Multivitamins for Children

A good diet, plenty of fresh air and exercise plus lots of love and attention will generally keep your child healthy, bright and happy. But a good diet isn’t always easy to maintain in a child and assumes that your child enjoys eating leafy green foods and oily fish on a regular basis.

No-one would suggest that stuffing your child full of vitamin pills is the solution either, but a balanced diet topped up with a good quality multivitamin and essential fatty acids can give reassurance to parents that their children are avoiding any obvious nutritional deficiencies.

There is a no-nonsense, no-nasties multivitamin complex which contain the Government recommended levels of nutrients for children, without the unnecessary additives contained in many other children’s vitamin products. These are also genuinely sugar-free with no hidden extras, no aspartame, saccharine or other sweeteners – not even fructose, just the vitamins and minerals your child needs each day in a tiny, easy-to-swallow, all-vegetarian/vegan capsule.

The multivitamin complex is seriously formulated for long-term daily intake during the early years, the all-important pre- and post-pubescent transition and onwards into adulthood.

NOTE: This information is not intended to replace the guidance of a health practitioner. Consult your doctor if your child is already taking medication. Do not alter medication without the strict guidance of a doctor or qualified practitioner.

Prostate Cancer and Stress

Although more men may be saved from dying of prostate cancer due to advances in screening and treatment, a new study suggests that emotional stress (which causes an increase of metabolic acid in the blood and then tissues) from being diagnosed with the disease carries deadly risks. A study of more than four million Swedish men over the age of 30 found that the diagnosis of prostate cancer, which occurred in more than 168,000 of them during the study period, amplified the risk of fatal heart problems and suicide.

In men who were diagnosed before 1987, the risk of a fatal heart attack during the week following diagnosis increased 11-fold, and the risk of suicide increased 800 percent. After 1987, the risks of suffering a non-fatal heart attack during the first week of diagnosis fell to 300 percent. But the risk of suicide, although small, held steady. During the year following diagnosis, the risk of both heart attacks and suicide diminished but did not disappear.

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Children’s Multi Vitamin and Mineral products

There is a whole load of controversy around giving children a multi vitamin and mineral supplement. I remember as a child being given a small orange coloured and orange flavour tablet – haliborange from memory (it is a very different product today and not one we’d recommend) because that’s what my parents chose for us.

Today (50 years later) the world we live in and the food we eat is very different. We didn’t have supermarkets and we bought our fruit and vegetables from a green grocer who probably sourced produce from a local wholesale market – the food we ate was way better then than now. So good supplementation is even more critical.

We hope to provide some guidance on what to look for and we will make a couple of suggestions based upon our own research into the best products for your children. So what should you look for:

• the best multi vitamin products don’t come from high street stores
• mail order companies like Solgar and Viridian have a range of well formulated children’s products.
• a one a day tablet is unlikely to make the grade as the necessary components at the levels required mean that a one a day tablet is too big to swallow.
• a chewable form is often available – but taste is critical
• don’t expect them to be cheap – £7/months supply for a 3 year old is about the minimum we would suggest as a cut off.
• the larger the child the more they will need – for example a 5 year old will probably need double the amount a 3 year old will.

About RDA

The RDA is a bit of a misnomer. Required Daily Allowance suggests that that’s all you need to take. The RDA levels are based upon the amount of a particular vitamin to prevent vitamin deficiency disease. For example Scurvy is a disease of Vitamin C deficiency – the RDA for vitamin C is based upon the amount needed  to ward off scurvy. To be truly healthy much higher levels are often (not always beneficial) helpful. We would always suggest that you follow the instructions on the bottles and if you wish to increase beyond that level either see a qualified specialist who can advise or do your own research.

Are Supplements really needed

This is a good question and one that often comes up.

• The old mantra ‘you can get all you need from a varied diet’ is not strictly true any longer. If you look at the nutritional content of a peach 30 years ago you’d need to eat 3 peaches a day to get the Vitamin C you’d need. Taking the same fruit today you’d need to eat roughly 50 a day to get the same amount of vitamin C. So while the purists are correct in one way it is actually impractical in most cases.

