Kids Health
by Stanley Revell, Technical Document Controller
An Introduction
The biology of health has shown how experiences and environmental influences in early childhood health can have an effect on the future and even result in physiological adaptations. Sound and appropriate nutrition has been identified as one of the three foundations of lifelong health which includes health promoting food intake and eating habits. For example, a study by Imperial College London has shown that ‘the average 19-year-old girl in Bangladesh and Guatemala (the nations with the world’s shortest girls) is the same height as an average 11-year-old girl in the Netherlands, the nation with the tallest boys and girls.’ The team warned:
‘highly variable childhood nutrition, especially a lack of quality food, may lead to stunted growth and a rise in childhood obesity – affecting a child’s health and well-being for their entire life.’ (Imperial 2020)
Why are there supplements for children?
Ideally children should be able to attain their nutrition through a well planned, healthy, balanced diet. However, in the real world 71.8% of UK families have both parents at work (GOV 2017), children are notoriously fussy eaters, there are hundreds of junk food ads for kids and then there’s the ever looming threat of coronavirus. It is far more difficult than it seems to ensure your child is fed an immaculate balanced diet.
However, unfortunately, the number of children in the UK suffering the consequences of poor diets is alarmingly high; 1 in 3 children under 5 is malnourished and 2 in 3 live on poor diets (UNICEF 2019). For this reason, paediatricians wisely recommend that children take multivitamins and multimineral supplements. It’s for these reasons that pediatricians may recommend that children take multivitamins and multimineral supplements.
You may ask, why are there supplements solely for children when adults take the same vitamins and minerals?
Firstly, the most important reason is simply because children require lower doses of the same vitamins and minerals than adults meaning that taking adult doses may be toxic for the child’s health.
Secondly, children can also have difficulties when trying to swallow pills or capsules hence supplements marketed for children are often chewable (like sweets) or in an easy to consume powder.
Which vitamins and minerals are recommended?
Calcium: Calcium has multiple important functions within the body such as regulating muscle contractions, including your heartbeat and making sure blood clots normally but specifically for children calcium helps to build strong bones and teeth. A lack of calcium in children can lead to rickets and in later life can result in osteomalacia or osteoporosis.
So how much calcium is enough for children? Children aged 1 to 3 years old require 700 mg of calcium daily, 4 to 8 year olds 1,000 mg of calcium daily
9 to 18 years old 1,300 mg of calcium daily (KidsHealth 2020).
Iron: This nutrient is essential to a child’s growth and development with arguably the most important function of all, iron helps to move oxygen from the lungs to the rest of the body in blood and also helps the muscles to store this oxygen. Iron deficiency is a relatively common problem in children ranging from mild deficiencies to iron deficiency anemia. If left untreated an iron deficiency can have a big effect on a child’s growth and development.
The recommended daily intakes for iron are as follows: 7-12 months 11mg, 1-3 years 7mg, 4-8 years 10mg, 9-13 years 8mg, 14-18 years 11mg for males and 15mg for females (KidsHealth 2016).
Vitamin A: Vitamin A is an important nutrient for babies and young children. It is essential to support rapid growth and to help combat infections, can help their vision in dim light, and keeps skin healthy. Deficiency can be very dangerous leading to night blindness and an increased chance of serious infection. In fact, Vitamin A deficiency is the leading cause of preventable blindness in children (WHO 2020). Whilst deficiency is rare in developed countries, 6 to 20% of children have inadequate intakes of Vitamin A (BNF 2018).
Supplements containing 233µg of vitamin A are recommended for infants and children from 1 to 5 years of age (from 6 months for breastfed children) (BNF 2018).
Vitamin C: It is well known that vitamin C plays an important role in the support of the body’s immune system as an antioxidant but there are other functions that make this vitamin crucial for a child’s good health and development. Important functions are helping to protect cells and keeping them healthy, maintaining healthy skin, blood vessels, bones and cartilage and also helping with wound healing.
The recommended daily intake values for children ages 1 to 3 is 15mg per day
ages 4 to 8 is 25mg
9 to 13 is 45mg
14 to 18 is 75mg for males and 65mg for females (NIH 2019).
Vitamin D: Vitamin D helps regulate the amount of calcium and phosphate in the body. These nutrients are needed to keep bones, teeth and muscles healthy. A lack of vitamin D can lead to bone deformities such as rickets in children.
This vitamin has become somewhat of a superstar over recent weeks, there have even been reports about vitamin D reducing the risk of coronavirus. However, at the time of writing, whilst we are still big fans of Vitamin D, there is currently not enough evidence to support this claim (NICE 2020).
It is recommended that breastfed babies to 1 year of age should be given 8.5 to 10 micrograms of vitamin D. Formula-fed babies should not be given a vitamin D supplement until they’re having less than 500ml (about a pint) of infant formula a day. Children aged over 1 year old need 10 micrograms per day (NICE 2020).
