Do Children Need A Daily Multiple Vitamin?

Should a recommended daily vitamin for children be formulated differently than adult vitamins?  Well, children are constantly in a growth phase demanding more "fuel" and perhaps a different blend than a mature adult.  Children vitamins are specially blended to take this into account.  But it is not just the vitamin supplement formula that needs to be considered for growing children.  Diet is also key to kid's health and well-being.

Besides taking children vitamins, having children eat a nutritionally-balanced diet is great advice for children, as well as, mature adults. The fact is, teaching children to make proper food choices is one of the most helpful tools you can provide them with.  It's unfortunate, but many of today's children are not taught how to make proper food choices.  This is usually the result of their parents not knowing what the 'right' food choices are to begin with.

It's indisputable that the vitamins and minerals children require can be found in fruits and vegetables.  These same vitamins and minerals are found in dairy products and lean meats - foods that children generally pass on when given a choice of what to eat. Why eat those foods when the world has so many other tasty "fast" foods to offer? 

If you take a look at food through a child's eye, what do you see?   All the great-tasting, fatty processed items - ice cream, pizza, corn dogs, hot dogs, potato chips, french fries, sugary fruit drinks, caffeinated soda, energy drinks, cookies, cake, candy, and processed portable lunch 'kits'.  But let's not forget the ever popular, readily-available, drive-thru fast food.  Ask most children what their favorite foods are and you will undoubtedly hear the cry, "chicken nuggets, hamburgers, french fries, etc.".  This is a pretty sad story about our food habits.   

The food pyramid charts allow for these types of foods, but only a tiny sliver is allotted.  This means these foods should make up just a fraction of a child's or adult's daily food intake. They should never  be eaten for every meal, or in-between as snacks.  But unfortunately, this happens all too often. It's obvious just by looking at children's' weight statistics that many are not eating properly.

Not only are the wrong food choices causing children to become dangerously overweight, they're also the reason why many children are not getting the vitamins and minerals their bodies need.   Of the essential recommended daily vitamin supplements the children need, their body's are capable of producing just a few of these vitamins on its own. The rest must come from food or children vitamins and supplements. 

From birth, a child needs Vitamin D.  Vitamin D is crucial to the development of healthy, strong bones and teeth. Rickets, a very serious disease that was thought to be under control, is once again becoming a health issue.  The symptoms of this disease include bones that are deformed and that are soft and brittle.

For example, the skull is supposed to be thick and hard. One of the first notable signs of rickets is a skull that is soft and thin.  If the shape of the head doesn't form properly, as can happen with Rickets, tooth development may be inhibited.  And it only gets worse from here - wrists, knees, ribs, ankles all may experience abnormal growth.

A number of deficiencies in other vitamins may not produce such obvious effects.  This is why so many parents do not even realize problems exist. A special blend of children vitamins and minerals provide the instructions for their bodily functions, including vision, production of red blood cells and growth hormones.  Even broader, they provide proper development of every major system including the immune system, circulatory system and digestive system.

If your children's diet consists of the foods and eating habits mentioned above, you need to take immediate action.  Make an effort to introduce more vitamin-dense foods into their diets. In the meantime, encourage your children to take a daily children vitamins to supplement their diets.  These children vitamins are formulated especially for their growing bodies. 

Being the "picky" eaters that they are, the children vitamins are available in chewable, pill and liquid form in a host of tasty flavors.  If your child has a problem with these forms of daily vitamins, why not try vitamin lollipops - what youngster could resist this healthy treat? 

Don't you owe it to your children to give them a recommended daily vitamin especially formulated for them to ensure a happy, healthy body?