The dangers of excessive zinc supplementation in babies

Zinc is a nutrient required by the human body. It should be supplemented every day. This is very helpful for all aspects of the body's conditioning. When the body is deficient in zinc, it will also cause damage to health. Therefore, zinc supplementation is very important. So what are the dangers of excessive zinc supplementation for babies? If the baby's body is supplemented with too much zinc, it will cause abnormal physical conditions. The following is a detailed introduction.

The dangers of excessive zinc supplementation for babies:

The Chinese Nutrition Society recommends the following daily zinc requirements: 3 mg for infants from birth to 6 months; 5 mg for infants from 7 to 12 months; 10 mg for children aged 1 to 3 years; 20 mg for pregnant women; 20 mg for nursing mothers; and 10 to 15 mg for normal adults.

Infants rely on breast milk for zinc supplementation

Breastfeed your baby for at least 3 months, and then gradually switch 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 4-7 times that of serum zinc.

Add zinc-rich food after weaning

Such as beef, mutton, lean pork, animal liver, peanuts, soybeans, carrots, oysters, etc. According to measurements, the zinc content in animal foods is higher than that in plant foods, and the amino acids produced after the decomposition of animal protein can promote the absorption of zinc, with the absorption rate generally being around 50%; while the zinc contained in plant foods can combine with plant acid and cellulose to form water-insoluble compounds, thereby hindering human absorption, with an absorption rate of only around 20%. Bottle-fed babies should start adding easily absorbed zinc-rich complementary foods from 4 months old: minced lean meat, egg yolks, fish paste, animal liver, oysters, peanut rice flour, walnut kernel powder, etc.

Children's zinc supplementation depends on a balanced diet

Children over 5 years old can get enough zinc from food. Therefore, children should be educated from an early age to develop good habits of not being picky or partial eaters, and should pay attention to a reasonable and balanced diet structure, and a mixture of coarse and fine grains. In this way, children generally will not be zinc deficient. In daily life, you should also be careful not to let your children eat too much white sugar and sweets, so as not to affect the absorption of zinc. Zinc drugs should never be regarded as universal "nutritional supplements" and used for a long time.

Too much zinc can also harm people

Zinc poisoning causes nausea and vomiting. Gastrointestinal symptoms such as abdominal pain and diarrhea. This is because zinc is easily converted into zinc chloride in gastric juice. Zinc chloride is highly corrosive to the stomach and can cause congestion, edema, and erosion of the gastric mucosa, and even cause rupture and bleeding of gastric blood vessels.

Too much zinc can damage the liver, and in severe cases, there may be symptoms of jaundice hepatitis;

Zinc poisoning can cause neuronal damage and glial cell damage; excessive maternal zinc levels can cause fetal neural tube defects;

Excessive blood zinc will inhibit the phagocytic function and bactericidal ability of white blood cells, reduce the body's resistance and make it easy to be invaded by pathogenic bacteria;

Excessive zinc intake (more than 45 mg per day) will also hinder the absorption of divalent ions such as iron and copper, not only causing anemia, but also increasing cholesterol and uric acid in the body, as well as incomplete cross-linking between myocardial elastin molecules, increasing the risk of coronary heart disease and myocardial infarction.

After understanding the dangers of excessive zinc supplementation for babies, mothers must give their babies an appropriate amount of zinc supplement so that it will not affect the baby's body. It should also be noted that when supplementing zinc for babies, it is also necessary to pay attention to whether the baby is lacking in other nutrients, and do not supplement only one type.