Micronutrient Deficiency in Children

According to experts from the Institute of Nutrition, although parents think they are feeding their children enough nutrients, in reality many children still lack micronutrients.

Rates of malnutrition and stunting are still high

The triple burden of nutrition is malnutrition along with micronutrient deficiencies and overweight and obesity. This is followed by an increasing trend of non-communicable diseases.

The main cause of this situation is people's improper nutrition (eating a lot of meat, eating less vegetables and fruits...) and lack of physical exercise.

In addition, micronutrient deficiency also negatively affects children's health, physical development, stature, and intelligence, hindering the growth and comprehensive development of children; affects fertility as well as labor productivity in adulthood.

Overweight but still lacking micronutrients

The cause of micronutrient deficiency today is that food sources rich in micronutrients are often expensive. For example, zinc is often found in oysters, mussels, shrimp, crab... these foods are expensive so many families rarely supplement them.

Besides, micronutrients must be supplemented with a variety of food sources, while normal meals are limited to only food groups. As for eating a lot of meat, less green vegetables,...

Currently, many people still do not care about nutrition in their meals.

In fact, even though many people are overweight, they lack micronutrients.

“People care more about eating delicious food than eating nutritious food. However, supplementing micronutrients in daily meals is very necessary.

Each person needs to be equipped with basic nutritional knowledge to incorporate food products into the group's daily meals. For example, it can be obtained from plant sources such as vitamin A in yellow, red and green vegetables.

Vitamin C is found in citrus fruits, tangerines, and tomatoes. Foods rich in micronutrients from animals such as animal liver and egg yolks contain lots of vitamin A; Red meat contains iron; Shrimp and seafood contain zinc...

Supplementing adequate nutrients by diversifying food groups will help the body develop comprehensively and improve health in the long term."