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Tag: children

A Nutrient Top-Up For Kids

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Most children, given a choice about what we put on their plates, wouldn’t choose broccoli and cauliflower over cupcakes and candy. The foods we eat and what we feed our children will determine their (and our) disease patterns in the future.

Though we try to feed them all the right things, children can be picky eaters. An Australian study observing the dietary guidelines for children and adolescents, found that basic nutrient levels were way down. This leads quickly to lowered immunity and disease. The study found:

  • 39 percent of 4 to 8 year-olds don’t eat enough fruit
  • 99 percent  of 14 to 16 year-olds don’t eat enough fruit
  • 78 percent  of 4 to 8 yea olds don’t eat enough vegetables
  • 95 percent of 14 to 16 year-olds don’t eat enough vegetables
  • micronutrients such as calcium, sodium and magnesium are a problem with 14 to 16 year-olds particularly at risk.

It makes sense, then, to add a daily multivitamin and mineral supplement to their routine because children need specific nutrients to thrive and grow. Balanced nutrition is not only important to a child’s physical development, it affects their intellectual, behavioural, emotional and psychological development.  Read More

Brain Cancer Leading Death Rates In Australian Children

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Brain cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in young people and accounts for more than one third of cancer deaths in children aged under 10. This alarming statistic reflects the least funded and deadliest cancer in Australia. Leading neurosurgeon, Dr Charlie Teo said recently, “People continue to believe that cancer is a disease that strikes as you get older. I saw 23 patients last week. Twenty were diagnosed with malignant brain cancer. Eight of those diagnosed were under 16 years old.”

Every year about 2,000 Australian children under the age of sixteen are diagnosed with a brain tumour.

Dr Andrew Peman, CEO of Cancer Council NSW recently said, “Despite having a fatality rate of almost 100 per cent, brain cancer remains the least understood of all the cancers. It’s the biggest cancer killer of young people and we need funds to change this. Each year increasing numbers of malignant brain cancer cases are diagnosed in Australia. One every eight hours die from the disease. Risk factors of brain cancer are unknown and there are no screening procedures in place.” Read More

Children’s Health and Dental Harmony

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Turns out your smile tells the world a lot about you — not just your dental health, but your overall health, too. If you neglect your gums and pearly whites, heart problems, diabetes, and (guys!) even erectile dysfunction may not be far behind. The secret to good health, dental or otherwise according to research dentist Bill Kellner-Read, is to start early.

Proper dental care begins even before a baby’s first tooth appears. Remember that just because you can’t see the teeth doesn’t mean they aren’t there. Teeth actually begin to form in the second trimester of pregnancy. At birth your baby has 20 primary teeth, some of which are fully developed in the jaw.

The Chinese would argue that you need to be healthy to be fit, yet western philosophy attempts to use fitness to get healthy. Isn’t that back to front?  Read More

The Importance of Iron In Your Diet

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Did you know that one in 12 Australian women are iron deficient? Other research suggests that one in three misses days at work because she is too exhausted to get out of bed. Simply too tired to enjoy life. Iron deficiency is the most common nutritional deficiency worldwide.

Iron depletion and deficiency and, less commonly, iron-deficiency anaemia are prevalent in all age groups, but particularly in infants, the elderly and women after the onset of menses, and also in socioeconomically deprived populations, such as refugees and recent migrants.

If you are short of iron, you’ll probably get very tired and may suffer from anaemia. Taking iron supplementation, in combination with other nutrients (in particular fulvic acid which helps it’s absorption) helps prevent anemia, a condition in which a person’s red blood cells are too small and too few.

Iron helps both the mother and baby’s blood carry oxygen around your body through the red blood cells, and when you’re pregnant, through the placenta to your baby. Iron helps the muscles in both mother and baby develop, and can also lower the risk of preterm birth and low birthweight. It’s obvious that if it helps the unborn child, then it is helping your future growing child’s needs too.

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