All the information you need to know when supplementing with zinc for children

How is zinc supplementation for children good? That is one of the questions that many parents are most concerned about today. Because proper supplementation will help children eat often, grow quickly and develop more comprehensively. Follow the article below to answer the above question!

1. What role does zinc play in the development of children?

Zinc plays a particularly important role in the intellectual and physical development of children, especially in the early stages of life. This is the time when children need to be cared for carefully and supplemented with the most nutrients to prepare for their future development.

Some roles when supplementing with zinc for children that you should know:

Help your child eat well:

Zinc is a micro-mineral that, when it enters the body, has a protective effect on the taste and smell cells. Disturbance in the metabolism of taste cells is the cause of poor appetite in children and anorexia.

The longer it lasts, it can easily lead to malnutrition in children, affecting the growth and development of both the body and the brain of the child. Therefore, zinc supplementation for children in this case is extremely necessary.

Helps to grow taller in children:

Adequate zinc supplementation for children in the early stages of life is a decisive factor in the height and physical strength of children later. Because zinc plays an important role in the development of the child’s skeletal system. Zinc deficiency, children slow growth, delayed puberty, and the skeletal system is not balanced.

Maintain and develop the immune system:

Adequate zinc supplementation helps support and promote the development of a child’s immune system more comprehensively. From there, helping children increase the ability to protect the body from pathogens such as bacteria, viruses, fungi, parasites, … Quick wound healing as well as minor illness in children is also rare. .

Babies eat well and develop comprehensively thanks to adequate zinc supplementation

2. Causes and manifestations of zinc deficiency in children

Studies have shown a number of known causes of zinc deficiency in children:

• Children take many types of antibiotics due to bacterial infections, thereby reducing the amount of zinc in the body.

• Because the children’s daily diet does not provide enough zinc as well as nutrients.

• Zinc deficiency in children can also be congenital because during pregnancy, the mother does not fully supplement the necessary micronutrients.

The manifestations of children with zinc deficiency are different depending on the location of each child. However, most children have the following common symptoms:

• Children anorexia, anorexia, reduced or less eating. No appetite.

• Slow digestion, mild alertness, occasional nausea.

• Slow growth in height, stunted growth, mild malnutrition.

• Children often lose hair, nails have white lines, easy to break.

• Sleep disturbances in children, making them toss and turn, wake up many times during the night, upset or fussy.

• Children are malnourished, anemic, and their skin is less pink.

• Ease allergies, or recurrent infections of the respiratory tract, digestive tract, dermatitis, …

• Delayed puberty.

Lack of zinc, children have no appetite, leading to anorexia

3. How much zinc is enough for children?

Mothers should note that zinc is not a nutrient available in the body, so we need to supplement it in many different forms for children. Depending on each stage of development, each age is different, the amount of zinc needed for children is also different.

Mothers can refer to the following way by the World Health Organization about their children’s zinc needs by age:

• Children under 6 months: 2mg/day.

• Children 7-12 months old: 3mg/day.

• Children from 1-3 years old: 3mg/day.

• Children from 4 to 8 years old: 5mg/day.

• Children from 9 to 13 years old: 8mg/day.

• Children 14 years and older: For boys need 11mg/day, girls need 9mg/day is enough.

However, there are still some notes when supplementing with zinc for children that mothers need to know such as:

Do not take a combination of zinc and calcium at the same time:

Calcium has the ability to increase zinc excretion and reduce the body’s ability to absorb zinc. Similarly, mothers should not combine zinc and iron at the same time for children. The best time is to supplement with iron after 2 hours of zinc supplementation.

Should combine zinc with Vitamin C:

Although zinc and vitamin C have different composition, structure and function. However, when these two are combined, they will work together, improving each other’s absorption efficiency. From there, promoting the child’s body to absorb easier, increase resistance, help children develop quickly.

Letting children eat some fruits containing a lot of vitamin C after zinc supplementation helps the absorption of zinc as well as vitamins better.

4. Foods containing a lot of zinc that few people know!

For babies under 6 months of age, the best source of zinc is breast milk. For children aged 6 months and older, mothers can supplement in the form of daily food or under complementary foods under the direction of a doctor. Here are 5 foods that are rich in zinc to help mothers easily supplement their children:

Red meat or poultry products:

According to research, red meat such as beef, pork or poultry are the foods that contain the most zinc. Moreover, these are all easy-to-find foods and easy to prepare into many different dishes. Help children can change the taste, not boring.

Besides, egg yolks are also rich in zinc. A boiled egg in the morning is the best advice that mothers give their babies.

Oysters:

Did you know that each medium-sized oyster contains more than 5mg of zinc! Not only that, but this is also a food that contains a lot of nutrients, proteins, and minerals. Therefore, almost is considered as one of the foods you should add to your child’s diet.

Milk and dairy products:

In addition to providing a necessary amount of calcium for the body, milk or dairy products such as butter, yogurt, etc. also contain a rich amount of zinc.

Crab, shrimp or other seafood

Once a week, mothers add crab or shrimp to the child’s diet, which means that the mother has added enough zinc needed for the child already.

Besides, you can replace it with other types of fish such as salmon, sardines, halibut… Inside all these fishes also contain quite a lot of zinc as well as nutrients necessary for growth. children’s development.

Assorted vegetables

For every 125g of fresh fruits and vegetables, there will be about 0.4 mg of zinc. Not only that, adding them to daily dishes also provides a lot of fiber for children, helping them not to become constipated. Some types of mothers should use such as: broccoli, mushrooms, even garlic.

Some foods should be known in the process of supplementing zinc for children

Because zinc supplementation for children is something that few parents pay attention to during the process of taking care of their children. Therefore, we hope that through this article, you will better understand the importance of adding zinc to your baby’s body. So that children can grow and develop in the most comprehensive way.