Vitamin A plays an important role in the growth and disease prevention of children. For pregnant women, vitamin A helps protect the health of mother and fetus, preventing the risk of premature birth and low birth weight. So how to supplement vitamin A safely and effectively?
Children and pregnant women are prone to vitamin A deficiency
Vitamin A is a micronutrient that is essential for children’s growth, especially the development of tissues in the musculoskeletal system. Vitamin A helps maintain normal skin and mucous membrane structure, protects the eyes, enhances immunity, and reduces the risk of infectious diseases in children.
Vitamin A deficiency is common in children, pregnant and lactating women because the need for vitamin A is higher than other subjects.
Children, especially children under 36 months of age, are prone to vitamin A deficiency because this is the stage when children grow rapidly. At this age, children’s resistance is still weak, so they are susceptible to measles, acute respiratory infections, diarrhea, worm infections, etc., leading to vitamin A deficiency.
Children with vitamin A deficiency are susceptible to xerophthalmia.
– Children with vitamin A deficiency often grow slowly, are stunted, have dry skin, dry eyes, night blindness, and are susceptible to infectious diseases such as respiratory infections, measles, diarrhea, etc.
– In pregnant women, vitamin A deficiency can lead to the risk of premature birth, low birth weight, and poor recovery after birth, etc.
How to safely supplement vitamin A
Because the body cannot synthesize vitamin A on its own, it must be through diet. Therefore, the safest and most effective way to supplement vitamin A is to use foods rich in vitamin A in daily meals. Specifically:
1. Eat a balanced diet
To ensure good nutrition for pregnant women and young children, it is first necessary to ensure a diet with enough food groups. Specifically
– Starch group (mainly from cereals);
– Protein group (meat, fish, eggs, milk, beans, peas, etc.);
– Fat group (animal fat, vegetable oil);
– Vitamin and mineral groups (fresh vegetables, tubers, fruits…).
2. Note on using food sources rich in vitamin A
It is necessary to add foods rich in vitamin A to daily meals.
It is necessary to eat a variety of foods to fully supplement the necessary micronutrients. It is especially important to pay attention to using foods rich in vitamin A in meals.
Vitamin A is found in foods of animal origin such as: eggs, milk, fish, meat, pig liver, testicles, shrimp, etc.
Foods of plant origin: Dark green vegetables such as: Malabar spinach, water spinach, amaranth, squash, etc.; yellow fruits and vegetables such as: gac, carrots, pumpkin, papaya, mango, etc. contain a lot of provitamin A (beta-carotene). When entering the body, beta-carotene will be converted into vitamin A.
When preparing food, pay attention to adding oil and fat to increase the absorption of vitamin A.
3. Breastfeeding fully
For children who are breastfeeding, it is necessary to breastfeed fully because breast milk is the best source of vitamin A for young children. It is necessary to breastfeed soon after birth to take advantage of colostrum. Because colostrum contains a lot of vitamin A and antibodies that help strengthen the child’s resistance.
– Breastfeed your baby exclusively for the first 6 months.
– When your baby is 6 months old, you need to feed him/her properly, with all the above nutritional groups and pay attention to adding foods rich in vitamin A.
– Continue breastfeeding your baby until 24 months of age.
Breastfeed your baby fully because breast milk is the best source of vitamin A for young children.
4. How much vitamin A is enough?
– When supplementing vitamin A through foods, you should not take vitamin A supplements without a doctor’s prescription. Because vitamin A is stored in the body for a long time, if you abuse vitamin A, it can lead to poisoning with symptoms of skin damage, arthritis, muscle pain, headache, nausea, fatigue, etc. Children often have jaundice in the palms of the hands, soles of the feet, bulging fontanelles, headaches, convulsions, etc.
– Pregnant women in the first 3 months of pregnancy who use high doses of vitamin A for a long time can cause fetal malformations (cleft palate, cardiovascular malformations, muscles, bones, central nervous system, etc.).
– In the case of children with jaundice due to excess beta-carotene (due to continuously eating foods such as pumpkin, carrots, gac oil, etc.), just stop supplementing foods rich in vitamin A and the yellow skin will go away, it is not dangerous.
