{"id":16451,"date":"2020-11-13T10:00:34","date_gmt":"2020-11-13T15:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/?p=16451"},"modified":"2020-10-29T09:45:42","modified_gmt":"2020-10-29T13:45:42","slug":"supplements-for-vegan-children","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/2020\/11\/13\/supplements-for-vegan-children\/","title":{"rendered":"Supplements for Vegan Children"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

By Reed Mangels, PhD, RD<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I recently got a question from a Vegetarian Resource Group\nmember asking for supplement recommendations for a vegan 11-year old boy who\ndoesn\u2019t always eat as well as his parents would like but who generally has a\npretty healthy diet. Here\u2019s what I suggested:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The nutrients I think are most important for growing boys\nand that are potentially challenging in a vegan diet are vitamin B12, vitamin\nD, zinc, and calcium. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s the amount of each that they need:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n  \n <\/td>\n 11-year-old<\/strong>\n <\/td><\/tr>
\n Vitamin B12\n <\/td>\n 1.8 mcg\n <\/td><\/tr>
\n Vitamin D\n <\/td>\n 600 IU\n <\/td><\/tr>
\n Zinc\n <\/td>\n 8 mg\n <\/td><\/tr>
\n Calcium\n <\/td>\n 1300 mg\n <\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>\n\n\n\n

These amounts are the recommended dietary allowance (RDA)\nfor each nutrient. As parents, you\u2019re likely to be the best people to assess\nwhat your child is eating and to see if there are other possibly problematic\nnutrients. For example, if your child doesn\u2019t eat many fruits or vegetables,\nI\u2019d be concerned about vitamin C and vitamin A. If they eat mostly carbs and\nnot many beans or soy products, they may need supplemental iron.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     If they are using\nfortified foods consistently, they may be getting calcium and vitamin D and\npossibly vitamin B12. I\u2019ve included zinc on the list of important nutrients\nbecause it may not be as well absorbed from plant foods and is needed for\ngrowth and development. You can see more about these nutrients on VRG\u2019s website<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     If you think your\nchild\u2019s diet is low in one or more of these nutrients, look for a vegan\nchildren\u2019s supplement that supplies the nutrients of concern. If the supplement\nhas more vitamin B12 than the RDA, that is not likely to be a problem.\nSupplements made for adults may have more of some other nutrients than is\nrecommended for children so stick with children\u2019s vitamins. Many\nmulti-vitamin\/multi-minerals supplements don\u2019t supply much calcium so, if your\nchild isn\u2019t using a calcium-fortified plant milk or plenty of green leafy\nvegetables, they may need a calcium supplement. See which supplements supply\nthe nutrients you\u2019re most concerned about, in amounts close to what is\nrecommended for children (or somewhat lower if their diet already has some good\nsources of these nutrients).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     If in doubt about\nthe adequacy of your child\u2019s diet or for specific supplement questions, consult\na registered dietitian with expertise in vegan nutrition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Reed Mangels, PhD, RD I recently got a question from a Vegetarian Resource Group member asking for supplement recommendations for a vegan 11-year old boy who doesn\u2019t always eat as well as his parents would like but who generally has a pretty healthy diet. Here\u2019s what I suggested: The nutrients I think are most […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16451","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16451","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16451"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16451\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16453,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16451\/revisions\/16453"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}