Is my child’s hyperactivity due to zinc deficiency?

Zinc is an essential trace element for the human body. It plays a very important role in the physical and intellectual development of children. If there is a zinc deficiency, the child will have poor appetite and poor immunity. The child's hyperactivity may also be related to the child's zinc deficiency. At this time, zinc should be supplemented in time to avoid greater impact on the child.

1. Children whose mothers did not consume enough zinc during pregnancy:

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.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. Infants and children under 2 years old

Because of its rapid growth, its zinc requirement is relatively high. The zinc content of breast colostrum is high, but then gradually decreases. For infants over 6 months old, breast milk zinc can no longer meet their needs and they need to get enough zinc from complementary foods. If complementary foods are mainly plant-based foods that are not fortified with zinc, it is easy to cause zinc deficiency in infants after 6 months of age.

5. Children who are overly picky eaters:

Long-term vegetarian diet and lack of animal foods such as meat, fish, eggs, milk, animal liver, etc. are important factors for zinc deficiency in children.

6. Overly active children:

Many children, especially boys, are overly active and often sweat or even sweat profusely. Sweat is also one of the channels for the human body to excrete zinc. It has been determined that 1.3 mg of zinc can be lost by sweating profusely in a day.

7. Children with rickets:

These children take calcium preparations to treat their illnesses, and the increased calcium levels in the body 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.

8. Congenital zinc absorption disorder:

Zinc absorption disorders caused by malnutrition, intestinal malabsorption syndrome, intestinal inflammatory diseases, etc.