As we all know, getting your daily value of vitamins and nutrients is essential to keeping our minds and bodies healthy. This is especially true for kids who need the proper nutrients during a time when their bodies and minds are growing. Moreover, it is not only adults who often live active and busy lifestyles; kids need the proper energy to energetically engage their minds in the many activities that make up a childhood, whether that be sports, theater, school work, or play.
Ensuring that your kids are getting the best daily value of vitamins, probiotics, and essential minerals can have many positive effects, such as stabilizing energy, improving minds, evening out moods, maintaining healthy weights, and preventing mental health conditions such as depression, anxiety, and ADHD, as well as protecting against chronic diseases that may develop later in childhood or later a kids life such as obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure, and type 2 diabetes.
Unfortunately, getting your kids to eat healthily is often easier said than done. As many parents know, it is often difficult to get kids to eat all the right whole foods. As much as we would like them to choose greens over deserts and eat the broccoli with the pasta instead of saving it till the end when they are “full,” we know that this is often not the case. Many kids are picky eaters.
Additionally, families face incredibly busy schedules which often makes it hard to make home-cooked meals that provide for all the essential nutrients. Thus, although sources like the Mayo clinic say that multivitamins are not essential for kids who eat a balanced and nutritious diet, for reasons of convenience and optimal health, many parents will find it useful to increase their kids’ nutritional intake with dietary supplements and kids vitamins.
Choosing the right vitamin supplements can be very confusing given the plethora of brands on the market, the various different supplements available, the often bewildering claims, product tags and descriptions, and a general lack of knowledge of what vitamins are really necessary for a healthy diet.
This confusion is increased when considering the right supplements for our kids since children's health is so important. This makes the consequences (and benefits) of choosing the correct vitamin supplement even more weighty.
In the past, many parents bought multivitamins in pill forms for their kids, but this is changing as people are drawn towards more effective and enjoyable ways of consuming their daily multivitamins. A seemingly obvious option are gummies because gummies are often perceived as a healthy treat that kids will be willing to eat. However, gummies are no longer the best form of taking vitamins for either adults or children since the growing availability of effective liquid vitamins.
In this article, we will clear up some of the confusion regarding the types of vitamins and nutrients adults should be looking for when choosing the right vitamin supplement for their children. Then, we give a comprehensive overview and comparison of the many benefits of choosing a liquid multivitamin for kids as opposed to other vitamin forms.
What Essential Vitamins do Kids Need?
Often, the type of vitamin supplement that is best for someone will differ by individual (their age, gender, health specificities, etc.), and there is often a difference between the types of supplements that someone takes to address specific issues and the types of vitamins that people take for maintaining a generally healthy lifestyle. So, for example, when someone is experiencing joint pain, there are vitamin supplements available to address that specific issue.
When it comes to kids, professionals in the health community, such as the food and drug administration, have shown that there are several essential vitamins that are extremely beneficial to kids for their general health and development. It will be these vitamins that you will want to look out for when it comes to buying your children's complete multivitamins.
1. Vitamin A
Vitamin A has a range of benefits for children. For one, it is important for healthy skin and normal growth in children. Moreover, the vitamins A have been associated with helping proper vision and tissue repair. Vitamin A can also be very beneficial for the immune system and proper organ functioning. Specifically, it helps the heart, lungs, and kidneys work properly.
2. B12 and Other B Vitamins
As we said, vitamins are an essential component of supporting kids in their active lifestyles and for these purposes, the B vitamins can be very helpful. Some of the most important B vitamins are thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, biotin, vitamin b6, folic acid, and vitamin B12. Specifically, B vitamins are important for metabolism, for regulating energy levels, and improving the health of the heart and the nervous system.
Often, kids can get their B vitamins, such as thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, vitamin B12, etc. from animal-based foods like poultry, fish, and eggs. So while B vitamin supplements can be beneficial for children with a range of diets, they can be especially important for kids who are vegetarian or vegan.
