What medicine is good for children with zinc deficiency?

Children have poor digestion and absorption abilities, and are prone to zinc deficiency. Zinc deficiency in children can lead to decreased appetite, picky eating, and even affect intellectual development. Timely zinc supplementation is very important. Choosing the right method of zinc supplementation can achieve twice the result with half the effort. So, what medicine is better for children with zinc deficiency? Let us take a look at it together below.

1. Breastfeeding

Breastfeeding is encouraged, and the baby should be breastfed for at least 3 months, and then gradually switched to cow's milk or other milk substitutes. The absorption rate of zinc in breast milk is high, reaching 62%. In particular, colostrum is high in zinc, with an average concentration 4 to 7 times that of serum zinc.

2. Add zinc-rich foods

According to measurements, the zinc content in animal foods is higher than that in plant foods, and the amino acids produced by the decomposition of animal protein can promote the absorption of zinc, with the absorption rate generally being around 50%. Bottle-fed babies should start adding easily absorbed zinc-rich complementary foods from 4 months old, such as minced lean meat, egg yolks, fish paste, animal liver, oysters, peanut rice flour, walnut kernel powder, etc.

3. Zinc supplementation

Babies must be examined in the hospital and confirmed to be obviously zinc deficient before they can be given preparations such as zinc sulfate syrup or zinc gluconate under the guidance of a doctor. The general medication period should not exceed 2 to 4 months, and the medication should be stopped promptly after follow-up examinations return to normal. However, it should be noted that the effective dose of zinc is very close to the toxic dose. Improper use can easily lead to overdose, inducing a series of diseases such as iron deficiency, copper deficiency, and anemia.

After reading the above introduction, do you know how to supplement zinc for your children? Zinc is a trace element and is very important for human development, but this does not mean that the more zinc supplementation, the better. Excessive zinc intake can lead to zinc poisoning, symptoms such as nausea and headache, and in severe cases, it can even cause intellectual impairment in children. Therefore, you must listen to the doctor's advice and take an appropriate amount of zinc supplementation.