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Is your child a picky eater, vegetarian or only eats white foods? Then you’ve wondered what their diet is missing.
Children have a natural instinct to eat just the right amount of calories to grow. Unfortunately, they don’t automatically choose a well-balanced diet. It seems natural to try to fill the gaps in a picky toddler’s diet. Although multivitamins provide many nutrients, they are all easily consumed in even the worst kid diets. So multivitamins really are completely unnecessary. However, there are a few supplements kids do need.
Several good studies have shown that kids don’t benefit at all from adding multivitamin supplements. These same studies found that children on supplements got too much vitamin A, zinc, copper, selenium and folic acid. The effect of vitamin overload is unknown but is potentially toxic.
However, these studies showed that kids who take multivitamins were still just as deficient in vitamin D as those who don’t take supplements at all. What that means is that kids often need vitamin D supplements, but multivitamins don’t provide a sufficient amount.
Vitamin D
Vitamin D is the only substance we get through exposure to ultraviolet radiation from the sun. Now that we avoid sun and use sunscreens, we all have lower vitamin D levels. New research has shown a critical role for vitamin D in many diseases. This is one vitamin that you do want to make sure your child is getting enough of. Kids need to drink 16 -24 ounces of milk a day to get the right amount of vitamin D. If your child isn’t eating much dairy or drinking milk, give a vitamin D supplement. And all breast-fed infants should be on a vitamin D supplement.
Supplements in the United States are not regulated and can contain more or less of the vitamin than is on the label. To find a reliable product visit the US Pharmacopia Verified Products Listing. The most reliable products for babies and kids are:
Nordic Naturals Baby’s Vitamin D3
Carlson Baby’s Super Daily Vitamin D3
Mommy’s Bliss Organic Baby Vitamin D
For adults: NatureMade Vitamin D3
Omega-3 Fatty Acids
There is one other nutrient that evolution has made us dependent on and parents should consider supplementing…. omega-3 fatty acids. Humans don’t make omega-3s so they are “essential” nutrients in our diet.
Omega-3s are primarily found in fish and are important for brain growth and development. They are required to build cells and help with communication between our body’s cells. Relatively small portions (the size of a business card) of fish like salmon or albacore tuna provide enough omega-3s for 3 days in a growing child. But children often don’t eat this much. So you can encourage other omega-3 rich foods (or hide them in stuff they like): soybeans, avocado, ground flax seed, walnuts and almonds. Reliable brands for omega-3s are:
NatureMade Fish Oil Gummies for kids
NatureMade Fish Oil Liquid SoftGels for adults
A typical child’s diet generally provides a good balance of most of the nutrients they need for growth. But kids really don’t make the best food choices. So parents need to offer a variety of nutritious foods to ensure they are getting those nutrients we evolved to depend on.
