Friday, April 6, 2012

Importance of Vitamin D for Children

Children grow very rapidly, so the nutritional needs must be met optimally. Nutritional deficiencies can impair children's growth, a severe deficiency can even lead to poor nutritional status.

Role of Vitamin D is essential for children in the age of growth, whether or not adequate Vitamin D in childhood, will affect the future of the child. Problems in the bone that occurs in the elderly are influenced by the formation and growth in childhood through adulthood.

Absorption of calcium

Vitamin D has an important role in calcium absorption, therefore it is essential for the formation of healthy bones and strong, especially in children. Vitamin D deficiency is now a common thing among the children, and this can cause the disease rickets. Vitamin D important role not limited to the surrounding bone or skeleton, but also important in other parts of the body and also acts as an anti-inflammatory.

Affects the brain

There is a wide distribution of vitamin D receptors throughout the brain. Vitamin D has the ability to affect proteins in the brain known to be directly involved in learning and memory, motor control and may even affect social behavior.

Food sources of Vitamin D

Vitamin D content in foods contained very little vitamin D found in oily fish such as salmon, mackerel and herring, and eggs from chickens that have been fortified vitamin D. Also found in some foods such as margarine and cereals are fortified Vitamin D.

The importance of sun exposure

Sunlight is the best way to get vitamin D, exposure to sunlight on the skin will stimulate the production of this vitamin. Use of sunscreen and indoor lifestyles may lead to deficiency of Vitamin D. Sunscreens are widely used to protect the skin against changes that can cause skin cancer, but also very important for us to get at least 15-20 minutes of exposure to direct sunlight on our skin every day.

Vitamin D Supplementation

Daily intake of vitamin D for infants, children, and adolescents are advised to be increased from 200 IU to 400 IU, as presented by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) in Boston, USA. Supplementation is important most of the children received less food intake of Vitamin D daily.

Increased intake of Vitamin D are intended to prevent bone-related diseases in children, such as bone softening disease (rickets). In addition, the daily intake of vitamin D will help prevent osteoporosis later in life. Studies in adults suggest that vitamin D has an important role in preventing infections, autoimmune reactions, cancer, and diabetes.

Vitamin D supplementation for infants

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that giving vitamin D supplements of 200 IU per day to your baby when the consumption of exclusive breastfeeding in a state of less than seventeen ounces per day. Supplementation should also be given if the infants received less maternal intake of vitamin D so that it produces milk containing vitamin D are not worried enough for the baby.

Normally, breast milk has a lot of vitamin D. Breast milk typically contains 400 IU of Vitamin D, this is in the same amount as 33 ounces of a milk formula for infants. So bear in mind always that the baby could get a thousand IU of vitamin D each day.

Vitamin D alleviate asthma in children

Vitamin D can ease the asthma attacks in children. This is the conclusion of a study led by Dr. Augusto A. Litongua, of Harvard Medical School in Boston, published the article the Journal of Allergy & Clinical Immunology. The study lasted for 4 years against more than 1,000 children with asthma. Vitamin D deficiency in the blood tends to make asthma attacks worse and more difficult to cure.

During the four years of study, found about 38% of children who are deficient in vitamin D should be hospitalized for asthma treatment, and only about 32% of children who have adequate levels of vitamin D should ultimately be hospitalized for asthma treatment. This means that adequate vitamin D can reduce the risk of asthma care in hospitals (6% lower).