Growth

As children grow, develop and mature, we can be looking out for and nourishing their growth on many dimensions. These dimensions and aspects of their being include their physical, emotional, mental and spiritual well-being. Each one of these aspects will affect the others, as they are all intimately connected.

On a purely physical level, it is an infant’s and child’s food, nutrition and diet, which will be the major factor in determining their health, strength and integrity. Contained within their foods are carbohydrates, fats, oils and proteins. Within these carbohydrates, fats, oils and proteins are vitamins, minerals, fatty acids and amino acids. It is these vitamins, minerals, fatty acids and amino acids that then become the raw materials, the actual building blocks that every cell, tissue and organ in each child’s body and brain require to grow, develop and to function properly.

We have to constantly remember that infancy and childhood growth is a very delicate time. Children are human beings “under construction.” In many ways, they are working much harder than we are as adults. As adults we need to eat enough food each day to make enough energy to perform our daily tasks and responsibilities. Children require food and nutrients to go about their daily activities, school and functions, as well as grow bigger each day. This combination of bodily growth and functioning at the same time creates an increased need and importance for the building blocks of life – the vitamins, minerals, fatty acids and amino acids. This increased need for these nutrients is also demonstrated when we look at how much children eat compared to adults. When we compare children to adults, pound for pound, body weight, we see that children on average eat approximately three times as much food as adults.

Essential Nutrients

Over the past fifty years as these vitamins, minerals, fatty acids and amino acids have been studied, researched and understood, they have become classified and known as the “Essential Nutrients” by the National Academy of Sciences.

The term “Essential” is not given lightly. Nutrients are only classified as “Essential” when there has been enough research to conclusively show that they are so important and so involved in so many critical functions in our body and brains. “Essential” also means that any lack of, or deficiency in any one of these essential nutrients, will have a consequence where it may compromise both the development and functioning of a child’s body and brain.

“Essential” means essential for growth, essential for health, essential for life, to be fully expressed. The very building blocks of life itself.

The “Essential Nutrients” that are currently classified are:

• Vitamins: Vitamin A, Vitamin B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B12, Folic Acid, Biotin, Vitamin C, Vitamin D, Vitamin E, Choline, Vitamin K.
• Minerals: Calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium, copper, iron, manganese, chromium, selenium, sulfur, iodine, fluorine, molybdenum, silicon, cobalt, tin, nickel, vanadium, phosphorous, chlorine.
• Amino Acids: Arginine, histidine, leucine, isoleucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan, valine.
• Fatty Acids: Omega-3, (Linolenic Acid), Omega-6, (Linoleic Acid).

(National Academy of Sciences, 2004)

Your Child’s Diet

The dilemma that most parents are faced with in today’s world is two-fold. On one hand, it has become increasingly difficult to provide your child with all the essential nutrients they need through their foods and diet. This is due to the fact that as the world’s soils have become depleted through modern farming methods and increased population demands, the foods grown in these minerally-depleted soils now also have less nutrient content. This situation is then complicated by the over-manufactured, over-processed fast foods and simply junk foods, that all children are exposed to and all parents have to contend with.

We then add into this conundrum the degree of toxicity and pollution that each child is exposed to growing up in any major city of today’s world. Looking at this, we realize that the amount of environmental toxicity actually increases the need for all these “essential nutrients” for protection and detoxification. Understanding this paradigm, we then begin to realize the significance and importance, the place that these vitamins, minerals, amino and fatty acids play in establishing and ensuring your child’s foundation of health.

How to Select Your Child’s Supplement

The other important qualities to be aware of and to evaluate in choosing to supplement your child with these oils is the cleanliness and purity of the oils.

Unfortunately, the oceans of our world, and consequently the fish that live within them, have become as polluted as the earth which we walk on. In particular, the pollutants that have been accumulating in the oceans and fish are the metals like mercury, arsenic, lead and chemicals including PCB’s and dioxins.

When supplementing your child with any fish oils or cod liver oil, it is therefore critical that the product and label state that it has been tested for these toxins, purified and established to be free of detectable amounts of all of these substances. When choosing a flaxseed oil, it should always be certified organic to ensure purity.

Your Child’s Mind

As the studies show, cod liver oil, providing the Omega-3 oils and DHA, can be given to support and nourish your child’s physical, emotional and mental wellbeing at all ages. Ideally, it should be a part of every child’s daily routine.