Nutrition to improve children's resistance: Pay attention to supplementing zinc for children

Increasing children's resistance is an issue that almost every parent is concerned about. However, we need to clarify what resistance is. Resistance is defined as the body's ability to defend against pathogens when attacked by them.
With each stage of development in life, each of us will have different resistance. In particular, the resistance of infants and young children is still very weak, this is the reason why young children often get sick, the risk of respiratory and digestive diseases ... is very high. The cause of this condition may be due to an underdeveloped immune system and/or inadequate nutrition.
Normally, the fetus in the womb basically has a certain resistance to help the body fight against harmful agents. However, the level of resistance in children is still weak, incomplete and not comprehensive. When a baby is born, he or she has to be exposed to a complex living environment outside, he will have a high chance of suffering from various diseases (most commonly respiratory and digestive diseases). The consequences of this condition are increased risk of malnutrition, rickets and negative impacts on the overall development of children.
Therefore, increasing children's resistance is an urgent job that any parent should pay attention to to create the best conditions for their baby's development, minimizing the risk of disease. One of the effective ways to increase children's resistance is to change their daily nutrition accordingly. So what are the foods that increase the baby's resistance?
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Eating to increase resistance is a method that is both easy to implement and highly effective if applied correctly. Parents need to refer to the appropriate nutrition according to the age and condition of the baby.

The best source of nutrition for babies is definitely breast milk. Therefore, a diet that increases the resistance of a newborn baby is simply a mother trying to breastfeed her baby in the right amount. In addition to being a rich source of nutrients, breast milk also contains a large amount of antibodies that help the baby's body to prevent many different infections.
Many reliable studies in the world have proven that breast milk gives babies the ability to prevent allergies, limit minor illnesses, protect the body from harmful bacteria and viruses, and effectively support the inability of the immune system to work properly.
For the above reasons, infants and young children need to be exclusively breastfed for at least the first 6 months of life and should be extended to 24 months (if possible) to increase children's resistance, protect the body. the most effective.

Nutrition to increase children's resistance should meet the following requirements:
Supplement children with enough water for daily needs; Meals should ensure adequate supply of 4 main nutritional groups including Carbohydrates (starch), protein (protein), lipids (fat) and other vitamins and minerals; The diet to increase resistance is never lacking in zinc, in which foods rich in zinc include shrimp, crab, animal liver, beef, cereals... The diet needs to provide more. fresh vegetables and fruits (containing a lot of vitamins C and E) help increase children's resistance, limit constipation; Legumes, whole grains, yogurt... also bring the ability to strengthen children's immunity; Besides nutrition, parents who want to increase their child's resistance should build a healthy lifestyle for their children: ensure quality sleep, exercise regularly, sunbathe to absorb more vitamin D. ..
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This is a vitamin that plays a very important role in the immune system. Recent studies have shown that adequate vitamin A supplementation reduces the risk of death in children by 23%. Vitamin A deficiency causes the exocrine glands of the body to reduce the ability to excrete, reduce the ability to prevent the invasion of pathogenic bacteria.
Therefore, foods that increase the baby's resistance should include foods rich in vitamin A such as gac fruit, water spinach, amaranth, chicken liver...

The role of vitamin E includes increasing immunity and protecting the body from infectious agents, slowing the progression of dementia (Alzheimer's), protecting cell membrane lipids Avoid oxidation and participate in cell metabolism.
Therefore, if you want to have a diet to increase your child's resistance, parents need to supplement vitamin E through foods such as soybeans, bean sprouts, sesame, peanuts, barley sprouts, olive oil and other types of food. dark green vegetables.

Vitamin C is too familiar with its ability to strengthen the immune system, an essential ingredient of T lymphocytes and white blood cells. Lack of vitamin C makes the child's body susceptible to infectious diseases, increased vascular permeability leading to fragile blood vessels (bruising), dry skin.
Adequate vitamin C supplementation will help the child's body increase the amount of IgA, IgM, increase white blood cell activity, increase the stimulation of lymphocyte transformation and the formation of complements. Vitamin C is found in many vegetables: spinach, amaranth, jute and fruits such as grapefruit, papaya, orange, lemon...

Vitamin D belongs to the fat-soluble group and has special connections to the immune, digestive, circulatory and nervous systems. The main source of vitamin D is synthesized by the skin through the catalysis of UV-B radiation (80-90%) and diet (about 10-20%).
Therefore, to provide enough vitamin D every day, babies need to be in the sun for 15-30 minutes and increase their supply through meals rich in foods containing vitamin D such as egg yolks, seafood...

The role of vitamins B9 (folate) and B6 (pyridoxine) is more important than the other. B9 (folate) deficiency causes cells to delay synthesis and participates in immune mechanisms.
Deficiency of vitamin B6 (or pyridoxine) slows down immunity, including humoral immunity and cellular immunity. To supplement vitamins of group B, the food to increase the baby's resistance should provide enough rice bran, cereals, legumes, sesame, wheat germ...

Iron is an indispensable material for DNA synthesis, more precisely needed for cell division. Iron deficiency in children means an increased risk of infection. Iron has a negative effect on cellular immunity rather than humoral immunity. Foods that help supplement iron for the child's body include: shiitake, red amaranth, soybean, duck egg yolk, field crab...

Zinc is an extremely important trace element in strengthening the immune system, helping wounds heal, improving taste and smell. In addition, zinc participates in the creation of metabolic enzymes in the body, so the body lacks zinc at high risk of infections due to reduced resistance. Foods rich in zinc include meat, fish, shrimp, oysters, milk, eggs, oysters...

Selenium plays an important role in the activity of the enzyme glutathione peroxidase, so selenium affects every component of the immune system, including the activity of white blood cells. Selenium deficiency is responsible for suppressed immune function and thereby reduced ability to fight infectious agents.
Nutrition plays an important role in helping children increase resistance and absorb nutrients effectively. In addition to nutrition, parents can also supplement micronutrients through functional foods. However, parents need to be calm and persistent when supplementing with nutrients, even through food or functional foods. In particular, the use of functional foods should choose those of natural origin that are easily absorbed, do not allow simultaneous use of many types or continuously change the types of functional foods. Besides, nutrition experts also emphasized on the role of biological zinc; Parents should learn and supplement zinc for children properly at the appropriate time, to avoid zinc deficiency affecting the comprehensive development of children.
In addition to zinc, parents also need to supplement their children with other important vitamins and minerals such as lysine, chromium, B vitamins,... errands.
For more nutritional knowledge and child care for each age, parents should regularly visit the website vimec.com and make an appointment with the leading doctors, pediatric and nutrition experts of the National General Hospital. Vinmec when needing advice on children's health.