3. Vitamin D3
For a growing child, there is hardly a more important than getting their daily value of Vitamin D. Vitamin D helps the body form and maintain strong teeth and bones and assists with the absorption of minerals such as calcium. Additionally, vitamin D has been linked to staving off a variety of chronic illnesses later in life.
There are strong links between vitamin D deficiency and mental health. According to Psychology Today, “vitamin D activates genes that regulate the immune system and release neurotransmitters (e.g., dopamine, serotonin) that affect brain function and development.” Thus, deficiencies in vitamin D have been linked to disorders such as anxiety and depression.
In light of the importance of vitamin D, the American Academy of Pediatrics has suggested that babies and children should get at least 400 IU of vitamin D daily and advocate vitamin D supplements to a variety of demographics.
4. Vitamin C
It has become common knowledge that when you are sick, you should take vitamin C. There is a good reason for this. Vitamin C is the body’s tool for healing and fighting off infection. Of course, vitamin C is not just good for when you are sick; it is also an important part of a daily diet for children and adults alike. In addition to its preventative effects, vitamin C also strengthens tissue, muscles, and skin.
5. Vitamin E
Vitamin E has become a popular supplement for adults concerned with skin beauty and health, but the same benefits apply to children. In addition to promoting healthy skin and nails in children, Vitamin E can also support immune function, prevent inflammation, promote eye health, and lower the risk of cancer.
Choosing the Right Vitamins for Children
Now that we know what types of essential vitamins and nutrients that you should be looking for. But there are still several considerations to take into account when choosing the best vitamins for children, such as effectiveness, taste, ease, and efficiency.
It is no secret that just as it can be difficult to get kids to eat healthily, it can also be difficult to get kids to take a large number of vitamins. For that reason, adults often opt for giving their children a complete multivitamin so that they can get their daily dosage at one time.
Not all multivitamins are created equal. This is especially true when it comes to different methods of ingestion. The most popular are the pill-form multivitamins, gummies, and children's’ liquid multivitamins. As we will show, there are many benefits to choosing a children’s liquid multivitamin or a liquid multivitamin for toddlers over pill form multivitamins, gummies, and chewables.
Liquid Multivitamins Have a Higher Absorption Rate
When we give children multivitamin supplements, we are hoping that these vitamins will be absorbed by our children's’ digestive systems so that the vitamins can have the positive effects that they are supposed to. Sure, the placebo effect of health can seem to make a difference when we take just any old vitamin. But we want to know that when we put something like a multivitamin into our system, we don’t just get the perception of health. We want actual health benefits. For this reason alone, liquid multivitamins should be a clear choice among the competition.
Researchers have found that liquid vitamins are absorbed much faster. Liquid multivitamins are absorbed into the system within 30 seconds of digestion. This makes a lot of sense since vitamins are already in liquid form and do not need to be broken down by the body. Contrast this will pill forms that must be broken down by the body and take a lot longer for the body to absorb.
You often have to take pill form multivitamins with a meal to aid with the digestion process, but this clearly is not the most convenient way to intake vitamins for a busy household and the active lifestyle of children. You want to be able to give your children the essentials vitamins they need whenever you can and at the most convenient times so that they can get that immediate boost that they need. Pills do not best serve these purposes that are much better suited for liquid multivitamins for kids.
What may be even more important than the speed of absorption is the absorption rate of the vitamins that a child takes. The absorption rate of liquid multivitamins is around 98%. This means that 98% of the vitamins that a child ingests are absorbed into the body. On the other hand, only 10-20% of the nutrients in the pill form multivitamins are absorbed.
The difference is staggering. So if you are concerned with your child getting the nutritional effects of the supplements that they take, it is clear that they should be taking liquid multivitamins for kids rather than the pill-form.
