Precautions for calcium supplementation in children

When children are growing, they need a lot of supplements of calcium, iron and zinc, but not just once. It needs to be done for a long time so that children can grow better in all aspects. So what are the precautions for children's calcium supplementation? There are many aspects to pay attention to when supplementing calcium for children. Parents, in particular, need to understand how to supplement calcium, whether to choose dietary calcium supplementation or drug calcium supplementation, and they must choose carefully.

So what are the precautions for calcium supplementation for children? The following is a detailed introduction so that you can have a good understanding of such issues. However, when supplementing calcium, you must be careful to do it in moderation and not too high each time.

Notes on calcium supplementation for children:

When supplementing calcium for your baby, you must first make sure whether calcium supplementation is needed. Not all babies need calcium supplementation. If a bottle-fed baby consumes 700 to 750 ml of formula milk every day, the calcium intake is sufficient. Generally, breastfed babies can supplement calcium. Older infants who drink less formula milk, such as babies aged 8 to 12 months, can also consider calcium supplementation. In addition, babies diagnosed with calcium deficiency by a doctor should take calcium supplements.

In addition, parents should also understand some basic knowledge about calcium supplementation:

1. Cod liver oil and calcium powder do not have to be taken at the same time. Generally, cod liver oil can be taken with breakfast, and calcium preparations are generally taken before going to bed, or between lunch and dinner to reduce factors in food that affect calcium absorption.

2. Young parents should not buy calcium products by themselves, because some calcium products have very low calcium content, such as calcium gluconate; some contain more heavy metals, such as products made from marine oyster shells; and some are more irritating to the stomach, such as calcium carbonate. It is recommended to consult a relevant specialist and listen carefully to what the doctor says before purchasing.

3. Be familiar with certain factors that promote and inhibit calcium absorption.

1) Factors that promote calcium absorption

Vitamin D can promote the absorption of calcium in the small intestine and promote the deposition of calcium in the bones. Medical Education Network has collected and sorted out that an adequate supply of protein in the diet is beneficial to the absorption of calcium. This may be because the amino acids produced by protein digestion can combine with calcium to form soluble calcium salts, thereby promoting calcium absorption. When the body's need for calcium increases, the absorption rate of dietary calcium will increase. For example, adults can only absorb 20% of dietary calcium, while infants and pregnant women can absorb up to about 50% of dietary calcium. In addition, as the body's need for calcium increases, dietary calcium retention also increases.

2) Factors that inhibit calcium absorption

When food contains too much oxalic acid or phytic acid, not only will the calcium contained in the food itself be difficult to absorb, but it will also affect the absorption of calcium in other foods, such as spinach, bamboo shoots, amaranth, water spinach, edamame, wild rice stem, onion, grass head, etc. Therefore, before cooking these vegetables, you can blanch them in boiling water to remove the oxalic acid and phytic acid in them. When you eat too much fat, the free fatty acids produced after digestion cannot be absorbed in the intestines in time and are easily combined with calcium and excreted with the feces, reducing calcium absorption. Excessive intake of dietary protein will increase the excretion of calcium in the urine. Therefore, we should pay attention to a reasonable dietary structure and avoid excessive intake of fat and protein. In addition, when dietary fiber is consumed too much, the components in it will combine with calcium and reduce calcium absorption. Therefore, it is not recommended for children to eat too much coarse grains.

Through the above introduction, we have some understanding of the precautions for calcium supplementation for children. Therefore, when supplementing calcium for babies, you can choose the above methods. However, it should be noted that babies can not only choose diet and medication for calcium supplementation, but also go outdoors often, which is also very helpful for children's calcium supplementation.