Is it safe to give kids grown-up volume vitamin-supplemented food/drink?
Most breakfast cereals we have in the house have added vitamins and minerals, which I don't even worry about because I figure they eat proportionally to size, and therefore their serving size should get them the right amount of vitamins for their little bodies.
But sometimes I wonder about other stuff, where they are able to consume an adult-sized portion or where it's kind of unclear exactly how much gets added. For that reason, when we get Jamba Juice, I usually pass on the 1 free boost.
My sister gives her kids vitamin water and other drinks with stuff added and kids can easily drink 1 serving size, which is only 1 cup (8oz). So then, for example, they would get 100% vitamin C an adult needs. Is that harmful?
3 Answers
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For vitamin C, I don't think there is an issue. The extra vitamin C we consume gets expelled through the kidneys, so as long as your kids kidneys are ok, there should be no trouble. Also, the vitamin C levels that are "recommended" are usually just about enough to keep you from getting skurvy. That said, the body adjusts to the level of vitamin C it gets and will get into a habit of expelling a lot of it if you eat a lot of vitamin C. As a consequence, you can get skurvy by regularly taking way too much vitamin C and then cutting back to normal recommended levels. On an aside, vitamin C and its role in combatting viruses, has unfortunately a much hyped effect. Only for people who are either in extreme cold or under extreme exertion, does extra intake of vitamin C protect them from cold viruses (about half - I heard this on the radio from the autor of the book Atchoo about common cold).
That said... Kids should be healthy enough with a balanced diet, and SHOULD not requre extra, other than the recommended iron and vitamin D your pediatrician wiill harp about. Water soluble vitamins should not be a problem. Vitamin water has some other stuff, tho - guarana and stimulants. I'd rather stab myself with a fork than give my kid anything that increases their energy... :)
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I can't answer the question about harmfulness, but I am very careful about giving my son supplements. One simple example is Flinstones vitamins. My husband and I until very recently were taking daily Flintstones vitamins (kind of dorky, but we liked the characters!!!!) -- I read the ingredients one day and noticed that aspartame was listed. We are not fans of artifical sweeteners, so we stopped taking them.
The general point is that it's surprising what kind of stuff they put in those supplements (drinks or otherwise) and you have to be pretty careful about reviewing the ingredients so you know exactly what's in there. Aside from cereal in the morning and vitamin C in his apple sauce, my son doesn't receive any supplements. We try very hard to stick with a balanced diet, even though it seems like he just wants to eat plain pasta all the time!
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How old are the kids in question? In general I try to avoid giving too much juice of any kind, in favor of milk, due to how much milk is recommended:
http://pediatrics.about.com/od/parentingbythebook/a/0906_nutrition.htm
(We're lucky in that both of my children like milk, although they'd drink only juice or flavored water if we let them.)
Thanks! That's really interesting about the Vit C.
Perhaps I should have phrased my question better but I am not looking to give my kids vitamins per se. I was curious whether giving it to them on occasion would be harmful. Mostly when we are sharing stuff. Or when they ask to drink my stuff.
(There are Vitamin Waters that are just multi vitamin without the energy stuff that I drink sometimes for the electolytes instead of Gatorade. Or sometimes I feel I need a boost at JJ.)
- sweethi, Sep 29, 2010