Essential Fatty Acids: Essential fats are fats that the body cannot make by itself meaning that you need to consume them in your diet. There are two kinds of essential fats, called omega-3 and omega-6 fats. There are three types of omega-3 fats: ALA (alpha linoleic acid), DHA (Docosahexaenoic acid) + EPA (Eicosapentaenoic acid). Omega-3 fats are important for brain function, heart health, immunity and fetal development. There are four types of omega-6 fats: LA (Linoleic acid), ARA (Arachidonic acid), GLA (Gamma linoleic acid) and CLA (Conjugated linoleic acid). These also help with immunity as well as gene regulation and blood clotting.
Currently there is only a daily intake recommendation for ALA which is 0–12 months: 0.5g, 1–3 years: 0.7g, 4–8 years: 0.9g, Girls 9–13 years: 1.0g, Boys 9–13 years: 1.2g, Girls 14–18 years: 1.1g and Boys 14–18 years: 1.6g (NIH 2020).
References:
https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/207893/poor-nutrition-school-years-have-created/ (Imperial 2020)
https://kidshealth.org/en/parents/iron.html#:~:text=Infants%20ages%207%E2%80%9312%20months,girls%20should%20get%2015%20milligrams. (KidsHealth 2016)
https://kidshealth.org/en/parents/calcium.html#:~:text=Kids%201%20to%203%20years,a%20day%20(4%20servings). (KidsHealth 2020)
https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng187/chapter/Rationale (NICE 2020)
https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/VitaminC-Consumer/ (NIH 2019)
https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Omega3FattyAcids-Consumer/ (NIH 2020)
https://www.who.int/health-topics/micronutrients#tab=tab_2 (WHO 2020)
| Item Code | Item Name | |
| NIGEBLE012370 | NBlend – NGEBBEHCBC01a – Nutraceuticals Base Blend Health Claims Premix – Bones (Child) | |
| NIGEBLE012310 | NBlend – NGEBBEAA01a – Nutraceuticals Base Blend EAA Vegan Essential Amino Acid Premix | |
| NIGEMIN001073 | Calcium 5% Food State On Yeast (~5% Ca) | |
| NIGEMIN000095 | Calcium Alpha Ketoglutarate (Oxoglutarate) Nutrition Grade (~19.5% Ca) | |
| NIGEMIN000101 | Calcium Aspartate Nutrition Grade (~12% Ca) | |
| NIGEMIN000651 | Calcium Bisglycinate Nutrition Grade (~19% Ca) | |
| NIGEMIN000241 | Calcium Caprylate (Calcium Octanoate) Powder Nutrition Grade (~12% Ca) | |
| NIGEMIN000211 | Calcium Carbonate DC Nutrition Grade (~40% Ca) | |
| NIGEMIN000201 | Calcium Carbonate Nutrition Grade (~40% Ca) | |
| NIGEMIN000411 | Calcium Chloride Anhydrous Nutrition Grade (~34% Ca) | |
| NIGEMIN000401 | Calcium Citrate Malate DC Nutrition Grade (~20% Ca) | |
| NIGEMIN000301 | Calcium Citrate Tetrahydrate Nutrition Grade (~19% Ca) | |
| NIGEMIN000601 | Calcium Gluconate Nutrition Grade (~8% Ca) | |
| NIGEMIN000621 | Calcium Glycerophosphate Nutrition Grade (~18% Ca) | |
| NIGEMIN000655 | Calcium Hydroxide Nutrition Grade (~51% Ca) | |
| NIGEMIN000661 | Calcium Ketoisocaproate (KIC Calcium) Nutrition Grade (~13% Ca) | |
| NIGEMIN000701 | Calcium Lactate Anhydrous Nutrition Grade (~18% Ca) | |
| NIGEMIN000711 | Calcium Lactate Pentahydrate Nutrition Grade (~13% Ca) | |
| NIGEMIN000801 | Calcium Malate Nutrition Grade (~23% Ca) | |
| NIGEMIN000901 | Calcium Pyruvate Nutrition Grade (~15% Ca) | |
| NIGEMIN001001 | Calcium Succinate Nutrition Grade (~25% Ca) | |
| NIGEMIN001631 | Ferric (Iron III) Pyrophosphate Nutrition Grade (~25% Fe) | |
| NIGEMIN001501 | Ferrous (Iron II) Bisglycinate Nutrition Grade (~18% Fe) | |
| NIGEMIN001551 | Ferrous (Iron II) Citrate Nutrition Grade (~20% Fe) | |