Liquid Multivitamins are Easier to Swallow
One of the greatest difficulties in getting kids to take their multivitamins is that they often have trouble swallowing vitamins in pill form. This is especially the case if you have a toddler or a young child. In these cases, taking pills can be dangerous. With liquid multivitamins for toddlers or young children, you do not face this problem since there is nothing easier than swallowing the liquid in its pure form or mixing it in with other drinks like juice.
Some smartypants might think that you can achieve the same effect with the gummy vitamin or chewable vitamin form, but it is highly unlikely that the absorption rate of the vitamins will be nearly as high. Moreover, gummy vitamins and chewable vitamins often have added sweeteners, fructose, artificial colors, higher calories, and chemical flavoring enhancers that serve to defeat the purpose of giving children multivitamins in the first place: maintaining and improving their health. On top of that, you don't sacrifice the great qualities of gummies and chewables since many liquid multivitamins come with great tasting natural flavors.
Liquid Multivitamins for Kids are Easier to Digest
Liquid multivitamins are far easier to digest than pill form multivitamins. While this should be an important consideration for people of all ages, it is especially pertinent to kids and toddlers. Compared to adults, young children and toddlers often have much weaker digestive systems. Luckily, liquid multivitamins have already completed most of the digestive process for them. Since it is already in the liquid form, there should be no trouble for even the weakest digestive system to reap the most health benefits.
Liquid Multivitamins are Simple, Dynamic, and Efficient
People want a simpler lifestyle over which they can assert a high level of control. We know that sometimes it is the little things that have the greatest effect on making our lives more complicated or easier depending on how we approach them. Given that taking vitamins is a part of an everyday routine, if you can improve the way that you take vitamins, this can have a large cumulative effect.
There are many ways that liquid multivitamins can make your life better for you or your kids.
The first of these is that liquid multivitamins are incredibly dynamic and can be taken in a variety of ways. The fact that it is a liquid means that you can mix it with a variety of other liquids such as health shakes, green tea, or juices.
Alternatively, if your kid is in a rush, children can quickly and easily take the proper amount of the liquid vitamin by itself with the cap that comes with the bottle. Of course, given that our children's multivitamin has great-tasting natural flavors, kids will likely love the taste and may choose to take the multivitamin by itself for that reason.
Secondly, a liquid multivitamin supplement can give you a much higher level of control when it comes to the amount of a vitamin that your kid takes. In some cases, a kid may need to take more or less of the multivitamin supplement.
This could present a problem with pill form multivitamins since it is unlikely that you will want to break the pill apart to get the correct dosage. However, with the liquid form multivitamin, this process is as easy as adding or subtracting whatever amount you should wish.
A Healthy Kid is a Happy Kid
In an ideal world, there would be no problems when it came to kids eating a perfectly balanced diet. You would have the time and resources available to always cook perfectly balanced whole food meals with probiotics, essential vitamins, and essential nutrients. On top of all of that, kids would actually eat all of the nutritious food provided for them without issue or fuss.
However, given that it is very difficult to know exactly a perfectly balanced meal would look like, that cooking meals can often take up a lot of time and resources, and that many young children and toddlers are picky eaters, multivitamins are a great way to supplement a child or toddler’s diet so that they are able to gain all of the essential vitamins and nutrients necessary to support their health and growth.
While the vitamin marketplace can be confusing, it is incredibly important that we ensure that we provide children with the best products available. On one hand, this means ensuring that your multivitamins provide vitamin A, Vitamin Bs, such as thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, biotin, vitamin b6, folate, and vitamin B12, vitamin D, vitamin C, and vitamin E since all are essential to a child’s healthy diet. On the other hand, you want to ensure that the intake method is best suited to your child.
As we have described, liquid multivitamins for kids are the best solution for several reasons. With fast absorption times and high absorption rates, the ease of swallowing and digestion, and the simplicity and dynamicity of the liquid multivitamin form, the benefits of choosing a liquid multivitamin for kids are clear as day.
Ensuring your child gets the right nutrients is essential for their growth and development. Vitamin D for kids plays a crucial role in building strong bones, supporting their immune system, and promoting overall health.