Does My Child Need Supplements? Kim Ames found great health info for children.

Does My Child Need Supplements?

What parents should know

By

Jeremy Appleton, ND, CNS

Children who eat healthy diets rich in whole grains and fresh fruits and vegetables should not need dietary supplements—but how often does that happen? Even in households where nutritious cooking practices are the norm, children can be finicky eaters. Or they may live in homes where a standard Western diet too often includes processed junk food. A few specific growth

Is a nutritional supplement as good as eating a healthful diet?

• Nutrition research suggests that the answer is no—but a combination of some whole foods and high-quality supplements may be the best compromise most parents can expect, one that is likely to prevent nutrient deficiencies even if it does not provide the nutritional benefits of a diet truly rich in whole foods.
• Children in households that primarily eat processed foods are at risk of several nutritional deficiencies and, for them, supplementing with a high-quality multivitamin may be the best safety net preventing them from falling into nutritional deficit.

  Does my child need a multivitamin?

  • Well-nourished children may not need a multivitamin, but there appears to be no harm, and possibly some benefit, from taking a good one. A high-quality multivitamin will provide at least the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) of its key ingredients, it will contain no unnecessary additives, and it will meet its label claims for nutrient content. Consult with a healthcare provider if you have questions about how to choose a high-quality multivitamin.
  • A multivitamin usually provides the RDA of most essential vitamins and minerals. Several good children’s multivitamins are available, some in chewable form.
  • Children from low-income households are at the highest risk of nutritional deficiencies. Studies suggest that, in these groups, multivitamin supplementation can improve brain function and attention in school, fortify the immune system against infection, and prevent nutritional deficiency diseases such as anemia (caused by deficiency of iron or certain B-complex vitamins) and rickets (caused by vitamin D deficiency).
  • Improved performance on IQ tests has been observed in some children who take a daily multivitamin, compared with those who do not. However, the results of this research are not conclusive, and it may be that the children who benefited were marginally deficient in iron and had that deficiency corrected by the multivitamin.

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