Natural Way Health Blog

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

Skip Breakfast – at your peril

Making time for a nutritious breakfast can be a challenge.

Take a look at the research around the importance of breakfast for yourself and your kids.  Ensure you include Super Foods in your breakfast menu.

Benefits of breakfast

What if you could give your children a magic pill in the morning to make them healthy, smart and well-behaved? This pill would undoubtedly be flying off the shelf of the local pharmacy. While there is no such medication, there is something just as powerful: breakfast. Consumption of this morning meal is one of the most important things a child does all day. Over 30 years of credible research has proven that a healthy breakfast positively impacts brain function and energy level, which is extremely important for school-aged children.

Here are some of the benefits:

Better behavior. Children who skip breakfast are more tired, irritable, or restless by late morning. These symptoms lead to aggressive behavior that causes children to get in trouble in school. Children who regularly eat a morning meal have more energy, are less likely to exhibit aggressive behavior, and have a better attitude toward school.

Higher test scores. A study published in 1998 in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine showed significantly higher math test scores after children ate breakfast. This and other research has clearly shown that children who consistently eat breakfast test higher in most academic areas.

Better class attendance. Children who eat breakfast are absent from school fewer days. They also spend less time in the nurse’s office complaining of stomach pains. Ironic as it may be, children who claim they don’t eat breakfast due to a lack of time in the morning are tardy more often than those who take time for a morning meal.

More nutritious intake. Breakfast eaters generally meet vitamin and mineral requirements for prevention of deficiencies. They consume more fiber, vitamin C, calcium and folic acid. Unfortunately, children who miss breakfast do not make up for lost nutrients later in the day.

Weight control. Eating breakfast helps to establish a normal eating pattern. Eating regular meals and snacks is a key to maintaining a healthy weight throughout life. Increasing childhood obesity is in part attributed to the disappearance of normal eating patterns in many of today’s households.

Source: Erica Lesperance, RD, LD, Diet Channel