[Nutritional assessment of severely retarded children and adults]

The nutritional status was assessed with physical and biochemical parameters on 39 severely retarded children and adults, 17 males and 22 females, ranging from 6 to 40 years of age. In the anthropometric measurements, a majority of the cases showed short stature, light body weight, decreased triceps skinfold thickness and decreased mid-upper arm muscle circumference. The analysis of serum amino acids showed decreases of the sum of essential amino acids, the sum of branched chain amino acids, the ratio of the sum of essential amino acids to the sum of nonessential amino acid, and the ratio of the [methionine + tryptophan] to [valine + lysine + threonine]. The levels of prealbumin and transferrin in the serum were within normal limits. Other biochemical parameters were lower limits, including total protein, albumin, total cholesterol, triglyceride, phospholipid and total lipids in the serum. In addition, the level of fasting blood glucose tended to be low, and levels of serum free fatty acid were markedly different between before and after breakfast. These results suggest the presence of nutritional disturbances in most of severely retarded children and adults.