• the UK’s pesticide and residue committee has concluded that most fruits and vegetables should be thoroughly washed before being eaten. Thorough washing means soaking broccoli florets for at least an hour before eating to reduce the chemicals ingested. Most people I know don’t have the time to wash every bit of fruit and vegetable they eat. As we eat fruit and vegetables we actually are consuming more and more chemicals. That’s not good.

• Organic fruit and vegetables is OK isn’t it. Yes and no. Yes organic fruit and vegetables are going to contain fewer chemicals but they are still sprayed its just controlled more closely and they use safer chemicals. Even if they used no chemicals at all the rain still washes chemical pollutants out of the air and the plants end up absorbing them – just not quite as much as when they spray them. For more reading around this subject I suggest Dr Steve Nugent’s book – how to survive on a  toxic planet?

What we recommend:

Viridian ViridiKid Multi mini capsules – 90 Veg Caps

Multi Vitamins – How do you select one?

Does my multivitamin meet my needs?

Few people eat as nutritiously as they should for lasting wellness. Nutritionists recommend eating five to nine servings of fresh fruits and vegetables per day to support health, but relatively few people meet this goal. Also, modern agricultural practices have reduced the nutritional value of many forms of produce from their nutritional content of only a few decades ago.

Do you know where your minerals come from? Some minerals are derived from rocks, others are taken from salts, the best are plant-sourced, making it easy for your body to absorb them.

New research suggests that natural, plant-sourced minerals may be absorbed better by your body-so it makes sense to get them from natural forms, like plants.

So ask yourself: Am I giving my body the natural nutrition it needs? Probably not.

These are some of the things to look for:

Appearance:

• Is the product labelled as food form/food matrix
• is it of uniform colour – probably coated – not good in many cases – bright colours also signify synthetic
• if the vitamin tablet you are looking at is small and of the one a day variety it is more likely that it contains synthetics
• any worthwhile multi vitamin/mineral tablet is likely to be on the large side and you may even have to take upto 4 a day

Content from the label:

• Vitamin A- derived from mixed carotenoids- to support bones and vision.
• Vitamin C- derived from tropical acerola cherries, with 30 times more vitamin C per gram than an orange-to provide enhanced immune support.
• Is the Vitamin D₃ or cholecalciferol present – the amounts should be 500IU or more
• there should be at least 10 additional essential vitamins- including a complete B-vitamin complex (the best comes from from natural yeast sources- to provide a great source of energy)
• How many of the additional vitamins are plant sourced – if the label doesn’t say it is from a plant then it will be synthetic – any your body doesn’t like synthesised vitamins
• are the ingredients standardised – if no then the quality can and will vary from batch to batch
• To ensure the vitamins and minerals work well together standardized phytonutrients – derived from foods such as broccoli, aloe vera, cranberry juice and grape extract are helpful.

Age Related Macular Degeneration

Firstly let’s try to give you an understanding of what AMD is? The macula is a small area at the very centre of the retina. Sometimes the delicate cells of the macula become damaged and stop working, and there are many different conditions which can cause this. If it occurs later in life, it is called “age-related macular degeneration”, also often known as AMD.

Broadly speaking, there are two types of macular degeneration or AMD, usually referred to as “wet” and “dry”. This is not a description of what the eye feels like but what the ophthalmologist (eye specialist) can see when looking at the macula.

“Dry” AMD is the most common form of the condition. It develops very slowly causing gradual loss of central vision. Many people find that vision slowly deteriorates by gradual central blurring, and that the colours fade away like the colours fading in an old photograph. There is no medical treatment for this type. However, aids such as magnifiers can be helpful with reading and other small detailed tasks.

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Phytochemicals – Multi Talented

Eat Raw Fruit and Vegetables

Eat Your 5 serving of fruit and vegetables daily

- if not think about a supplement

If you ever feel tempted to go for a burger, fries and a soft drink, consider this: along with the fast food, you are ordering up an increased risk of heart disease, diabetes and obesity. But the opposite is true, too. According to a new University of Florida (UF) study, if you stay away from processed and fast foods and instead eat a lot of veggies, nuts and fruits, you will actively be helping to prevent or reverse harmful metabolic processes in your body. The result? Better health and a slimmer body.

