The vitamin factor - When it comes to good health, nothing beats old-fashioned vitamins & nutrients.

by Allen S. Josephs, M.D. January/February 2003

As concerned parents we hope our children are given the most nutritious and wholesome food to ensure proper growth and development. But sadly, this isn’t the case. We’ve become a country of processed, fast food. Long gone are the whole grains and nutritious foods in our diet.

So how bad is the standard American diet? In a study published in the journal Pediatrics, it was estimated that only 1 percent of Americans between the age of 2 and 19 had healthy diets. On average, Americans in that age group receive 40 percent of their calories from fat and added sugar. And the most common vegetable they consumed was French fries.

So what’s the harm? For starters, the effects of poor diet are very harmful to a child’s growth and development. So what if you dedicated more time to preparing nutritious and healthy foods? Would this help? Unfortunately, the answer might still be no.

Even more than adults, children need adequate amounts of vitamins and minerals for proper growth and development. Following are six categories of vitamins that can help keep your children healthy. This is not meant to be an exhaustive list, but rather a starting point to providing proper nutrition for your child. For more information, go online at Vitacost.com, which has a special section on children’s health and sells almost all of their brands at wholesale cost.


Starting at the beginning, vitamin A is extremely important. Inadequate amounts can lead to impairment of immune function. Because large quantities of vitamin A can potentially be toxic, a more advantageous way to get vitamin A is through what is known as pro-vitamin A – otherwise known as carotenoids. The best known is beta carotene. There’s really no known toxicity for carotenoids since they are converted into vitamin A in the body as needed.


Vitamin C plays an important role in immune function and can have both anti-viral and anti-bacterial effects. It also helps with secretion of certain hormones and helps to stabilize blood vessel walls.


Vitamin D is critical for developing strong bones and healthy teeth. Along with this is the necessity for adequate amounts of magnesium and calcium, which is the most abundant mineral in our body. Magnesium is critical for many cellular functions, especially energy production, protein synthesis and bone metabolism. Magnesium supplementation has shown beneficial effects for such varied conditions as heart disease, pre-menstrual mood, migraines, asthma, lung disease, hypertension, etc.


There are many microminerals that are extremely important. Selenium is a micro-mineral that plays a critical role in proper immune function. Studies have shown that selenium can reduce the incidence of cancer in adults. The mineral zinc is a co-factor in more than 200 enzymatic reactions in the body. It is, likewise, critical for proper immune function and healing.


Vitamin E can have many positive effects on immune function. It is also a powerful anti-oxidant that can counteract the effects of free radical damage in the body.


Other important vitamins include vitamin B6, folic acid and B12. These particular vitamins can help lower a chemical in the body known as homocysteine. Ele-vations in homocysteine can lead to arteriosclerosis of the blood vessels in the heart and brain. Unfortunately, many children have elevations in homocysteine. Vitamin B6 is also critical for red cell formation, hormone modulation and nervous system function.


So what’s the best way to deliver all these vitamins and nutrients to your children without making them feel like they are pill-poppers?


Nutrition Now and Rhino Vites make safe and effective multivitamins for kids. Rhino Vites also makes a calcium and magnesium supplement for kids. I would strongly advise against giving your child the typical supermarket/mass market, once-a-day vitamins, as these contain artificial colors, fillers and binders, and often provide less effective forms and amounts of nutrients.


–Dr. Josephs is a practicing, board-certified neurologist and physician of internal medicine. He is also president of Vitacost.com.



Copyrighted with Permission of Sporting Kid LLC 2003