Vitamins and minerals play an important role in the intellectual and physical development of young children. If they are not provided with enough vitamins and minerals, children may have slow development and a weakened immune system compared to normal. Therefore, parents need to pay attention and pay attention to how to supplement vitamins for children properly.
1. Why do children need to supplement vitamins?
In the daily nutritional regimen for children, parents need to ensure that they provide enough essential groups of nutrients: protein, fat, starch, especially vitamins and minerals. When children absorb enough of the above nutrients, their health and comprehensive development will be stable, and at the same time help prevent and fight diseases, effectively limit the attacks of bacteria and viruses.
Normally, children with normal health, breastfed and well-nourished will not be deficient in vitamins. However, there are still some cases that cause children to lack vitamins and minerals such as: children who do not eat enough, eat poor quality food, have certain diseases (such as prolonged diarrhea, malaria, liver and bile diseases, malabsorption disorders, etc.), premature babies, twins, etc.
If unfortunately, young children fall into the above cases of vitamin and mineral deficiency, finding a way to supplement vitamins for children early is necessary. However, supplementing these substances also requires caution because they can easily cause unwanted side effects.
Parents should supplement multivitamins for their children properly.
2. Harmful effects of not supplementing vitamins for children properly
2.1. Effects of vitamin and mineral deficiency
When the body lacks vitamins and minerals, children often grow slowly and are susceptible to certain diseases such as:
Vitamin A deficiency: children are susceptible to eye diseases, respiratory and digestive tract infections
Vitamin B1 deficiency: susceptible to swelling, heart failure, and neuritis
Vitamin C deficiency: increases the risk of bleeding under the skin and mucous membranes, reducing the body’s resistance to diseases (especially infectious diseases)
Vitamin K deficiency: susceptible to bleeding (especially cerebral and meningeal hemorrhage)
Vitamin D and calcium deficiency: susceptible to rickets, slow physical development…
2.2. Effects of excess vitamins and minerals
On the contrary, if you overdose on vitamins and minerals, it can also cause dangerous side effects for children:
Excess vitamin A: increases the risk of poisoning and increases intracranial pressure, leading to vomiting, headaches, affecting bone development, and neurological disorders in children. Vitamin A is not recommended for pregnant women in the first 3 months because it can cause birth defects;
Excess vitamin B6: can cause polyneuropathy, memory loss, and reduced prolactin secretion
Excess vitamin D: can cause children to lose their appetite, feel tired, vomit, and thicken the periosteum, in some cases causing mental retardation, slow intellectual development, and even kidney failure and rapid death
Excess vitamin K: mainly occurs when using long-term injections, 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 comprehensive development of young children. However, supplementing too much or too little is not good for children. Below are some suggestions for parents to properly supplement multivitamins for their children:
3.1. Supplementing vitamins just enough for children
Many people mistakenly believe that the more vitamins they supplement, the healthier their children will be. However, in reality, to avoid unwanted side effects, we should only supplement an adequate amount according to the body’s needs. Depending on age and health status, children will have different vitamin absorption needs, so parents should update and monitor their children’s nutritional needs regularly.
In addition, the dose of vitamin supplements must always be lower than the daily requirement. On the market, single vitamin and mineral supplements often contain very high levels, for example: vitamin B12 5,000-10,000mcg (800-1,600% higher than daily needs); zinc 100mg (330-660% higher than daily needs), vitamin C 1,000mg;… so except for cases where children are sick due to a lack of these vitamins and minerals, then high doses are needed (and according to the doctor’s instructions), otherwise parents need to balance to avoid giving their children too much.
3.2. Identify effective sources of vitamin supplements
There are many sources of vitamins that give parents more choices. In particular, vitamins are often available in foods (vegetables, cereals, meat, fish, etc.) so they are encouraged to be used to provide daily nutrition for children.
When choosing food, parents should remember to research 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 health safety.
In addition, to make it easier for children to drink and absorb, parents can refer to some types of functional foods that supplement vitamins or liquid vitamins (drink).
In general, although vitamin supplements are good, they still cannot replace food. Parents should still pay attention to the nutrition in their children’s diet, give them a full and balanced diet of food groups. Hopefully, this article has helped parents understand the importance and how to supplement vitamins for children properly, so that children will develop comprehensively in terms of physical and mental health, ensuring stable health.
