Children’s bodies are constantly growing, and their brains are always taking in more information. They are working hard to decipher and understand what they are learning. In fact, during the first 5-8 years of life, children brains develop and learn faster than at any other time. A good foundation is essential for helping them succeed in school and life. At this stage, children are learning how to communicate and develop social skills in addition to the demands found at school as they learn new concepts in math, science, and history for the first time. During this critical development phase, many parents look for ways to provide their children with the building blocks needed to succeed. One of these building blocks is nutrition.

Proper nutrition is so important for a child’s growing body. Many children may not get the essential nutrients that are critical for memory, learning, overall development, and growth from their diet alone. If you think about it, how many of your kids love eating a well-balanced meal with plenty of vegetables, fruits, and whole grains, with two servings of fatty fish a week? As hard as you may try as parents to provide and make these delicious and healthy meals, we know sometimes kids don’t always eat what you make for them. According to a recent review, 40% of the calories children 2 and older consume come in the form of empty calories, i.e. soda, fruit drinks, desserts.

What Nutrients Does My Child Need?

Just like adults, children need all of the same essential vitamins and minerals, but in different amounts. While there are dozens of essential nutrients that are important for children, we will mention just a couple of them and what roles they play in the body.

Vitamin A

Vitamin A is an essential nutrient that is involved in many different aspects of growth and development. It is important for vision, helping with dim-light and color vision. It also helps with supporting the immune system and plays a role in cell growth and development. Dietary sources of vitamin A include eggs, fortified cereals, and dairy products.

Vitamin D

Vitamin D is a nutrient that our bodies can make through exposure to the sun. However, one study suggests that more than 88% of us are not getting enough Vitamin D for various reasons; lack of time outside, our geographical location, the time of year, and/or poor diet. Vitamin D helps in supporting your child’s healthy growth and development through several different ways. One way is by supporting bone health. Vitamin D helps the body absorb the calcium we ingest from our diets. Vitamin D also helps provide support for skin and immune health. Our skin is the outside barrier that separates our body from the rest of the world. It helps to fight against water loss but also acts as a first line of immune defense against harmful microorganisms from getting directly into our body. Food sources of vitamin D include fortified dairy foods, pink salmon, sardines, and other fortified foods.

Choline

While it’s possible to obtain choline from a healthy diet, the truth is most children don’t. Over 90% of the United States population, 2+ years of age, do not get the optimal amount of choline. Choline is an essential nutrient, meaning it must be obtained from dietary sources or supplementation to meet the needs of your growing children. Choline is important for brain development by acting as a precursor for a neurotransmitter called acetylcholine. This important messenger in the brain is involved in memory, learning, and much more. Choline also contributes to brain cell structure, so it is vital to make sure your kids get enough choline for their brain health needs. Foods rich in choline include liver, eggs, veal, scallops, salmon, and shrimp.

Pharmanex^® Kids Jungamals^®

As a company who formulates products based on science, we know how important it is to provide kids with the right amounts of the right nutrients. This is why we have continued to improve upon our beloved kids multinutrient product Jungamals.

Jungamals is a complete formula that supports healthy growth and development in children. This updated Jungamals formula is made with better vitamins and minerals in more bioavailable forms for improved absorption. It includes the addition of the brain supporting nutrient choline. And it's free from artificial colors, flavors, sweeteners, and preservatives you don’t want or need.

Thanks to SCS certification, you can know your child’s supplements are working to improve their carotenoid score by tracking their progress using a Pharmanex BioPhotonic Scanner. Plus, Jungamals has a delicious, kid-approved grape flavor and fun packaging that makes taking vitamins a treat instead of a chore.

To learn more about this new Jungamals formula please check out the video below from one of our Pharmanex Scientists: