|
|
Home > Reasons Why Your Kids May Need Daily Multi-Vitamin
| | |
|
With our busy work and home lifestyles, the meal choices we make for our children may sometimes be made more out of convenience, rather than ensuring the meal is well balanced and contains all required daily nutrients. Kids who eat well-balanced meals may be getting all the vitamins that they already need, but let's face it, kids are notorious for being picky eaters, so many of them may not be getting all the nutrients they need.
Some common nutrients that children have been found to be deficient in are:
- Omega 3 - the best source for this nutrient is found in fatty fish like salmon, but unless it is battered, deep-fried and comes with a dipping sauce and toy on the side, most kids will turn their nose up at fish. Omega 3 has been linked to healthy brain functions, which may be why fish has always been consider 'brain food'. A multi-vitamin may be the only way to get this important nutrient into your child's diet.
- Vitamin D - the sedentary lifestyle has extended beyond our 9 to 5 office jobs and has enveloped our everyday life. With video games and television, many kids are spending much more time indoors than they once did. Without access to sunlight, your child can easily become vitamin D deficient. Vitamin D is an essential nutrient for bone growth, and lack of it once caused rickets in children. Today many foods are fortified with vitamin D, such as milk and orange juice, and rickets have pretty much been abolished altogether. However, if your child is picky with the drinks they consume, the only way to ensure they are getting enough vitamin D may be through supplements.
- Calcium - Kids who consume diary products should be getting their daily calcium requirements, but for those that prefer soda to milk and fortified juice, supplements may be the only way to ensure they are getting enough calcium in their diet.
In an ideal world children would get all their nutritional requirements from the foods they eat, in reality this is not always the case. This is where multi-vitamins come in. Whether they are liquid vitamins or in the cartoon chewable form, multi-vitamins are crucial for the health and well-being of your child and contain many benefits, including:
- Elevated IQ Scores - studies conducted by the University of Wales Swansea found that the non-verbal IQ scores of children taking multi-vitamins were as much as 30% higher.
- Boosts Immune Function - tests conducted at the University of North Carolina and Memorial University of Newfoundland found that participants who took a multi-vitamin for a year cut their rates of infection in half, as much as by 40% in participants with diabetes and up to 50% in elderly participants.
- Lowers The Risk Of Heart Disease - A Swedish study found that taking a daily multi-vitamin could lower the risk of heart attacks in men by 20% and women by 35%.
- Lowers The Risk Of Colon Cancer - a Harvard study found that women with a history of colon cancer in their family cut the risk of developing the cancer by 50% if they took a daily multi-vitamin that contained folic acid.
There are many reasons why you want to ensure your kids are getting their daily required vitamins and nutrients. If they can't get everything they need from their diets, a multi-vitamin, such as liquid vitamins may be an option, however the goal is not to rely on them. Encourage your kids to eat healthy with a balanced diet that contains plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables, whole grains, dairy and fish. And as always, the best way to teach something, is to lead by example.
| |
| | |
|
|
|