What Factors Determine If a Children's Multivitamin Is Good?

Children's multivitamins come in all shapes, colors, flavors, and price ranges. Children usually flock to vitamins with familiar cartoon characters. As a parent, though, you want to choose a vitamin that will provide the best health benefits for your child.

Parents often assume that all vitamins are good, but all multivitamins are not equal. From brand to brand, dramatic differences in ingredients and nutrition levels occur. Some brands of multivitamins utilize synthetic forms of vitamins and minerals that are poorly absorbed by the body. Some contain fillers and artificial colors and flavors.

Child-Friendly Vitamins

Young children prefer to chew vitamins and may find it very difficult to swallow a pill. Nearly all children's multivitamins come in chewable form. Some companies manufacture liquid vitamins as well. These may actually be absorbed by the body more easily than chewable vitamins, but the choice is mostly dependent upon your child's preference.

Children's multivitamins at the local drugstore often come in cartoon shapes with bright colors and candy-like flavors. Some brands are heavily advertised with fun commercials and catchy ad slogans. Though children may ask for these vitamins by name, they are not usually the best choice if a good nutritional supplement is what you want.

These brands may sell well at the supermarket, but they are often full of fillers and other substances that end up being excreted in the urine. Brands sold at natural foods stores or through vitamin catalogs and websites can be superior to these drugstore brands. Paying a little more can give your child a vitamin that is completely absorbed by his body.

A Child's Vitamin Needs

Children's nutritional needs differ from adults. The following guidelines show vitamin and mineral amounts that healthy children should receive daily.

Vitamin A--1,250-2,500 IU
Vitamin B1 (thiamine)--12.5-25 mg
Vitamin B2 (riboflavin)--12.5-25 mg
Vitamin B3 (niacin)--3.75-12.5 mg
Vitamin B5 (pantothenic acid)--12.5-25 mg
Vitamin B6 (pyridoxine)--12.5-25 mg
Vitamin B12--50-100 mcg
Biotin--100-200 mcg
Choline--12.5-50 mg
Folic Acid--100-200 mcg
Inositol--12.5-50 mg
PABA--2.5-12.5 mg
Vitamin C--250-750 mg
Vitamin D--100 IU
Vitamin E-100-150 IU
Vitamin K--25-125 mcg

Boron--0.75-1.5 mg
Calcium--375-500 mg
Chromium--37.5-100 mcg
Copper--0.5-0.75 mg
Iodine--25-56.25 mcg
Iron--4.5-7.5 mg
Magnesium--187-250 mg
Manganese--0.75-2.5 mg
Potassium--25-125 mg
Selenium--25-50 mcg
Zinc--7.5-12.5 mg

The amounts listed are for children who weigh between 70 and 100 pounds. The needs of younger and older children differ.

Natural vs. Synthetic

The body absorbs and uses natural vitamin forms far more easily than synthetic forms. For example, approximately half of the synthetic form of vitamin E is excreted by the body. Synthetic vitamin A can cause liver toxicity if taken at high levels for long periods. Compare a multivitamin label to this list of natural vitamin sources.

Vitamin A--beta carotene
Vitamin C--ascorbic acid
Vitamin D--cholecalciferol (called Vitamin D3)
Vitamin E--d-alpha-tocopherol (Look closely--the synthetic form is called dl-alpha-tocopherol.)
Vitamin K--phylloquinone or phytonactone

Calcium--Avoid D1-calcium-phosphate, a synthetic calcium that is insoluble and reduces the body's ability to absorb other nutrients.
Iron--ferrous gluconate or ferrous fumarate

Iron Supplements

Children should take iron supplements only if they have been diagnosed as iron deficient. If iron and calcium are taken together, they bind to one another. Each prevents the other from being properly absorbed by the body. For this reason, your child should not take a multivitamin that contains iron.

If she has iron-deficient anemia, give your child an iron supplement at a different time of day from her multivitamin. Avoid giving her milk or other calcium-containing dairy products around the time she takes the iron supplement.

Where to Buy Natural Vitamins

If your local store sells only synthetic vitamins with artificial colors and flavors, visit a health food or natural foods store instead. Also, check these websites that have a good reputation for quality, natural multivitamins. Read labels carefully, though, no matter where you shop.

SwansonVitamins.com
iHerb.com
VitaminLife.com
MotherNature.com

Cautions

Though multivitamins are a helpful way to provide nutrients that your child's diet lacks, take care to give the proper dosage and to use the multivitamins as directed. Instruct your child that he shouldn't take a vitamin "when it isn't time."

Virtually all children's multivitamins contain flavors to make them enjoyable for children to take. Make sure your child understands that they are not candy and shouldn't be taken more often than the label recommends.

References

• Prescription for Nutritional Healing; Phyllis A. Balch, CNC, James F. Balch, M.D.; 2000