| NIGEMIN001611 | Ferrous (Iron II) Fumarate Nutrition Grade (~33% Fe) | |
| NIGEMIN001601 | Ferrous (Iron II) Gluconate Nutrition Grade (~11% Fe) | |
| NIGEMIN001615 | Ferrous (Iron II) Lactate Dihydrate Nutrition Grade (~19% Fe) | |
| NIGEMIN001621 | Ferrous (Iron II) Sulphate Dried Nutrition Grade (~32% Fe) | |
| NIGEMIN001624 | Ferrous (Iron II) Sulphate Heptahydrate Nutrition Grade (~20% Fe) | |
| NIGEVIT000831 | Vitamin A Acetate (Retinol) – Crystalline 2800000IU/G | |
| NIGEVIT000821 | Vitamin A Acetate (Retinol) – Oil 1000000IU/G | |
| NIGEVIT000601 | Vitamin A Acetate (Retinol) – Powder 250000IU/G | |
| NIGEVIT000701 | Vitamin A Acetate (Retinol) – Powder 325000IU/G | |
| NIGEVIT000801 | Vitamin A Acetate (Retinol) – Powder 500000IU/G | |
| NIGEVIT000905 | Vitamin A Palmitate (Retinol) – Oil 1000000IU/G | |
| NIGEVIT000908 | Vitamin A Palmitate (Retinol) – Oil 1700000IU/G | |
| NIGEVIT000891 | Vitamin A Palmitate (Retinol) – Powder 250000IU/G | |
| NIGEVIT000901 | Vitamin A Palmitate (Retinol) – Powder 500000IU/G | |
| NIGEVIT002401 | Vitamin C Ascorbic Acid | |
| NIGEVIT002451 | Vitamin C Ascorbic Acid 25% Food State On Yeast | |
| NIGEVIT002431 | Vitamin C Ascorbic Acid DC 97% | |
| NIGEVIT002402 | Vitamin C Ascorbic Acid European Fine Powder 0422460 | |
| NIGEVIT002445 | Vitamin C Ascorbic Acid Liposomal Liquid (~20% Ascorbic Acid) | |
| NIGEVIT002441 | Vitamin C Ascorbic Acid Liposomal Powder (~68% Ascorbic Acid) | |
| NIGEVIT002443 | Vitamin C Ascorbic Acid Liposomal Powder (~88% Ascorbic Acid) | |
| NIGEVIT002705 | Vitamin C Ascorbyl Monophosphate (~35% Ascorbate) | |
| NIGEVIT002731 | Vitamin C Ascorbyl Palmitate (~42% Ascorbate) | |
| NIGEVIT002501 | Vitamin C Calcium Ascorbate Dihydrate (~82% Ascorbate) | |
| NIGEVIT002605 | Vitamin C Magnesium Ascorbate Anhydrous (~80% Ascorbate) | |
| NIGEVIT002601 | Vitamin C Magnesium Ascorbate Monohydrate (~83% Ascorbate) | |
| NIGEVIT002610 | Vitamin C Manganese Ascorbate (~72% Ascorbate) | |
| NIGEVIT002651 | Vitamin C Potassium Ascorbate (~65% Ascorbate) | |
| NIGEVIT002701 | Vitamin C Sodium Ascorbate (~88% Ascorbate) | |
| NIGEVIT002711 | Vitamin C Zinc Ascorbate (~68% Ascorbate) | |
| NIGEVIT002810 | Vitamin D2 Ergocalciferol Oil 2.5% 25000ug/g 1000000iu/g Synthetic Vegan | |
| NIGEVIT002801 | Vitamin D2 Ergocalciferol Powder 0.25% 2500ug/g 100000iu/g Synthetic Vegan | |
| NIGEVIT002802 | Vitamin D2 Ergocalciferol Powder 100% 40000000iu/g Synthetic Vegan | |
| NIGEVIT002851 | Vitamin D2 Ergocalciferol Powder 2.5% 25000ug/g 1000000iu/g Food State On Yeast | |
| NIGEVIT002920 | Vitamin D3 Cholecalciferol Crystals Pure 1000000ug/g 40000000iu/g Vegetarian (Wool Lanolin) ¤ | |
| NIGEVIT002905 | Vitamin D3 Cholecalciferol Oil 10% 100000ug/g 4000000iu/g Vegetarian (Wool Lanolin) ¤ | |
| NIGEVIT002908 | Vitamin D3 Cholecalciferol Oil 12.5% 125000ug/g 5000000iu/g Vegetarian (Wool Lanolin) ¤ | |
| NIGEVIT002990 | Vitamin D3 Cholecalciferol Oil 2.5% 25000ug/g 1000000iu/g Vegan | |
| NIGEVIT002902 | Vitamin D3 Cholecalciferol Oil 2.5% 25000ug/g 1000000iu/g Vegetarian (Wool Lanolin) ¤ | |
| NIGEVIT002895 | Vitamin D3 Cholecalciferol Powder 0.1% 1000ug/g 40000iu/g Vegetarian (Wool Lanolin) ¤ | |
| NIGEVIT003001 | Vitamin D3 Cholecalciferol Powder 0.25% 2500ug/g 100000iu/g Vegan | |
| NIGEVIT002901 | Vitamin D3 Cholecalciferol Powder 0.25% 2500ug/g 100000iu/g Vegetarian (Wool Lanolin) ¤ | |
| NIGEVIT002915 | Vitamin D3 Cholecalciferol Powder 1.25% 12500ug/g 500000iu/g Vegetarian (Wool Lanolin) ¤ |