The colorful world of children’s multivitamins is familiar to kids and parents alike, bringing the promise of good health in sweet tasting chews or eye-catching tablets. These days they are a common sight in many grocery and convenience stores that modern families often congregate in to fulfill their daily errands. Many questions, however, have risen over the years as to how effective these popular forms of nutrition truly are. Is the need for children’s multivitamins simply a myth? Do they deliver more harm than good, or do they really support healthy growth? Let’s take a look at the matter in greater detail.
When to Administer Pediatric Multivitamins
A majority of pediatric experts agree that children can benefit from taking daily multivitamins to fulfill their nutritional needs at optimum levels during each life stage. Busy families who have a hard time preparing home-cooked meals every day hold great value in multivitamins since they can help bridge missing gaps that get lost in the shuffle. That’s why family doctors often recommend pediatric multivitamins for children to grow healthy and strong. Kids who are finicky eaters, eat a lot of processed foods, or are on restricted meal plans like vegan or vegetarian diets will particularly benefit from these supplements. Children who have chronic diseases such as asthma or digestive concerns will also appreciate the additional nutritional support they get from them. As for children who have no chronic health conditions, it’s perfectly fine for them to take a daily multivitamin so long as they are administered in the correct doses. But how effective are they in your child’s growth and development?
The Effectiveness of Multivitamins
While multivitamins by themselves cannot prevent or treat conditions in children, they can help provide beneficial nutrients for their growing bodies in a variety of ways. Vitamin C may help support immune system function during the school season, for example. The B vitamins can support the nerve system and sharpen learning and brain development while reducing stress and anxiety from peer pressure and life changes. Vitamins A and E are both fat soluble and important for critical functions in your child’s body. All of these vitamins play a role much like the ‘cheerleaders’ do for a football team and help children to perform at their best in class, at sports, and during playtime. A medical study discovered that schoolchildren who took nutritional supplements raised their IQ levels as much as 15 points higher. Thus, the difference of taking routine pediatric multivitamins is certainly not to be overlooked or taken lightly.
Quality Over Quantity
If pediatric multivitamins make a notable difference in your child’s overall health, why are they getting a bad rap? A large part of it is due to the fact that many companies have jumped on the marketing wagon because they noticed the appeal of these multivitamins to children and parents alike. Since the 1990’s a growing number of mass-produced vitamins appeared on the retail scene, many of them with attractive colors and “affordable” prices. What many families do not realize, however, is that these mainstream children’s multivitamins contain more sugar than actual vitamins. Chewables in tempting character shapes and ‘gummy’ vitamins are particular culprits. Don’t be fooled by the percentage of their daily values, either, as most of the fortified nutrition in these supplements is artificially inserted at the production plant and they escape into the air as soon as the seal on the bottle is opened, leaving parents and their young ones with supplements that are essentially no different than holiday candy.
Knowing this truth, it’s no wonder that many are now questioning the reputation and nutritional integrity of pediatric multivitamins. Why bother spending the income on these products when candy could very well be purchased in the first place? The good news is that there is still light at the end of the tunnel, however. In the wake of “fake children’s vitamin” awareness, there are a number of pediatric supplements with genuine multivitamin content derived from natural and whole food based sources. Metagenics, for example, has developed a chewable children’s multivitamin that extracts the nutrition from real fruits and vegetables. The multivitamin, PhytoMulti Kids, houses 16 vitamins and minerals designed to deliver multidimensional support for a child’s overall well-being. The kid-friendly orange flavor is also sweetened with xylitol – not sugar – which gives parents peace of mind while their children enjoy taking their vitamins.
Those who are interested in researching multivitamins for children can check out the Metagenics product line at our Prime Wellness vitamin store. There, you can feel good about giving your children multivitamins again and help them perform their best with power-packed nutrition that is formulated just right for them!