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Vitamins, iron, iodine, … Capsules, powders and gels for children flooded pharmacy counters, and fortified foods filled supermarket shelves. Looking at them, it is difficult for parents to decide: what of all this is really necessary for their child?
To grow well and sleep better, to be more energetic and less aggressive, to increase the ability to concentrate and reduce anxiety, to have strong bones and good brains … According to the manufacturers of dietary supplements, dietary supplements compensate for the lack of vitamins and minerals caused by the malnutrition of today’s children. But maybe it’s enough just to put things in order in the children’s plate? “Complete nutrition is the best for children’s health,” says Yuri Kopanev, pediatric gastroenterologist, candidate of medical sciences. – But to see what an abyss separates the ideal from reality, it is enough to study how a child eats at home and in the school cafeteria: french fries, sausages, sandwiches, mashed potatoes, meatballs… Russia has adopted a national program to support healthy eating, but it is not easy to change the situation “.
Fashion omega and others
First of all, Russian children lack iron, vitamin D, iodine, fluorine, and the essential omega-3 fatty acid. A clinical study published in the American medical journal Pediatrics* shows for the first time how omega-3s affect a child’s behavior: they become less excitable and anxious, and they learn to read and write more easily. Vitamin D and iodine improve metabolism, sleep and appetite, iron and trace elements prevent anemia, strengthen the immune system, and fluoride protects teeth from caries.
“The main thing is that it should be diverse, that is, it should contain all types of products in sufficient quantities,” says Yuri Kopanev. “These generally accepted official recommendations are only advice. We list only an approximate list of products that are necessary in the diet of a child of 6-12 years old.
- Sour-milk products (kefir, yogurt, cheese, fermented baked milk, etc.) – from 200 to 600 g per day.
- Fats: butter – 5-10 g; vegetable oil – 10-15 g.
- Vegetables and fruits – at least 300 g per day.
- Meat or fish – at least 150 g per day.
- Grain bread.
- Eggs: 1 chicken or 2-3 quail 4 times a week.
Yu. K.
“The main source of omega-3 is fresh fish, vitamin D is fish oil, iodine is algae and sea fish,” says Yuri Kopanev. “However, our children eat these foods relatively infrequently. That is why the deficiency of nutrients should be compensated for with special supplements that are sold in pharmacies.
So, doctors recommend taking vitamin D for all babies under two years of age; if necessary, children are prescribed multivitamin complexes. A relatively new product is OM3 Junior capsules, which contain an omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid. Iron preparations are prescribed for children with anemia (decrease in hemoglobin in the blood). As for fluorine, it all depends on how the child eats, what kind of water he drinks, whether he uses iodized and fluoridated salt, whether he brushes his teeth with fluoride-containing paste. Some children additionally recommend fluoride tablets.
Fortified foods
According to the French nutritionist Thierry Souccar, even carefully following the recommendations for a healthy diet, it is impossible to get rid of the deficiency of all nutrients. Yuri Kopanev agrees with him. “Just in order to get closer to the ideal situation, manufacturers improve the quality of products by enriching them with various “additives”. So, vitamins B1, B2 and PP, iron are added to flour, pasta, bread and rice. Dairy products and margarine are enriched with vitamins A and D, fruit juices and drinks, sausages and canned meat – with vitamin C. Plant extracts are also used for these purposes, which, on the one hand, flavor and give the products an appetizing look, and on the other hand, vitaminize them , because they have the properties necessary for this (antioxidant, stabilizing and therapeutic and prophylactic).
In Russia, plant extracts are used to enrich yogurt, margarine, light butter, mayonnaise and processed cheeses with vitamins B, A, E.
Not just a pill…
Some critics of the very principle of prescribing nutritional supplements to children are concerned about the prospect that people will choose not to change their eating habits, but rely on supplements to compensate for the lack of nutrients. In their opinion, such behavior is as absurd as giving vitamin C to a naked child so that he does not catch a cold. So what are the proponents of nutritional supplements saying? Thierry Sukkar considers dietary supplements nothing more than health assistants and urges not to choose between supplements and nutrition.
Does my child need it?
What is dietary supplement
Biologically active additives are compositions of natural or identical to natural biologically active substances. Some dietary supplements are added to food, and some come to our table in the form of so-called enriched foods. Why take dietary supplements? To make the diet more saturated with individual food or biologically active substances and their complexes. Dietary supplements intended for children include products with probiotic and prebiotic activity, that is, they maintain a normal balance of intestinal microflora, as well as vitamins and other useful substances that, for one reason or another, do not get enough into the body with food.
E. Sh.
Long-term studies conducted by specialists from the Institute of Nutrition of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences have revealed the main violations in the eating habits of Russians**. We eat too much animal fat, sugar and salt, we lack complete animal proteins, dietary fiber (fiber) and starch.
“We all need additional sources of nutrients, taking into account environmental problems and how everything that comes to our table is grown, processed and cooked,” notes Yuri Kopanev. “This is the cause of the “main” diseases of our time: allergies, dysbacteriosis, obesity (in school-age children it occurs in 25-30% of cases), problems with immunity.”
How does a deficiency of vitamins and minerals manifest itself in a child? As a rule, such children get tired more than usual, are unnecessarily nervous, and have poor concentration. “If you notice something like this, consult a doctor: having studied the child’s history (sleep, nutrition, past illnesses), having received the test results, the doctor will determine which substances he needs,” Yuri Kopanev concludes.
Safety issue
“High-quality nutritional supplements, the production of which is carefully controlled, do not pose a health hazard,” Yuri Kopanev explains. “But you have to be careful with self-treatment. The use of dietary supplements should be targeted, limited in time and meet real needs. If a child takes too much magnesium or vitamin C, the excess will be excreted in the urine. Cases of an overdose of omega-3 are unknown, and in order to overdo it with vitamin D, its amount must be increased three times (in the second year of a child’s life in autumn, winter and spring, the norm is three to four drops of an aqueous solution). An overdose of fluoride causes small marks on the teeth (dental fluorosis). Excessive intake of fat-soluble vitamins (in addition to vitamin D, these include vitamins A and E) can also harm. Therefore, it is better to coordinate the use of such supplements with a doctor.
And yet: to give or not to give children dietary supplements? From the standpoint of pragmatists, it is worth adapting to reality more flexibly and compensating for the shortcomings that our time brings with it. From the position of the idealists, a real solution to the problem requires a complete change in attitude to the diet. And only one thing is known for sure: dietary supplements should not be opposed to proper, healthy nutrition.
* Pediatrics, vol. 115, 2005.** http://www.registrbad.ru/bad/opredelenie_BAD