One of the questions that I am often asked as a naturopathic doctor is: Should my child be taking a multivitamin?
Considering many children’s multivitamins contain added food colouring, sugar or artificial sugars, this can be a difficult question to answer. A few things to consider when addressing this question for your family are the nutrient content of the food your child will consume, their health, their age, and their physical needs.
Chemically a multivitamin is a supplement that contains a combination of vitamins, a group of organic compounds, and minerals, inorganic compounds, that are essential for normal growth and nutrition. They are required in small quantities in the diet because they cannot be synthesized by the body.
When considering whether to use a multivitamin or not it is important to consider:
1. What your children eat.
This is a tricky subject as we all have fussy eaters some days. My advice is – do not panic! Often as parents we panic if not every vegetable is being eaten at dinner or if lunches come home half eaten. Before you throw your hands up about one particular meal, take a look at the whole week worth of food that your child has consumed. Children, often know what their body needs. One day your child may want to consume 2 cups of carrots and another day only fruit and cheese but if you average it out, the proportion of food evens out. The most important is that we continue to offer nutrient dense food and enjoy healthy balanced meals together as a family.
2. Other health concerns your children may have.
Another consideration is if your child is suffering from any health concerns. Sometimes nutrient requirements can spike if your child is suffering from an acute episode of a cold or flu. Absorption issues such as lactose intolerance, Chron’s disease or celiac disease may result in their body not absorbing all the nutrients they require. Another spike in nutrient needs can occur if your child requires pharmaceutical medications.
3. Your children’s age and activity level.
How old are your children and how active? A toddler will have differing nutritional needs when compared to their school aged siblings. Activity levels will also play a significant role in how their nutrients are being used. If they are spending their time outside for hours on end, or training for gymnastics, soccer or hockey several times a week, their nutrient needs will be greater than if they were more sedentary.
In an ideal world my preference is to get most nutrients for myself and my children from whole foods but no one is perfect – not your ND and not her children. As such a well thought out multivitamin can often be a great way to ensure your child’s nutrient requirements are being met.
