed the association of a dietary change and normalization of TSH in children with subclinical hypothyroidism, without adverse effects.
