Chewing indicators between adults with Down syndrome and controls

Down syndrome induces a neuromotor deficiency that affects the orofacial musculature, and thus could be implicated in the feeding difficulties affecting people with this disease. This study aimed to investigate the differences in chewing indicators between a group of 11 adults with Down syndrome and a group of 12 healthy subjects without Down syndrome. Chewing ability was evaluated by means of video recordings taken during a standardized meal that included 10 natural foods. The variables collected were masticatory time, number of masticatory cycles, chewing frequency, number of open masticatory cycles, and number of food refusals. There were several differences in both directions for masticatory time and number of masticatory cycles between the two groups. In addition, with the exception of puree, the group with Down syndrome had significantly lower mean chewing frequency than the reference group, and was unable to eat all the foods presented.