By Tracey, Pure Matters
As a mother, I'm never really sure whether I should give my child supplements. With so much conflicting information on necessity and quality, it's hard to determine what's right for my son and what's gratuitous. Interestingly enough, new findings were revealed this week that help make my decision easier: over one-third of American children aren't meeting calcium and vitamin D recommendations.
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In fact, calcium and vitamin D intakes were low for all children, according to the Office of Dietary Supplements who released the surprising data this week in the Journal of Pediatrics. Taylor Wallace, PhD, and senior director at the Council for Responsible Nutrition, said the data is "eye-opening because calcium and vitamin D deficiency is not only important in elderly women but a large segment of children are not getting enough." The data also revealed that non-supplement user children had a much higher incidence of insufficient intakes of calcium, vitamins A and C, magnesium and phosphorus when compared to supplement user children.
So how can we help our children meet their calcium and vitamin D daily recommendations? Two ways: we can add foods high in calcium and vitamin D to their diet and we can give them clinically-tested, high-quality supplements that contain the right amount of daily nutrients. Foods high in calcium include spinach, kale, soybeans, and foods that are calcium-fortified like orange juice and breakfast cereal. Good sources for vitamin D include fatty fish (like tuna and salmon), cheese, and egg yolks.