Neurological disorders and overcoming nutrition barriers

From recurring headaches to epilepsy, infants and children may sometimes suffer from a neurological disorder. Proper diagnosis, appropriate treatment and lifestyle modifications are important steps to help a child to feel better.

Childhood neurological disorders can be very concerning. A broad category of conditions caused by multiple factors, neurological disorders affect a child’s growing brain. Some examples of more common neurological disorders are persistent headaches or migraines, developmental and motor problems, stroke, Tourette’s syndrome, cerebral palsy and autism. Some of these conditions are caused by genetic factors, others by injury or illness and others have causes that are still unclear.¹*

One reason childhood neurological disorders are of such concern is that a child’s nervous system, their brain and spinal cord, is still developing. The more common disorders affect several hundreds of thousands of children.² Fortunately, with proper diagnosis and treatment, many of these conditions can be successfully managed so a child can successfully grow to adulthood.

While the diagnosis and treatment will be specific to each condition, one common factor in addressing these and other conditions is proper nutrition. For example, in the case of cerebral palsy, a condition where the part of the brain that is damaged can lead to impaired motor development. An assessment of the nutritional requirements and the means of ingestion is important, as normal eating may be difficult.³ At Nestlé Health Science; we are concerned with this and many other childhood conditions. We are actively developing nutritional management strategies to address the needs of young patients and improve their quality of life while growing up.