Be careful when giving children a lot of functional foods

Using functional foods for children is a popular choice of parents today. However, giving children functional foods needs to be done properly to be effective, and if children take a lot of supplements, it can cause certain health problems.

Functional foods for children are not drugs but are foods that are manufactured to add some necessary substances for children. Functional foods are supplemented with micronutrients and vitamins along with a number of other substances, but they cannot replace foods in the daily diet nor can they replace therapeutic drugs. The effects of functional foods are only promoted when they know how to use them appropriately, so parents should not abuse them and consider carefully before giving their children any functional foods. .

When giving children functional foods, parents should note a number of issues as follows:
Functional foods can interact with drugs that the baby is taking or cause some side effects on their own. baby's. Usually, a common interaction reaction is that Acetaminophen and vitamin C when used together will cause the metabolism of Acetaminophen to be slower than normal. Or Probiotics are beneficial bacteria that are used a lot for children with diseases related to the digestive tract, but when using this functional food there is still a risk of causing some side effects. Another common case is that Melatonin used to support sleep can have some effect on the hormones in the body of children, so it is not recommended to use Melatonin when children are suffering from hormone disorders. , kidney disease, liver disease, cerebral palsy, depression, epilepsy... The use of multivitamins has been studied as easily leading to the risk of excess of certain substances in children such as excess iron, excess zinc, vitamin A, etc. C... Functional foods that are said to lose weight and promote children's health contain many steroids and similar substances that can damage the liver, causing liver failure and kidney failure in the long term. and other diseases. For children who are suffering from cancer, severe malnutrition, unable to provide adequate nutrition through diet or other chronic diseases, the use of functional foods is appropriate. As for children with normal health, without the above diseases, the use of functional foods is not necessary. Therefore, the use of functional foods should be prescribed by qualified doctors to protect the health of children at the best level.

When supplementing calcium-containing functional foods for children, it is necessary to have an appropriate dose, because if too much is added, it will lead to excess calcium, which will cause the child's body to become tired, the child has no appetite, later there is a risk of kidney stone disease, bone effects... Psychological abuse of functional foods also makes parents not pay attention to nutritional supplements for children as well as to comply with treatment. Giving children functional foods is not the optimal measure in enhancing nutrition or treating diseases. Functional foods for children do not have too many effects, so it is important to consider when using them, it is best to consult a doctor to have an appropriate choice of functional foods.