What to do if your one-year-old baby is zinc deficient

Everyone's body contains various elements, zinc is one of them. If people lack zinc, it will have a bad effect on their health. Zinc deficiency in one-year-old babies is a serious problem and should attract the attention of parents. The first step should be to find the right way to supplement the zinc in the baby's body. The second step should be to improve the baby's diet from all aspects. Next, let us understand what we should do when our one-year-old baby is zinc deficient?

Zinc is one of the essential trace elements for maintaining human life. The zinc content in an adult's body is about 2 grams. The main function of zinc in the human body is to participate in nucleic acid metabolism and protein synthesis, and also participate in the metabolism of sugars, lipids and vitamin A. Zinc is more important for children, and the amount they need is relatively greater than that of adults.

There are many reasons for zinc deficiency, the main reasons are:

(1) Insufficient supply. Zinc is mainly supplied by food, mainly animal food such as egg yolks, lean meat, fish, animal offal and milk. Among plant-based foods, only beans and nuts contain zinc, so long-term vegetarians are prone to zinc deficiency. The mother can supply zinc to the fetus, with the highest amount supplied in the last three months of pregnancy. A quarter of the zinc in a mature baby is stored in the liver at birth. The zinc stored in the liver is of great importance to the growth and development of the baby after birth. However, the zinc content in the liver of an immature baby is less than that of a mature baby, which can easily cause growth retardation in the immature baby after birth. When children have an infection and fever, their need for zinc increases. At this time, they often have a poor appetite, which can easily lead to zinc deficiency in children who are not zinc deficient.

(2) Malabsorption. Zinc is absorbed in the small intestine after ingestion. Infants and young children are most susceptible to diarrhea. Diarrhea causes reduced absorption of zinc in the intestine, so children who often suffer from diarrhea are prone to zinc deficiency. Children who have undergone small bowel resection due to intussusception or other reasons are more likely to be zinc deficient. Cereals contain phytates and high amounts of fiber, which can hinder zinc absorption. Children who are fed with cow's milk are more zinc deficient than those who are breastfed because the zinc in cow's milk is not as easily absorbed as that in breast milk.

(3) Too much loss. Zinc may be lost with body fluids in case of blood loss, hemolysis, trauma and burns.

(4) Certain genetic defects.

The main clinical manifestations of zinc deficiency in children:

(1) Anorexia. When zinc is deficient, the taste buds function is impaired, resulting in poor taste and appetite, and the activity of zinc-containing digestive enzymes is reduced, so the digestive function is also poor. Children eventually suffer from anorexia due to poor appetite.

(2) Children’s growth and development are delayed. Their height and weight are lower than those of children of the same age. Severe zinc deficiency affects their intellectual development and causes delayed appearance of secondary sexual characteristics during puberty.

(3) Pica. It likes to eat wall paint, soil, grass roots, coal slag, nails, paper, etc.

(4) Susceptible to infection. It is caused by zinc deficiency leading to low cellular and humoral immunity.

(5) Changes in skin and mucous membranes. Zinc deficiency can easily lead to recurrent oral ulcers, geographic tongue, baldness, etc.

(6) Severe zinc deficiency can cause vitamin A metabolism disorders and lead to night blindness.

In addition to clinical symptoms, the diagnosis of zinc deficiency also requires laboratory assistance. When plasma (or serum) zinc is lower than a certain limit of normal value, it can be diagnosed as zinc deficiency. Hair zinc can be used as a reference for chronic zinc deficiency. However, it is not a reliable indicator for diagnosing zinc deficiency because it is affected by many factors, such as environmental pollution, washing methods, hair growth rate, and collection site.

Zinc deficiency is a common problem in one-year-old babies. Parents should not alarm the baby. Just improve their diet in daily life. However, mothers should observe the various situations of their babies in life and pay attention to them at all times. Because the one-year-old baby's speaking ability is not very sound, so when the body encounters abnormal conditions, it will not be able to express it. This is when the mother's observation ability is tested.