The functions and effects of children's nutritional powder

Children's nutritional powder is essentially a daily dietary supplement. Its core function is to fill the nutritional gap in dietary intake and improve specific nutritional deficiencies in a targeted manner. It cannot replace regular meals, nor is it a necessity for all children.

Last week, an acquaintance of my mother came to see me. Her 3-and-a-half-year-old baby was found to be mildly iron deficient in physical examination. She almost cried with worry: the baby wouldn't even touch a bite of pork liver, only took two bites of red meat at a time, could spit out spinach when pureed, and couldn't take food supplements at all. She asked me if I wanted to buy iron-supplementing nutritional powder. My advice to her was to first choose a supplement that complies with the national standard GB22570 and is fortified with ferrous iron and vitamin C, and at the same time slowly adjust her diet. Two months later, she sent me a review report, which showed that the hemoglobin had returned to the normal range. She also said that the baby's appetite for meals has improved a lot recently.

Some people must say, "As long as you eat well, you don't need these things at all" - this is absolutely true. My best friend's child has had a balanced diet since he was a child. He has vegetables, meat and whole grains every meal. He has enough milk every day and often goes out to bask in the sun. All the indicators in every physical examination are excellent. Now he is 5 years old. He can't even take vitamin D supplements until he thinks about it, let alone nutritional powder. He doesn't need it at all. But we have to admit that not all families can match their children's diet so perfectly: both working parents have no energy to think about complementary foods after get off work late, the elderly are used to cooking with their children, focusing on carbohydrates and not protein, and the children have just reached the age of picky eaters. It is too common to not touch a morsel of vegetables. It cannot be changed in a short time. You can't just watch your children lack nutrition, right? At this time, appropriate nutritional powder is a good helper in transition, and there is no need to beat him to death with a stick.

In addition to regular formulas that supplement basic nutrition for picky eaters, there are also special medical nutritional powders for special situations, which are irreplaceable. When I was helping in the pediatric nutrition clinic, I saw many babies with milk protein allergy. They couldn't drink ordinary milk, and they couldn't touch many complementary foods containing eggs and milk. They were easily deficient in calcium and vitamin D. Some babies had weak intestinal absorption function and didn't gain weight no matter what they ate. Their growth curves dropped drastically. At this time, the special medical nutrition powder prescribed by the doctor can really help the baby catch up with the growth rhythm. I was particularly impressed by a 1-year-old boy who weighed 2 pounds less than his peers when his allergies were severe. After drinking hypoallergenic and high-energy nutrition powder for 3 months, he caught up with the median of the growth curve after reexamination. I still remember the way his mother shed tears while holding the report.

But don’t listen to the nonsense boasted by the merchants. Things like “you will grow 5 centimeters taller after drinking it” and “you will become a top student by supplementing your brain with intelligence”. They are all marketing gimmicks. Let’s be honest, 70% of a child’s height is determined by genetics, and the remaining 30% is determined by diet, exercise, and sleep. If the child’s nutritional intake is sufficient, if you forcefully feed high-calcium and high-protein nutritional powder, it will increase the metabolic burden on the kidneys. Some cheap nutritional powders add a lot of white sugar and food flavors to please the baby. If the baby drinks too much, he will not like to eat regular meals, and tooth decay will come to his door. It is really not worth the gain.

I have been working on maternal and infant nutrition for almost 6 years, and the most common misunderstanding I have encountered is that parents want “the most expensive and the best”. In fact, there is no universal “best”, and the most suitable one is the right one. If your baby is deficient in zinc, choose the one with fortified zinc. If your baby is deficient in vitamin A, choose the one with added VA. It is best to take your baby for a formal nutritional assessment first and listen to the advice of a doctor or registered dietitian before buying. Don’t follow the online celebrity live broadcast room and place blind orders. There was a parent who bought a high-energy nutritional powder for postoperative recovery for his completely healthy baby. After drinking it for a month, he gained 3 pounds. When he went for a follow-up examination, he showed signs of precocious puberty. This is really not an alarmist.

In fact, to put it bluntly, children's nutrition powder is like a patch on your clothes. If it is worn out, you can patch it. If you have to put patches on everywhere to make your clothes complete, it will look cumbersome and may even wear out the original good fabric. Don't think of it as a magic medicine, and don't think it's all about IQ tax. Choose it as needed and follow the doctor's advice. It's better than anything else.