How To Prevent Deficiencies And Malnutrition Among Children
There is an increasing number of children suffering from different kinds of malnutrition and deficiencies.
However, the key to preventing this is to provide your child with a rich and natural food that will make sure your child gets all the essential vitamins, minerals, and proteins needed for normal and unhindered growth.
Vitamins are important nutrients that the human body needs to function properly.
They play a role in many different bodily processes, including the growth and development of bones, muscles, and organs. vitamins are essential to a child’s health and development.
A lack of vitamins for kids can lead to health problems, including anemia, rickets, and scurvy.
To that end, here is a list of some crucial nutrients that every child has to be regularly provided with in order to prevent malnutrition and deficiency!
Vitamin D
In their formative age, it is essential that children get the proper and adequate nutrition and with it necessary vitamins and minerals.
Importantly, in the first days and months of their lives, children are extremely vulnerable and susceptible to different deficiencies which consequently lead to various diseases.
For instance, they can get rickets, which is a medical condition whereby the child’s bones get softer in their age of growth.
However, proper nutrition can prevent this. Specifically, you should aim at food rich in vitamin D. Vitamin D is known to be helpful in the prevention of various deformities in children. This protective feature of vitamin D is especially salient in safeguarding your child from above-mentioned rickets.
Foods rich in vitamin D are those such as fatty fish and fish oils. Unfortunately, children are not fond of fish and all products made of it, so you may look for some alternatives.
For example, organic skim milk, yogurt, cereal, and baby formulas are rich in vitamins so you may try these options that can be suitable for your child. Moreover, they will certainly find this food much more agreeable than fish oils.
Protein
Protein is one of the main building blocks of muscle tissues and our organism in general. In children, especially, it is essential for growth, optimal development, and health maintenance.
What is more important, protein contains some key nutrients that we need. In that way, foods rich in protein also include additional vitamins and nutrients such as zinc, iron, omega 3, vitamins B and D, calcium, and so on.
For these reasons, in order to prevent deficiencies and malnutrition in children, protein-rich food should be consumed on a daily basis at least twice.
Iron
Iron plays a huge role in the healthy development and functioning of both children and adults. It is a constituent part of all living beings, from plants and animals to humans.
In particular, iron is important for your blood flow, red blood cells, normal circulation, etc. Without it, your body wouldn’t be able to produce hemoglobin, and in turn, the oxygen in your body could not be carried well, you would also have fewer red blood cells, among all other things.
In one word, one could not function well without it, and a prolonged deficiency of iron in the blood can lead to anemia, decreased cognitive functions, deformations and diseases.
Children and toddlers can often be highly at risk from iron deficiency. You can satisfy the amounts of iron that your child needs in terms of proper and rich nutrition, but also supplements.
Needless to say, you should always ask your child’s doctor for advice in terms of providing your child with supplements and the diet in general.
There are some foods that are especially rich in iron. These are, for example, meat, dark green leafy vegetables such as spinach, silverbeet, broccoli; nuts, dried fruit, whole grain bread, cereal, legumes, oats, tofu, and the like.
Based on the age, children require certain amounts of iron on the daily basis (in milligrams):
- Infants ages 7–12 months: 11 mg.
- Toddlers ages 1–3 years: 7 mg.
- Kids ages 4–8 years: 10 mg.
- Older kids ages 9–13 years: 8 milligrams.
- Teens: 11-14 mg.
Minerals
The same way we need proteins and vitamins, we need minerals. Minerals help children grow and stay healthy. The organism makes a lot of use of minerals to build strong bones and teeth, send nerve impulses, turn the food into energy, and maintain many more vital bodily functions.
The lack of minerals can easily lead to symptoms of malnutrition and deficiency. For example, children from the age of 4 to 8 require at least 1.2 micrograms on a daily basis.
Some essential minerals include zinc, calcium, iodine, phosphorus, magnesium, copper, manganese, etc. To that end, make sure you provide your child with foods rich in these essential minerals so as to help and maintain your child’s development and health.
Apparently, proper and adequate nutrition is the key to preventing your child from deficiency and malnutrition.