The Best Vitamins for Kids’ Immune Systems
Few things are more important to parents than keeping their kids safe and healthy. Whether your kids’ schools are starting to open back up or if they’re continuing with virtual learning, it’s important that their little immune systems stay strong and resilient.
Certain nutrients and vitamins, along with a healthy lifestyle, can support your child’s immune system. With so many things to be mindful of during the hectic job of parenting, safeguarding against coughs, fevers, and sniffles can prove challenging.
So, to all the busy parents out there, here’s how to help boost your kids’ immunity and 5 vitamins that are scientifically proven to support immunity.
How to Boost Your Child’s Immune System
Due to their rapid growth and development, kids require a wide variety of vitamins and minerals. These nutrients are crucial for their cells to function normally and are critical for their growth, energy, attention, learning, and memory.
There are a few practical ways to boost your kid’s immune system and help keep them healthy all through the year, like wrapping them up in colder months, promoting quality sleep, and encouraging plenty of physical activity. Experts agree that the best way for kids to get the nutrients they need is by consistently eating healthy food.
For a variety of reasons, those well-rounded, home-cooked meals aren’t always possible. Maybe you’re a time-crunched parent dealing with a picky eater and are struggling to convince your kids to eat the foods containing the nutrients they need. In these cases, supplementing with vitamins can help.
Five Important Vitamins for Kids Immune Systems
When it comes to boosting your child’s immune defences, supplementing with Vitamin C, Vitamin D, zinc, can contribute significantly. Here’s how each of these 5 natural supplements can help build up your child’s immune defences and keep them healthy.
Vitamin C
Vitamin C has a long list of benefits that are crucial for your child’s good health and development. But one of its best-known features is its role in supporting the body’s immune system. Because Vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant, it can help strengthen your little one’s natural defences. This vitamin also helps to protect cells from harmful molecules called free radicals and helps protect against oxidative damage.
Vitamin D
Vitamin D is critical for our immune systems to function properly. An inadequate level of Vitamin D may increase susceptibility to infection. Your little ones can get Vitamin D by soaking up the sunshine in the summer months. But it’s harder for them to get the Vitamin D they need, particularly during colder months and when they’re sitting in their classrooms. Food can provide some Vitamin D, but you may not obtain enough through diet alone. So, in many cases, a supplement might help.
Zinc
One of the most crucial micronutrients for your kid’s immune system is zinc. It supports growth during childhood and. The body needs zinc for the immune system to work properly.
Multivitamins
A wide array of vitamins and minerals such as Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin D and selenium play different roles in keeping your kid’s immune system in tip-top shape. This is where a multivitamin can come in handy. Multivitamins can be especially helpful for your child if, is eating a restrictive diet, like vegetarian or vegan, or is a very picky eater.
Gut Health
Children develop their microbiome in the womb and through early childhood. Some of the bacteria that end up in their guts are healthy and some are not. This balance of good and bad bacteria in the gut is critical for both children’s and adults’ health and wellbeing.
The gut is home to about 70% of the cells that make up the human immune system. Gut health is a critical component of a child’s immune system.
The Importance of Whole Foods for a Child’s Immune System
The best possible source of vitamins for kids’ immune systems is high-quality, fresh, and unprocessed food. But for most time-crunched families, eating home-cooked, well-balanced meals made from these ingredients 100% of the time just isn’t possible. Our families’ schedules, lifestyles, and preferences can sometimes get in the way.
Many kids do not eat enough of the fresh fruits, veggies, and other healthy foods they need to maintain strong and sturdy immune systems. In fact, an alarmingly high percentage of children eat less than the minimum daily allowance of many essential nutrients.
A great and time-efficient way to guard your kids’ health and ensure they get the nutrients they need is to supplement with Vitamin C, Vitamin D, zinc, and/or a multivitamin. At Active Iron, we offer a variety of supplements that can help your whole family stay healthy year-round, and we’re launching Active Immune for Kids in late May.