Childrens Nutrition

Childrens Nutrition

Calcium
Why is Calcium important? Calcium is an important component of bones and teeth. The skeleton contains 99% of the body's calcium. Strong bones are needed to provide the framework for the body. Bones are important for structure, body movements and to protect vital organ.

Eating Behaviour

Forming good eating habits at an early age can encourage wise food selection as a child gets older. There are many things that influence a child's food choice. These include, family influence, peer pressure, advertising, media, and the degree of parental control.

Fluid Requirements
Forming good fluid habits Fluids are an important component of a child's daily nutrition. Forming good habits at an early age with respect to fluid intake is helpful. Adequate fluid intake among children is particularly vital for maintaining blood volume and protecting against overheating

Importance of Breakfast

The notion that breakfast is the most important breakfast of the day has a lot of backing from the scientific community. Many studies suggest that children who do not eat breakfast may not perform as well at school academically. Their concentration and memory appear to be impaired. When breakfast is fed to school children improvements in academic achievement and cognitive function are reported.

Iron
Iron is a mineral of particular importance in the diets of children because of its important role in growth and development.

Nutritional Requirements for Children
Variety and Balance Variety and balance are key elements of a child's food intake. It is important to encourage a wide variety of foods and have these foods readily available. Encouraging children to try new foods early on can increase the variety they will be willing to try later on in childhood

Overweight and Obesity in Children

Obesity has profound effects on the health status of our children. Overweight children often become overweight adults and overweight in adulthood is a serious health risk. We need to somehow prevent our children from becoming overweight.

Protein

Functions of Protein Protein is an important component of body structures such as muscle, bone, hair and nails and thus is important for growth and development. Protein is also vital for the immune system, and has important roles in transport and communication within the body.

Snacks
Children are often ravenous at certain times of the day e.g. after school. It can be difficult to think of appropriate snacks they are both nutritious and satisfying. Also, smaller children have smaller stomach capacity and therefore can tend to eat smaller amounts more often and therefore will often need to be "topped-up".

Vegetarian Children
Types of vegetarians There are several different types of vegetarians. One of the most common is the ovo-lacto vegetarian who does not consume meat or meat products, but do eat milk and milk products and eggs. Another class of vegetarianism are vegans who do not consume any foods derived from animals