I couldn’t be more pleased to say that my talk at the World Down Syndrome Congress in Brisbane earlier this month was a success. Attended by thousands of people from 47 different countries the Congress is held every 3 years to showcase the latest research and best practice from around the world for Down Syndrome (DS).
A talk topic that needed bouncers!
I was delighted to be able to speak at the Congress. I was even more delighted to see the crowds building in my room when it was time to present. The room was literally overflowing with people and I even had ‘bouncers’ at the door controlling the crowds! The huge demand for my talk led to me being asked to present again the following day – another packed room, but this time no bouncers! 😊
The best thing about that (aside from the ego-boost) is that people wanted to hear what I had to say about “Is there a right diet for Down Syndrome: what does the research say?”
I loved this because it shows how many people are interested in how diet and nutrition may be able to help people with Down Syndrome. It is my personal opinion that nutrition is an incredibly powerful force - for everyone, not just people with Down Syndrome - and there is so much to learn. Most people know not to eat junk food and most people know to eat fruit and vegetables. Beyond this, people start to get confused. And the big players of processed food dominate our education around food and nutrition. They hope to confuse us. They want us to focus on calories because this puts the responsibility onto us as the consumer. Their marketing spend is incredible. They can make us think and do whatever they want (almost!).
What did I talk about?
Down Syndrome has very little research. When it comes to research on diet and DS there is even less. Of the 27,000 research papers tagged with ‘Down Syndrome’, only 372 are related to ‘diet, food and nutrition’. Of these 372 papers, only 13 are high quality and none of them study food. They all study supplements.
This technically means that the research says nothing about diet and Down Syndrome.
However, if we dig a bit deeper and we look more closely at these 13 quality research papers, we can learn a few things.
What can we learn from the 13 quality research papers?
If we look at the 13 quality research papers we can see that the 7 most recent papers all study antioxidants. This is interesting because it gives us an idea of where big pharmaceutical and supplement companies are spending their money because this is where they think there is money to be made.
This also means they may be the most powerful mechanisms for improving health outcomes in people with Down Syndrome.
Antioxidant supplements are where the money is
Most of the recent research papers on DS and diet study different types of antioxidant supplements.
Antioxidants are ‘things’ that combat ‘oxidative stress’ which is the process that happens to cells on a daily basis as a normal part of living. Think about an apple rotting once it is cut open. This is due to oxidative stress.
Antioxidants are things that combat or counter oxidative stress. There are two sources of antioxidants. Firstly we get antioxidants when we eat brightly coloured fruits and vegetables. Secondly our body has an internal system which makes antioxidants.
Interestingly, one of the key enzymes used by our body's internal system to make these antioxidants (i.e. superoxide dismutase or SOD1) sits on the 21st chromosome. We know this is the chromosome that is triplicated in people with DS.
This means that the internal systems of people with DS may not be as good at making antioxidants. This means they are not as good at countering the oxidative stress of life.
This may explain why people with DS develop Alzheimer’s and wrinkles at an earlier age and why they have a lower life expectancy. In other words, people with DS are not as good at making antioxidants to counter the oxidative stress that comes with life.
Therefore anything that can be done to increase their antioxidant capacity would be beneficial.
From a dietary perspective, there are two ways we can do this:
we can increase dietary antioxidants and
we can held their bodies to make their own antioxidants.
What can people with DS do on a practical level?
There are thousands of things I could talk about here, but the main things I discussed at my talk in Brisbane were to:
Reduce oxidative stress by reducing sugar (e.g. honey, soft drinks) and reduce simple and refined carbohydrates (e.g. crackers, white rice, white bread)
Increase dietary antioxidants by increasing brightly coloured fruits and vegetables with a focus on a range of different colours and types (research suggests at least 36 different types each week)
To support antioxidant systems, increase dietary zinc, with a focus on oysters which are the heavy-hitters in the world of zinc, and increase dietary selenium by ensuring seafood is included in the diet.
Conclusion: post-talk successes
Since doing the talk, lots of families have emailed me to say they are “full of inspiration” and that “oysters will be on the menu regularly “. Another family has said that their child has started eating red capsicum, while another child created a fruit and vegetable chart for the fridge!
This is what I love. This is success.
To all of you who attended my talk and who are making even tiny changes as a result of this talk, well done. Change is hard. But each and every time you try you are on the road. Slow, small and steady changes are the right approach.
Thank you.
Comments