Nutritional Disorders of Children

Learning Objectives

After completing this course you will be able to:

Part I: Screening and Follow-up

  1. Plan a screening program aimed at identifying individuals in a community likely to be at nutritional risk.
  2. Formulate questions about diet and eating habits of children.
  3. Describe proper procedure to be employed to measure height and weight of children.
  4. Analyze and interpret assessments of small size for age or low weight for height measurements.
  5. Provide interpretation of excess weight for height.
  6. Describe the procedure for measurement of skinfold thickness.
  7. List desired hemoglobin concentration in children of various ages.
  8. Formulate an interview questionnaire by nutritionist.

Part II: Prevention of Common Disorders

Chapter 1: Prevention of Obesity

  1. Define obesity.
  2. Describe three factors that provide early prediction of later obesity.
  3. Explain hyperplasia of adipose tissue.
  4. Discuss clinical studies that have correlated the imbalance between energy intake and energy expenditure to obesity.
  5. Discuss the importance of establishing early good eating habits.

Chapter 2: Diet and Atherosclerosis

  1. Define atherosclerosis. Discuss the controversy surrounding atherosclerosis and the management of diet in early childhood.
  2. Discuss opinions opposing and favoring change in children’s diets.
  3. Discuss the potential hazards of altering diets of infants and children.

Chapter 3: Prevention of Dental Caries

  1. Identify 3 prerequisites for production of dental caries.
  2. Discuss the epidemiology of dental caries.
  3. Discuss how various dietary factors affect the incidence of dental caries.
  4. List in the order of importance, cariogenicity factors of 6 dietary habits.
  5. Describe how various carbohydrates serve as substrates for the production of plaque and organic acids.
  6. List foods to be avoided by children between meals.
  7. Describe the “nursing bottle caries” and its causative factors.
  8. Describe how fluoride helps protect teeth against caries.

Chapter 4: Prevention of Iron-Deficiency Anemia

  1. Define iron deficiency anemia in infants and children.
  2. List 3 groups in which the concentrations of hemoglobin are below the normal range.
  3. Describe the iron requirement for male and female children in various age groups.
  4. Describe the absorption rates of iron naturally present in foods from animal sources and vegetable sources.
  5. Distinguish between absorption of heme iron and non-heme iron.
  6. Discuss means of achieving dietary requirements for infants, preschool children, school-age children, males-years of age, and females-years of age

Course Contents

Foreword

Preface

PART ONE: SCREENING AND FOLLOWUP

  • Information about the community
  • Information about the family and the child
  • Questions about diet and eating habits
  • Questionnaire I-Infants
  • Questionnaire II-Preschool children and young school-age children whose parent or caretaker will answer for them
  • Questionnaire III-School-age children and adolescents who answer the questions themselves
  • Physical findings
  • Dental inspection
  • Height (or length) and weight
  • Head circumference
  • Skinfold thickness
  • Laboratory studies
  • Roentgenograms
  • Summary
  • References
  • Appendix

PART TWO: PREVENTION OF COMMON DISORDERS

CHAPTER 1. PREVENTION OF OBESITY

Samuel J. Fomon and Ekhard E. Ziegler
  • Definition
  • Early prediction of later obesity
  • Energy intake and expenditure
  • Establishing habits
  • Summary

CHAPTER 2. DIET AND ATHEROSCLEROSIS

Samuel J. Fomon
  • Definition, pathogenesis and general considerations
  • The current controversy
  • Familial hyperlipoproteinemia
  • Summary

CHAPTER 3. PREVENTION OF DENTAL CARIES

Samuel J. Fornon and Stephen H. Y. Wei
  • Foods and feeding
  • Cleaning the teeth
  • Fluoride
  • Establishing habits
  • Summary

CHAPTER 4. PREVENTION OF IRON-DEFICIENCY ANEMIA

Samuel J. Fornon, Ekhard E. Ziegler and Thomas A. Anderson
  • Definitions
  • Prevalence
  • Iron requirements
  • Absorption of iron
  • Dietary intake of iron
  • Means of achieving dietary requirements