A Mother's Guide to Raising Healthy Children--Naturally (53 page)

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Authors: Sue Frederick

Tags: #Health & Fitness, #Women's Health, #test

BOOK: A Mother's Guide to Raising Healthy Children--Naturally
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syrup. Make sure it doesn't have preservatives or artificial colors. Liquid vitamins are appropriate during the first year, followed by chewable vitamins. As they grow, many children are able to swallow pills and capsules. Powdered nutritional formulas can be added to foods as another option. I firmly believe that your natural foods store is the place to shop for supplements. After my more than ten years of working as a natural health editor, I can tell you that you'll find a higher quality product in natural food stores such as Whole Foods or through Web sites such as healthshop.com than you will in a mainstream grocery store or drugstore.
Vitamins and Minerals
Vitamins are essential micronutrients required by a child's body for normal metabolism, growth, and development. They are either fat soluble (A, D, E, and K) or water soluble (B vitamins and C).The B vitamins include B1 (thiamine), B2 (riboflavin), B6 (pyridoxine), pantothenic acid, niacin, biotin, folic acid (folate), and B12 (cobalamin). The RDAthe amount an average child needs each day to stay healthyhas been determined for each vitamin. Consuming too little or too much of certain vitamins can lead to nutritional disorders.
Important as they are, vitamins cannot help without their low-profile, less flamboyant counterpartsminerals. For example:
·
Vitamins cannot be assimilated without the aid of minerals.
·
The body can manufacture a few vitamins, but it cannot manufacture a single mineral.
·
All tissues and internal fluids contain varying quantities of minerals.
·
Minerals act as catalysts for many biological reactions within the body, such as muscle response, transmission of messages through the nervous system, production of hormones, digestion, and utilization of nutrients in foods.
Some mineralssodium, chloride, potassium, calcium, phosphorus, and magnesiumare considered macronutrients because they are needed by the body in relatively large quantities. Other minerals are called micronutrients, or trace minerals, because they are needed by the body in small quantities.
 
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These include iron, zinc, copper, manganese, molybdenum, selenium, iodine, and fluoride.
Infant Requirements
Optimal nutrition for infants, both before and after birth, is an area of research that is still unfolding. A study reported in the
British Medical Journal
demonstrated for the first time that early nutrition can significantly influence mental ability later in life. Researchers found that premature infants who were fed a standard milk formula rather than a nutrient-enriched formula had reduced verbal IQ scores by the time they were seven to eight years old. The results were particularly evident in boys. The authors noted that early nutrition during a child's development can have lifetime effects on health and performance.
After the post-World War II, formula-feeding revolution, mothers are happily returning to breast-feeding, the healthiest choice for a child. Breast milk is a substance uniquely formulated to meet an infant's growth requirements. Initially, breast milk is high in fat and fatty acids, which are important to the early development needs of the brain and the immune and nervous systems. Later, the fat content of breast milk decreases and is replaced with protein and carbohydrates, which support the rapid growth and development experienced during this age.
Breast milk also has more iron, vitamins A and C, niacin, potassium, and the right amino acids for growth than any natural or formulated substitute. In fact, its precise mix of enzymes, long-chain fatty acids, and proteins is so complex it cannot be duplicated exactly using the modified milk of other mammals or created from mixtures of plant-based materials. The essential fatty acids in breast milk are fundamental for an infant's neural development. Evidence suggests that term and premature infants require the omega-3 essential fatty acid DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) for ideal growth and development. "Essential fatty acids are utilized by all body tissues, but especially by the brain," explains Michael Murray, N.D. "They are necessary to the manufacture of structural components of cell membranes and important hormone-like substances known as prostaglandins."
Essential fatty acids are more like vitamins than fats. They are sometimes
 
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referred to as vitamin F because they are so important in the diet. They are essential because the body cannot manufacture them; they must come from the diet. Essential fatty acids fall into two categories: omega-3 and omega-6. In addition to supporting proper growth and development, essential fatty acids perform a variety of functions in the body:
·
They transport the fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E, and K).
·
They help manage cholesterol.
·
They regulate body temperature.
·
They help control blood pressure.
·
They are essential for healthy skin, hair, and nails.
After a baby is born, the primary source of DHA is breast milk. Although researchers have yet to define how DHA affects brain functions including memory and learning, they know DHA is required for the development of the cerebral cortex-the thin, folded layers of the brain's hemispheres that house billions of brain cells.
Numerous studies show that babies who are breast-fed have better brain development than their formula-fed counterparts. A recent study in
The Lancet
corroborated these findings. Researchers found significantly higher amounts of DHA in the brains of breast-fed babies than in those of formula-fed babies. Higher concentrations of DHA in the brains of breast-fed infants may explain their improved neurodevelopment when compared with formula-fed infants.
In addition to its important role in brain development, DHA plays a vital function in developing sharpness of vision. DHA is found in high concentrations in the photoreceptors of the retina and supplies lipids (fats) to the retinal membrane. It has been noted that when levels of DHA are too low, abnormal visual functioning occurs.
Many infant formulas contain little or no DHA. According to a report in
Archives of Disease in Childhood,
even the breast milk of vegan women, who eat no animal products, contains substantially greater amounts of DHA than cow-milk formulas. If breast-feeding isn't possible, a study in the same journal recommends that a minimum daily requirement of 30 milligrams of DHA be added to the formulas of term infants to prevent a brain deficiency of the essential fatty acid. Murray recommends adding 200 milligrams of DHA a day to infant formula.

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