How to choose the best multivitamin for kids

best multivitamin for kids
best multivitamin for kids

It can be challenging to get your child to eat from a healthy eating plate and get their recommended daily allowance for vitamins, especially if they are picky. But as parents, we must ensure that we provide them with the best possible nutrition. If their daily diet falls short of these essential nutrients, the best way to fill the nutritional gap would be to supplement their diet with the best multivitamin for kids.

You may feel inclined to invest in fun-themed, colourful vitamin supplements for kids that are sold at your local store. However, what you need to keep in mind is that these products are full of harmful chemicals and synthetic ingredients marketed in attractive packaging and affordable prices more often than not. Most parents fail to consider that the quality of vitamins offered in different packages has different benefits. In cases like these, it turns out that the more money you spend, the better the quality of the product.

With all these different parameters to keep in mind, it gets challenging to choose the right kind of vitamin supplements for kids. Here are a few things that you must keep in mind while purchasing them. 

Pay Attention To The Essentials

You must ensure that certain essential nutrients are present in the multivitamin you are purchasing for your child, such as:

  • Iron: Iron is one of the essential minerals required for the growth and development of your child. It helps in transporting oxygen to different parts of the body and strengthens bone density. Lack of iron can lead to complications such as stunted growth and anaemia.
  • Calcium: Primarily found in our teeth and bones, calcium is required for aiding the growth and formation of children’s bones. Lack of calcium can cause osteoporosis, a condition characterised by brittle bones that are prone to damage.
  • Zinc: Another vital nutrient required for your child is zinc. It helps regulate blood sugar levels, strengthen the immune system, and boost your child’s metabolic activity. Lack of zinc can lead to complications such as skin rashes, behavioural issues, and chronic diarrhoea.
  • Vitamin A: Including Vitamin A in your child’s nutritional intake plays a significant role in aiding their growth, maintaining their skin, and preventing the risk of developing diseases like night blindness and age-related macular degeneration. Lack of Vitamin A can result in stunted growth and skin infections.
  • Vitamin C: The consumption of Vitamin C is essential. It helps carry out functions such as aiding iron absorption, formation of gums and muscles, and boosting your child’s immune system by protecting their cells from the damage caused by free radicals. Lack of Vitamin C can lead to conditions such as scurvy, bleeding gums, and fatigue.
  • Vitamin D: Another essential vitamin required for the proper maintenance of your child’s health is Vitamin D. It helps strengthen the bones and teeth, boost muscle repair, and regulate their energy levels. Lack of Vitamin D, especially in growing children, can cause poor growth and deformation of bone structure.

When you look into these nutrients and multivitamins, you will probably notice several of these come in different forms and names. The variety of these nutrients indicate how easily they can be absorbed and utilised by your child’s body.

Ensure that you purchase vitamin supplements that are more bioavailable to get the most out of your money. For example, while shopping for calcium supplements, consider investing in citrates, which are easily absorbed by the body, rather than carbonates. 

Make Sure That It Meets The RDA

While it is vital to ensure that your child gets the best quality of vitamins possible, it is also vital for you to consider how much of it your child is getting. Different vitamin supplements for kids have different doses of vitamins and micronutrients. An excellent way to approach this is to ensure that your child gets the recommended dose of every vitamin as per the Recommended Daily Allowance. Consult your health practitioner for more insight on your child’s specific requirements.

The Food Nutrition Board of the Institute of Medicine has issued the official dosage levels for several micronutrients and multivitamins. It was found that most children in India suffer from a deficiency of several essential nutrients since they follow particular diets such as veganism and vegetarianism, causing yet another massive nutritional gap. In such cases, it was found that supplementing their daily food intake with the best multivitamin for kids was the most effective way to fulfil their nutritional requirements.

 

Here is a chart that you can use as a reference while purchasing vitamin supplements for kids.

 

Nutrient Recommended Intake Per Day (RDA)
Vitamin A 400 mcg
Vitamin B6 600 mcg
Vitamin B12 1.2 mcg
Vitamin C 25 mcg
Vitamin D 15 mcg
Vitamin E 7 mcg
Vitamin K 55 mcg
Calcium 1000 mcg
Fluoride 1 mcg

 

Look Into The Ingredients

An important thing to keep in mind while purchasing vitamin supplements for kids is to check the purity of the ingredients that it incorporates. There are several multivitamins for children in the market that are loaded with harmful chemicals and additives. The few multivitamin products that remain unadulterated turn out to have massive amounts of sugar, additive colouring and binding agents.

Consuming some of these ingredients, even in trace amounts can have a very negative impact on your child’s health. A good habit to develop while shopping for multivitamins for your child is to go over the label printed on the back of the product and scan for any ingredients that may not be advantageous for your child’s health. Learn to google the names of these ingredients and find out more about the impact that they can have on the human body.

Here a few ingredients that you must be on the lookout for while buying vitamin supplements for kids, along with other unrecognisable ingredients:

  • Sodium selenite/selenite
  • Soy lecithin
  • Artificial sugars (glucose syrup, fructose, sucrose, aspartame, sucralose, maltodextrin)
  • Artificial colouring
  • Hydrogenated oils (soybean)
  • Butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT)
  • Dicalcium phosphate
  • Corn syrup

The best way to ensure that your children meet their daily nutritional requirements would be to constitute a healthy balanced diet where they consume various food sources and then supplement it with the best multivitamin for kids so that they get the best of both worlds.

 

 

 

 

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