NUTRIENTS
MANY PARENTS STRUGGLE TO ENSURE THEIR YOUNG CHILDREN OBTAIN SUFFICIENT LEVELS OF NUTRIENTS SUCH AS VITAMIN D AND IRON. BUT NOW A NEW STUDY HAS BROUGHT SOME GOOD NEWS…
NEW STUDY PROVIDES HOPE FOR PARENTS
A new study published by The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition has suggested that young child formula – growing-up milk or toddler milk, as it’s more commonly called – can be used by parents as an effective and practical option to help ensure their little ones get enough iron and vitamin D.
The new study, which reveals that daily consumption of young child formula over a period of 20 weeks improves iron and vitamin D levels in young children, is based on research that was carried out on 318 healthy children aged between one and three from the UK, Germany and the Netherlands.
Low iron and vitamin D levels in young children remain a concern in the UK, as their diets don’t necessarily provide the recommended levels.
Low levels of vitamin D are particularly worrying to healthcare professionals, who were, until recently, unaware of the consequences of vitamin D deficiency and its role in chronic disease. Many internationally-
recognised experts now accept, however, that vitamin D deficiency is a major risk factor in a long list of chronic diseases.
Multiple studies have suggested a connection between low vitamin D levels and increased incidence and death from cancer, heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, multiple sclerosis, diabetes etc.
In young children, vitamin D deficiency is linked to poor growth, soft bones, seizures, rickets, heart disease, diabetes, and obesity. As a result of recent research, in February 2012, the Department of Health and UK Chief Medical Officer recommended a dose of 7-8.5 micrograms of vitamin D for all children from six months to five years of age. In 2016, this guidance was updated to recommend a supplementation of ten micrograms per day for children aged between one to four years of age.
Moderate exposure to sunshine should be the main source of vitamin D but the UK’s lack of sunshine between November and March makes
it particularly difficult for parents to ensure their children maintain healthy vitamin D levels. Indeed, it’s estimated that children’s diets in the UK contain as little as 27 per cent of their Reference Nutrient Intake (RNI) of vitamin D.
Iron is equally important to the development of young children. That’s because iron helps to make red blood cells, which carry oxygen from the lungs to body tissues. It’s also instrumental in contributing to normal cognitive development in young children, and so it’s vitally important that they obtain sufficient levels of this nutrient.
Young children, who do not get enough iron, can develop a disorder called iron deficiency anaemia and, consequently, have an increased risk of developmental delay. Children with iron deficiency anaemia can be tired, listless, and are sometimes irritable. They may also pick up infections easily.
Good sources of iron include: dark green leafy vegetables, such as watercress and curly kale; iron-fortified
cereals or bread; brown rice; pulses and beans; nuts and seeds, and meat, fish and tofu.
As with foods that contain vitamin D, such as oily fish, egg yolk and cereal products, however, many parents struggle to get their children to eat these foods, and so risk them developing low levels of both nutrients.
This new study, however, will provide parents with some hope that feeding their toddlers young child formula on a daily basis can be an effective and practical option for them to increase the amount of vitamin D and iron that their toddlers are deriving from their diet.
‘The strength of this study,’ said Marjolijn Akkermans MD from the Juliana Children’s Hospital/Haga Teaching Hospital in The Hague, ‘is that it was a randomised double- blind controlled trial in a well-defined sample of healthy young Caucasian children in Western Europe. We took into account the influence of infections and the season on iron and vitamin D status. Furthermore, we measured the changes in iron and vitamin D status in children by taking blood samples before and after the intervention which provides very accurate results.’ •
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