Why do some children become stunted and absorb calcium poorly?

Calcium plays an extremely important role because it takes part in building the bones. Moreover, it helps strengthen the teeth, produce some hormones, stimulate muscular and myocardial activities and transmit nerve cells. When suffering from calcium deficiency and poor calcium absorption, children have risks of stunting and mental retardation.

On average, there are nearly 2 million children suffering from stunting each year in Vietnam. Accordingly, when reaching adulthood, the height of these children will usually be 10 cm shorter compared to their peers. This undesirable reality comes from two main causes:

Children are stunted due to calcium deficiency.

One of the main causes of stunting and slow height gain is mostly from calcium-deficient diets. Calcium is one of the most important minerals in the process of forming and nourishing bones and in height growth in each child. Therefore, at any stage, when children’s bodies do not receive sufficient calcium, they will often suffer from anorexia, malnutrition, insomnia, and even mental retardation and stunting.

How to provide sufficient calcium to children?

Changing eating habits is the simplest way to replenish lost calcium in your body. Specifically, calcium can be taken into children’s bodies by daily meals with some foods such as seafood including shrimps, crabs, oysters, fishes and so on; vegetables including lettuce, cabbage, kale, celery, beans and so on. Furthermore, in order to stimulate the development of the skeletal system, children need to be provided calcium from milk and dairy products such as yogurt, butter, cheese, etc. Vitamin K in vegetables is also considered a factor forming osteocalcin, which helps accumulate calcium into the bones.

However, prolonged improper calcium supplementation can lead to “retrograde effect”, cause kidney stones, calcify the arteries, etc. When calcium is overloaded, children often suffer from thirst, frequent urination, nausea and arrhythmia. If children encounter such symptoms, parents should stop the calcium supplementation and take them to the hospital for timely treatment.

How much calcium do people need each day?

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the daily necessary amount of calcium is divided by age: children under 6 months old require 300 mg/day; children from 7 to 12 months old require 400 mg/day; children from 1 to 3 years old require 500 mg/day; children from 4 to 6 years old require 600 mg/day; children from 7 to 9 years old require 700 mg/day; children from 10 years old require 1000 mg/day; people from 11 to 24 years old require 1200 mg/day; people from 24 to 50 years old require 800-1000 mg/day. Pregnant women and the elderly require 1200-1500 mg/day.

Children are stunted due to poor calcium absorption.

A child’s body is capable of absorbing nutrients. However, this process of absorption is often different in each child. There are children who absorb nutrients very well and vice versa. The absorption of calcium from the outside into the body is no exception. When eating calcium-rich foods, the bodies of children with good calcium absorption capacity will fully absorb all that calcium. On the contrary, in children with poor calcium absorption capacity, in addition to not absorbing calcium, their bodies also eliminate calcium quickly. Research shows that the above syndrome comes from some main causes: the diets are improper; children are suffering from enzyme deficiency or illnesses; etc.

Improper diets

Many parents’ habits of feeding salty foods, fast food, bitter and acrid fruit, carbonated soft drinks… to their children cause difficulty in calcium absorption. At the same time, if children eat plenty of foods containing phytic acid, cellulose, phosphorus, protein…, calcium from the gastrointestinal tract will not be absorbed into the blood, thereby increasing calcium excretion.

Enzyme deficiency

Enzyme is an extremely important catalyst to help the digestion and the absorption of nutrients take place more easily and more quickly. Therefore, enzyme deficiency is also considered one of the reasons why children cannot tolerate all nutrients from foods, including calcium.

Illness

Children who are suffering from kidney diseases and gastrointestinal diseases such as food allergies, intestinal inflammation, intestinal infections… will also have difficulty in calcium absorption, resulting in calcium deficiency. Moreover, there are many other reasons for poor calcium absorption syndrome in children such as Vitamin D deficiency, intestinal parasitic infections, environmental pollution, etc.

Nanometer Calcium – Optimal solution to poor calcium absorption

To date, many parents are still wondering what Nanometer Calcium is and whether it is good or not. Actually, Nanometer Calcium is a completely new form of calcium, which is prepared by advanced nanotechnology. It has many outstanding advantages which can overcome the limitations of normal calcium. According to many experts, Nanometer Calcium is the most optimal choice for those who absorb calcium poorly. In order to avoid calcium deficiency, adults and children can use Nanometer Calcium.

Thanks to its super micro size (just a few tens of nanometers), Nanometer Calcium possesses an extremely good solubility. This substance is capable of rapidly penetrating intestinal membrane and thus it can be maximally absorbed into the blood. Furthermore, in comparison with normal calcium, the absorption capacity of Nanometer Calcium is many times greater. Therefore, when suffering from calcium deficiency, each person only needs to be given Nanometer Calcium with the amount equal to one-fourth of the amount of normal calcium.

If you do not have much time to provide sufficient calcium for your children through daily meals, you can use height growth supplements that contain Nanometer Calcium.