What are the symptoms of zinc deficiency in children? Several types of children who are prone to zinc deficiency

It may seem that there is no problem for children to lack trace elements, but if the deficiency of a certain trace element is too severe, it may have a serious impact on the child's physical development. Zinc, a trace element, plays an important role in the growth and development of children. It is known as the flower of life. If a child lacks zinc, it may lead to picky eating or anorexia, which may make it easier to lead to insufficient intake of other nutrients. As parents, we need to know the corresponding symptoms of zinc deficiency in children, which children are more likely to be zinc deficient and what precautions to take.

1. Which children are prone to zinc deficiency?

Children whose mothers did not consume enough zinc during pregnancy: The blood zinc level of pregnant women is maintained at around 89.4 mg/dL. If a pregnant woman's three meals a day lack zinc-containing foods, it will inevitably affect the fetus's utilization of zinc, causing the zinc stored in the body to be used prematurely. Such children are prone to zinc deficiency symptoms after birth.

Premature babies: If a child cannot be gestated in the mother's body for a sufficient period of time and is born prematurely, it is easy to lose the golden time for storing zinc in the mother's body (usually in the last month of pregnancy), resulting in congenital deficiency.

Children who are not breastfed: The zinc content in breast milk is much higher than that in ordinary milk. More importantly, its absorption rate is as high as 42%, which is unmatched by any non-breast milk food.

Children who are overly picky eaters: Some "vegetarians" refuse to eat any meat, eggs, milk and their products since childhood. This makes it very easy for them to be zinc deficient. Therefore, they should cultivate good eating habits from an early age and not be picky eaters.

Children who are overly active: Many children, especially boys, are overly active and often sweat or even sweat profusely. Sweat is also one of the channels for the body to excrete zinc. It has been determined that 1.3 mg of zinc can be lost through sweating in a day. Children with rickets: These children take calcium preparations to treat the disease, and the increased calcium level in the body will inhibit the intestinal absorption of zinc. At the same time, because such children have relatively poor appetite and reduced zinc intake in food, they are prone to zinc deficiency.

Children in some special circumstances: the soil zinc content is too low, causing local agricultural products to be zinc deficient; the children's digestion and absorption function is poor, and some diseases and drugs such as tetracycline form insoluble complexes with zinc that hinder absorption.

2. What are the symptoms of zinc deficiency?

Loss of appetite: picky eating, anorexia, refusal to eat, general reduction in food intake, children do not feel hungry and do not take the initiative to eat;

Eat weird things. For example: biting nails, clothing, chewing toys, hard objects, eating hair, paper scraps, raw rice, wall dust, soil, sand, etc.;

Slow growth and development, height 3-6 cm shorter than the same age group, weight 2-3 kg lighter;

Low immunity, frequent colds and fevers, repeated respiratory infections such as tonsillitis, bronchitis, pneumonia, excessive sweating, night sweats, etc.;

White spots on the nails, hangnails on the fingers, and geographic tongue (irregular red and white patterns on the surface of the tongue);

Hyperactivity, slow reaction, lack of concentration, poor learning ability;

Vision problems: decreased vision, which can easily lead to night vision difficulties, myopia, hyperopia, astigmatism, etc.;

Skin damage: When trauma occurs, the wound is not easy to heal; prone to dermatitis and stubborn eczema;

Delayed sexual development during puberty, such as: small testicles and penis, low testosterone levels, and low sexual function in males; late breast development and menstruation in females; late appearance of pubic hair in both males and females;

3. Notes

Children can supplement zinc by eating kelp, seaweed, squid, oysters, yellow croaker, etc., especially oysters which contain high levels of zinc; animal offal, eggs, nuts, edible fungi, all of which are rich in zinc; green vegetables are also rich in zinc, among which celery is the richest in zinc.

Children should eat less refined rice and white flour to supplement zinc, because over-processing of food will destroy zinc. Therefore, the heat should be controlled when cooking food to reduce the loss of zinc.