What should I do if my baby is a little zinc deficient?

Many parents do not know when their children start to become zinc deficient after birth. The children are still too young and will not tell their parents when they feel various discomforts due to zinc deficiency. This results in the children not being able to receive timely treatment and the symptoms becoming more and more serious. If a child is zinc deficient, then their health will be threatened. Zinc is a very important trace element in the human body. So what should children do if they are zinc deficient?

If your baby is zinc deficient, you can take zinc supplements under the guidance of a doctor. You can supplement it by eating foods rich in zinc, which is safe and beneficial to your baby's growth and development.

Foods rich in zinc include: shellfish (oysters, clams, etc.), lean meat, liver, fish, shrimp, seaweed, soybeans, mung beans, broad beans, peanuts, walnuts, chestnuts, etc.

Prevention of zinc deficiency mainly depends on adjusting diet. The biological effectiveness of zinc in breast milk is higher than that in cow's milk. Therefore, breastfeeding is a good way to prevent zinc deficiency. If breast milk is insufficient, you can feed your baby some zinc-containing dairy products. Simply feeding babies with soy protein instead of milk can easily lead to zinc deficiency.

For growing and developing children, they should pay attention to increasing their meat intake and avoid being picky eaters. Zinc is generally found in large quantities in pork liver, lean meat, pork kidney, eggs, carp and milk. In addition, hard-shelled fruits such as peanuts, walnuts, and chestnuts also have high zinc content. Therefore, children should be fed less repeatedly processed and overly refined foods. According to research by the Chinese Academy of Preventive Medicine, supplementing children aged 2-6 with 2.5 mg of zinc per day on top of their diet is enough to prevent zinc deficiency. For children diagnosed with zinc deficiency, daily supplementation of 5 mg of zinc has a therapeutic effect.

Generally speaking, about 10-20 mg of zinc enters the human body through food every day, but only 2-3 mg is absorbed into the body. Our country stipulates that the daily dietary intake of trace elements for adolescents and young men and women is 15 mg. If they have a normal diet, they generally will not be zinc deficient.

If zinc supplementation through food is not effective, zinc supplements should be used for treatment under the guidance of a doctor. Oral zinc sulfate and zinc gluconate can both achieve certain therapeutic effects.

Symptoms of zinc deficiency in children include pica, anorexia and growth retardation. The so-called pica means that children like to eat things that they cannot normally eat, such as dirt, matchsticks, coal slag, paper scraps, etc. Anorexia refers to a poor appetite and a reluctance to eat. Growth retardation refers to a child's short stature, much shorter than other children of the same age.

Is your child zinc deficient?

Zinc is one of the indispensable trace elements in the human body. Although there is only 1.5-2.0g of zinc in the human body, it is indeed extremely important to human life and health. It is involved in protein synthesis, nucleic acid metabolism, and promotes the regeneration and repair of body tissues and cells. It has extremely important physiological significance, especially for adolescents and infants who are rapidly growing and developing.

Insufficient zinc intake in the diet, digestive and absorption disorders, and increased body consumption are the main causes of zinc deficiency.

The above are various treatments for children's zinc deficiency. When a child is zinc deficient, he should be treated symptomatically according to the methods mentioned above. Give the child more zinc-supplementing foods. There are many foods that contain zinc, especially animal offal. Animal offal is rich in zinc, but don't let the child eat too much, as this is very bad for the child's kidneys. Just supplement appropriately every day.