A+ Nutrition - Nutritional Products

Nutritional Products

DISCLAIMER: All information provided is for educational purposes only - this is not medical advise.

WHY VITAMINS FOR CHILDREN ?

Building a foundation of health to last a lifetime ...

GNLD's Feel Better Program for children

If you were going to build your dream house, you'd first create a strong foundation and then assemble the finest building materials available to complete your project. Constructing a foundation of health that will last a lifetime requires the same commitment to quality materials. Good whole foods and good whole-food supplements provide the nutritional diversity and density that form the foundation for good health.

It's never too early to ensure your children receive the building blocks they need to achieve their physical, mental, and emotional "bests." Good nutrition during childhood will help lay the protective groundwork for immediate and future good health.

Why are children's nutritional demands exceptional?

Children produce MORE THAN A BILLION new cells each day, and it takes a lot of nutrients to support this extraordinary growth! Children's body weights double many times over from the time they're born. For example, 50% of adult weight is attained during puberty alone!

Young tissues and organ systems need nutrients to develop properly. For instance, children's immature immune systems are constantly exposed to bacteria and viruses, and many nutrients have been shown to boost immunity. In addition, children's delicate lungs are often exposed to smog, automobile exhaust, cigarette smoke, and other pollutants, and antioxidant nutrients may offer protection from such insults.

Childhood is a time when cognitive skills (learning, memory) and personalities are developing, and scientific studies have found associations between levels of certain nutrients and mental performance and mood.

Children's metabolic rates are very high - probably the highest they will ever be and vitamins and minerals are necessary to keep the body's metabolic pathways running smoothly.

Children's levels of physical activity, growth, and repair create enormous energy demands. Vitamins and minerals work together to help the body better absorb and assimilate other nutrients from foods.

Children's poor diets are characterized by inadequate consumption of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains and excessive consumption of highly processed, sugary, and fatty foods. For instance, children consume 20-30% of their calories as sugar, which means that the remainder of calories must supply all of the nutrients displaced by sugar. Studies show that and consequentially children's diets often don't supply 100% of the U.S. Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) for key nutrients.

During childhood, a time of great nutritional need, the diet may well be at its worst. Science has shown supplements can replace nutrients that have been stripped from the foods we eat or that are missing from typical children's diets.

THREE REQUIREMENTS FOR OPTIMAL CELLULAR NUTRITION IN CHILDREN

Feed their cells. The health of the trillions of cells in the human body depends on their ability to receive nutrients that fortify the "chain of life": carbohydrates, lipids/sterols, protein, minerals, vitamins, and enzymes. As a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, inadequate nutrition can undermine good health, both now and later. To create and maintain a healthy cellular foundation in childhood, when cellular growth, renewal, and repair peak, good nutrition is essential. Without it, cell membranes become compromised in their ability to absorb nutrients and excrete wastes. Cells become "sluggish" and unable to perform their number one function: producing energy for life! If your child's cells are "sickly," your child isn't going to be optimally healthy. But if your child's cells are healthy, so is your child!
Renew and repair their cells. Due to body growth, tissue and organ development, and response to injury, children's cells undergo renewal and repair more often than those of normal adults. To grow, for instance, the body needs protein, a major cellular building block made up of strings of amino acids. Children's bodies cannot make 10 of the 22 amino acids required to replace old cells and repair damaged ones, so these essential amino acids must be supplied in the diet.
Protect their cells. But feeding, renewing, and repairing cells isn't enough. Cells also need protection from highly reactive and damaging chemicals called free radicals, byproducts of the oxidation reactions that fuel metabolism. Since children's bodies burn a lot of energy, they also produce a lot of free radicals. Free radical are also generated by sunlight, cigarette smoke, smog, ozone, pesticides, food additives, drugs, and several other chemicals to which we and our children are routinely exposed. Antioxidant nutrients can neutralize free radicals and offer some protection. Nutrients such as vitamin C and flavonoids protect the watery regions of cells from free-radical attack, whereas those such as the vitamin E family and carotenoids defend their fatty regions, particularly the membranes.

THREE WAYS TO MEET THE NUTRITIONAL NEEDS OF CHILDREN

The Golden Neo-Life Diamite "Take Charge" program for children supports optimal cellular nutrition by providing products to fulfill the specific needs of growing children. Vita-Squares® provide the lipids, sterols, vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients that help address the need to feed the cells. Our delicious NouriShake® protein supplement provides the amino acids necessary to support renewal and repair of the cells. And GNLD's antioxidant supplement for children, Vita-Gard® delivers a broad spectrum of natural, whole-food antioxidants to help meet the challenge to protect the cells.

And, complete in a liquid form, there is GNLD's Liqui-Vite®.

POOR DIETS HANDICAP CHILDREN

Nutritional gaps are the rule rather than the exception in children's diets. Many children fail to get the nutrients they need each day, handicapping their abilities to meet enormous challenges for physical activity and growth and cognitive development. Immunity can also be weakened, leaving children vulnerable to infections and disease.

Children do not eat enough whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and legumes. These are some of nature's richest sources of vitamins, minerals, and other key nutrients. Virtually all of the world's major public health organizations recommend high-produce diets. For example, in the United States, the National Cancer Institute, the American Cancer Society, and the National Research Council all recommend 5-9 servings of fruits and vegetables each day for optimal health. That's the dietary ideal, but this is the reality:

One-quarter of American schoolchildren do not consume fruits or vegetables every day, according to a nationwide survey.

Vegetable consumption is declining among U.S. children, especially those from lower income families. Fruit consumption is similarly inadequate!

In one study children ate an average of two servings of fruit and one of vegetables each day, with less than 7% consuming the five daily fruit and vegetable servings recommended by health authorities.

About two-thirds of the children ate less than two servings of fruit a day. Only one child in the entire study ate three or more servings of vegetables a day.

Children in the study consumed almost no carotenoid-rich vegetables, with the average daily intake of dark green and yellow vegetables only one-tenth of one serving!

Even healthy diets have occasional nutritional gaps. Children's preferences also tend to create dietary shortfalls. "Picky eaters" may avoid healthful foods, such as Brussels sprouts and spinach, while sticking to a narrow range of less healthy favorites, such as sugary cereals and high-fat chips. Processed foods, poor in fiber and essential nutrients, often supplant whole grains in the diet. The result? Children aren't getting enough of the essential nutrients they need at a time of exceptional growth, activity, and learning.

NUTRITIONAL GAPS IN CHILDREN

Population surveys and scientific studies indicate children's diets are often deficient in:

vitamin A
niacin
folic acid
vitamin B6
vitamin C
vitamin E
carotenoids/flavonoids
calcium
iron
magnesium
zinc

Supplements are an excellent way to fill dietary gaps. Scientific studies have demonstrated that vitamin and mineral supplements:

improve mental development in infants
improve appetite and growth rates in children
build bone mass in youngsters

REFERENCES
1. Kennedy, E. and Goldberg, J.
What Are American Children Eating?
Implications for Public Policy. Nutrition
Reviews 53:111-126, 1995.
2. Basch, C.E. Zybert, P and Shea, S.
5-A-DAY: Dietary Behavior and the Fruit and Vegetable Intake of Latino Children.
Am.J. Public Health 84:814-818, 1994.
3. von Petrykowski, W Healthy Nutrition in Childhood and Adolescence.
Off Gesundheitswes 52:456-463, 1990.