An important advantage to having plant-based foods as an abundant part of your daily diet appears to result from the phytochemicals they contain. As noted in the UF findings recently published in the Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics, these natural substances prevent oxidative stress — a process linked to being overweight and to the onset of diseases including heart disease and diabetes. Phytochemicals include lycopene from tomatoes, isoflavones from soy, beta carotene from carrots, anthocyanins from blueberries, allicin from garlic, and many more.

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What Are the Symptoms of Low Vitamin D

What are the symptoms of low vitamin D

This article is long and technical but in essence if you value your health then you probably need to be taking food rich in Vitamin D or a supplement with high levels of Vitamin D. For a list of foods with Vitamin D please register for our updates. WE will be publishing a list of Vitamin D rich foods and a list of the best supplements in the next few days.

A clinical observation published in April 2000 in the Archives of Internal Medicine caught my attention. Dr. Anu Prabhala and his colleagues reported on the treatment of five patients confined to wheelchairs with severe weakness and fatigue. Blood tests revealed that all suffered from severe vitamin D deficiency. The patients received 50,000 IU vitamin D per week and all became mobile within six weeks.

Dr. Prabhala’s research sparked my interest and led to a search for current information on vitamin D, how it works, how much we really need and how we get it. The following is a small part of the important information that I found.

Any discussion of vitamin D must begin with the discoveries of the Canadian-born dentist Weston A. Price. In his masterpiece Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, Dr. Price noted that the diet of isolated, so-called “primitive” peoples contained “at least ten times” the amount of “fat-soluble vitamins” as the standard American diet of his day. Dr. Price determined that it was the presence of plentiful amounts of fat-soluble vitamins A and D in the diet, along with calcium, phosphorus and other minerals, that conferred such high immunity to tooth decay and resistance to disease in non-industrialized population groups. Continue Reading…

Teen in Wheel Chair after Swine Flu Vaccine

This report, while very sad for the family, is hardly unexpected. Please think very seriously about the risks, that we are often not told about, associated with the swine flu vaccine. Remember there are many alternatives that support, rather than stress, the immune system.

Boy diagnosed with Guillain-Barre syndrome, but CDC says no clear link

By JoNel Aleccia

Health writer

updated 3:06 p.m. CT, Wed., Nov . 11, 2009

A 14-year-old Virginia boy is weak and struggling to walk after coming down with a reported case of Guillain-Barre syndrome within hours after receiving the H1N1 vaccine for swine flu.

Jordan McFarland, a high school athlete from Alexandria, VA., left Inova Fairfax Hospital for Children Tuesday night in a wheelchair nearly a week after developing severe headaches, muscle spasms and weakness in his legs following a swine flu shot. He will likely need the assistance of a walker for four to six weeks, plus extensive physical therapy. Continue Reading…

Should Children Use Herbal Remedies?

herbal-children-questions

Generally speaking, herbal remedies should not be used by children under 12 years old unless under physician guidance (or children’s dose stated clearly on herbal product).

For mild ailments such as colds and infections – echinacea may be used (follow dose directions). Use should be restricted to several weeks.

In all cases the family physician should be notified of any herbals being used by child.

Considering the safety and toxicity issues around herbal remedies as relevant to children, it is clear that recent UK research reveals that herbal treatment for children has dramatically increased.

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Respiratory Infections

Question: I work in a school and regularly pick up respiratory infections through the winter, what can I do to avoid this?

The answer is three-fold – firstly wash your hands a lot, next boost your immune system with vitamin C and Echinacea tincture, then add an extra layer of protection with a barrier throat spray.

Hand washing throughout the day has been shown to significantly reduce the spread of infections. Throughout the day you accumulate germs on your hands from a variety of sources, such as direct contact with people, contaminated surfaces and foods. If you don’t wash your hands frequently enough, you can infect yourself with these germs by touching your eyes, nose or mouth. And you can spread these germs to others by touching them or by touching surfaces that they also touch, such as doorknobs.

Infectious diseases commonly spread through hand-to-hand contact include the common cold, flu and several gastrointestinal disorders, such as infectious diarrhoea. While most people will get over a cold, the flu is much more serious. Some people with the flu, particularly older adults and people with chronic medical problems, can develop pneumonia. The combination of the flu and pneumonia is a serious condition which can lead to death in the elderly. Continue Reading…