Vitamin supplement for children

Vitamin and mineral supplements for children play an important role in the intellectual and physical development of young children. If the child is not provided with the necessary amount of vitamins and minerals, the child may have growth retardation, and a weakened immune system compared to normal. Therefore, parents need to pay attention and pay attention to how to properly supplement vitamins for children.

1. Why do children need vitamin supplements?

In the daily diet for children, parents need to ensure that they provide enough essential nutrients: protein, fat, starch, especially vitamins and minerals. When children get enough of the above nutrients, their health and comprehensive development take place stably, and also help prevent and prevent diseases, and limit the attack of bacteria and viruses. effective. Normally, children who have normal health, are breastfed, and eat enough nutrients will not be deficient in vitamins. However, there are still some cases that cause children to be deficient in vitamins and minerals such as poor diet, poor quality food, and some diseases (such as prolonged diarrhea, malaria, and hepatobiliary disease). , a malabsorption…), premature babies, twins… If unfortunately, young children fall into the case of vitamin and mineral deficiency as above, it is essential to find ways to supplement vitamins for children early. However, the addition of these substances also needs to be cautious because they are prone to unwanted side effects.

2. Harm if not supplementing vitamins for children properly

2.1. Effects of vitamin and mineral deficiency

When the body lacks vitamins and minerals, children often slow down and are prone to some diseases such as:

• Vitamin A deficiency: children are prone to eye diseases, respiratory and digestive tract infections
• Vitamin B1 deficiency: prone to swelling, heart failure, inflammation of the nerves
• Vitamin C deficiency: increases the risk of bleeding under the skin and mucous membranes, reduces the body’s resistance to diseases (especially infections)
• Vitamin K deficiency: prone to bleeding (especially bleeding in the brain, meninges)
• Lack of vitamin D and calcium: prone to rickets, slow physical development…

2.2. Effects of excess vitamins and minerals

On the contrary, if overdosing on vitamins and minerals also causes dangerous side effects for children:

• Excess vitamin A: increases the risk of poisoning and increases intracranial pressure, leading to vomiting, headache, affecting bone development, neurological disorders in children. Vitamin A is not recommended for pregnant women in the first 3 months because of possible teratogenic effects;
• Excess vitamin B6: can cause polyneuropathy, memory impairment, decreased prolactin secretion
• Excess vitamin D: can cause children to lose appetite, fatigue, vomiting, thickening of the periosteum, in some cases retardation, mental retardation, even kidney failure and rapid death.
• Excess vitamin K: mainly encountered with prolonged parenteral administration, can cause hemolysis and jaundice in children.

3. How to properly supplement vitamins for children

Everyone understands the importance of vitamins and minerals for the overall development of young children. However, supplementing with excess or deficiency is not good for children, here are some suggestions for parents to properly supplement multivitamins for their children:

3.1. Supplement vitamins just enough for children

Many people mistakenly believe that the more vitamins a child takes, the healthier they will be. However, to avoid unwanted side effects, we should only supplement a sufficient amount according to the body’s needs. Depending on their age and health status, children will have different absorption needs of vitamins, so parents should update and monitor their children’s nutritional needs regularly. In addition, the dose of vitamin supplements should always be lower than the daily requirement. In the market, single vitamin and mineral supplements often contain very high concentrations, for example, vitamin B12 of the 5,000-10,000mcg type (800-1,600% of daily requirement); elemental zinc 100mg (higher than 330-660% of daily requirement), vitamin C 1,000mg; … so unless children have diseases due to lack of those vitamins and minerals, they need to use high doses (and according to doctor’s instructions), the rest parents need to balance to avoid giving children too much.

3.2. Identify an effective source of vitamin supplements

There are many sources of vitamins that give parents more choices. In particular, vitamins are usually available in foods (vegetables, cereals, meat, fish…) so they are recommended to be used to provide daily nutrition for children. When choosing foods, parents should remember to learn and choose to buy foods that ensure food hygiene and safety and do not contain preservatives. This not only helps children absorb nutrients effectively but also ensures safety and health. In addition, to make it easy for children to drink and absorb, parents can refer to some vitamins or vitamin supplements in liquid form (oral). In general, vitamin supplements, although good, still do not replace foods. Parents should still pay attention to nutrition in their children’s diets, giving them adequate and balanced food groups. Hopefully, this article has helped parents understand the importance and proper way to supplement vitamins for children, so that children will develop comprehensively physically, and intellectually, ensuring stable health.