Nutrients essential for your child

By Dr Naglaa A.
Nov 1, 2016
2 min read

Child nutrition requires adequate intake of essential macro, micronutrients and others.

Macronutrients:

Carbohydates; as an essential source of energy, 50% of the RDA for children over 2 years comes from carbohydrates. The important issue is how to stay away from refined carbohydrates and simple sugar and to go instead for unrefined ones.

Protein; is essential for building body cells, fighting infections, oxygen carrying, hormones, immunoglobulins, 12% of the RDA for children over 2 years comes from protein. Choosing the right type and amount of protein in important, staying away from processed sources of protein and go for lean ones. Fish as good source for both protein and healthy fats. Protein is not only animal sources, there are other plant sources which are very rich in protein e.g. lentils, chickpeas and legumes.

Fats; are essential source of energy and are 30% of RDA for children, fats also are important for brain intellectual functions, fat-soluble vitamins action as vitamin A, D, E, K.

Good fats as mono and polyunsaturated fats, polyunsaturated fats are good source for omega 3 which helps in reducing inflammations, mood control (specially in children with special needs as Autism and ADHD), and reduce tiredness.

trans-fats should be avoided.

Micronutrients:

All vitamins and minerals are essential for children the most important are:

Calcium; Calcium is not only important for bone and teeth health but also for nerve and muscles, heart health and blood clotting. There are also many non-dairy sources for calcium which will be discussed later.

Iron; is essential for oxygen carrying in blood.

Vitamin D; for child immune system support and for bone health.

Vitamin C; supports immune system, vessels wall strength, bone and teeth health, wound healing and increases iron absorption.

Water intake:

Water intake is essential for children; children requires more water intake than adults if relatively compared to their body weight. Dehydration can cause tiredness, headaches, dry skin, lack of concentration and reduced mental performance.

Here are the water intake values for children in different gender and age groups according to The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).

Boys and girls (4 to 8 years) 1.1-1.3 litres/day

Boys (9 to 13 years) 1.3-1.5 litres/day

Girls (9 to 13 years) 1.5-1.7 litres/day

Fibres:

Fibres are very important to children, their requirements are less than adults, according to ADA (Fibres in grams = age of child + 5) for children from 3-18 years.

Fibres play an essential role in controlling blood sugar and constipation which is very common symptom in children.

There are 2 types of fibres: