How do you know if your child is zinc deficient?

Zinc is an essential nutrient for the human body. Whether it is adults or children, if the body lacks zinc, it will have a great impact on physical health, and may even cause some serious diseases due to zinc deficiency. For some parents, they seem to have no experience in this area and don’t know how to tell whether their baby is zinc deficient. So, how do you know if your child is zinc deficient?

The main symptoms of zinc deficiency in children

If there is marginal zinc deficiency, there will be decreased appetite, dermatitis, decreased immunity, poor taste, etc., but because it is not an absolute one-to-one causal relationship, these conditions are often difficult to detect.

However, when zinc deficiency is severe, it will cause slower growth and development; affect intellectual development; delay development of reproductive glands; loss of smell and taste, anorexia; abnormal vitamin A metabolism affecting normal visual function, delayed healing of skin injuries and wounds; reduced immunity and susceptibility to infection, etc.

Misconceptions about zinc deficiency in children

Not eating well: When a child does not want to eat, it may be because the child has eaten enough, or has eaten a lot of snacks before and cannot eat a full meal, but in the parents' opinion, the child just does not like to eat. Skipping a meal occasionally does not mean you are zinc deficient.

Excessive sweating: Infants and young children have high water content in their skin, fast metabolism, and incomplete development of the autonomic nervous system, so they sweat easily when they move. They also sweat easily when eating or when it is hot. This is a normal phenomenon. Excessive sweating is not a symptom of zinc deficiency, but long-term excessive sweating can cause zinc deficiency.