- ADHD – up a whopping 400% over the last 25 years.
- Bi-Polar Disorder – 40-fold increase among children over the last decade.
- Allergies – 40% of children now have allergies.
- Asthma – up 160% in children under the age of 5 since 1980.
- Autism – dramatic gains since the 1980’s with estimates now of 1 in 150 children in America today having an autism spectrum disorder.
- Sleep Disorders - 25% of children have sleep disorders, which is also a precursor linked to obesity, asthma and allergies. Researchers have found that every additional hour per night a third-grader spends sleeping reduces the child's chances of being obese in sixth grade by 40 percent. If there was a magic number for the third-graders, it was nine hours, 45 minutes of sleep.
Jean Weiss of MSN Health and Fitness reports on the state of children's health:
“More kids are getting diagnosed with bipolar, ADHD, allergies, and asthma in this decade than in previous decades. Some attribute this increase to improved diagnosing, others to over-diagnosing. Still others view the sick-kid trend as the proverbial canary in the coalmine: More children are getting sick because they are fragile and affected by an increasingly industrialized world.
“I do think we are in the midst of an epidemic of these child disorders,” says Dr. Kenneth Bock, co-founder of the Rhinebeck Health Center and author of Healing the New Childhood Epidemics: Autism, ADHD, Asthma, Allergies (Ballantine Books, 2007). “I don’t believe it is all due to better diagnosis.”
Bock suggests that children predisposed to these medical conditions are more likely to manifest them after cumulative exposure to pollutants such as heavy metals, chemicals, pesticides, flame retardants, and chemicals from plastic additives to name a few. “All those kinds of things together are increasing the toxic load on children,” he says.
The simplest thing parents can do for their child is decrease their exposure to toxins, Bock says, whether it means eating pesticide-free food or avoiding heavy metals and harmful pollutants found in myriad products such as toys, computers, and clothing. “This is a recent phenomenon over the last 20 years,” says Brock. “We are living in a chemical soup, and it’s the kids that are the most susceptible.”
What Can You Do?
Five Supplements to Improve Children’s Health
In the next posting we’ll talk about removing toxins in the home that can make a big difference in your children’s health. Right now, there are five supplements that can go a long way in improving your children’s overall health, especially for children that are suffering from the issues highlighted earlier.
1) A high quality multivitamin/mineral: Find a comprehensive children’s multivitamin and multi-mineral on the market that is also tooth friendly! (Find out how to tell if your vitamin supplement is a quality vitamin.) Beware vitamin supplements that contain artificial sweeteners or excessive sweeteners both of which may exacerbate existing childhood conditions. These multivitamins provides the essential vitamins and minerals children need to build healthy bodies, without any artificial flavors, sweeteners, colors or preservatives.
2) Chewable Calcium/Magnesium: While calcium is vital in building strong bones, it also supports cell membranes and aids the nervous system, especially in impulse transmission, which could improve a child’s behavior.
Magnesium also has a calming effect on the nervous system, helping to maintain normal muscle and nerve function, and is involved in energy metabolism and protein synthesis. Children diagnosed with ADD and ADHD have responded positively to supplementation from calcium, magnesium and other crucial minerals needed to build healthy bones.
This chewable calcium/magnesium supplement comes in a tasty berry flavor and provides 1000 mg of elemental calcium, plus magnesium, Vitamin D and other critical nutrients.
3) Healthy protein snacks or soy protein: Eating small portions of protein throughout the day can help even out a child’s energy. Healthy protein based shakes are a perennial favorite and a great tasting, easy snack that packs extra nutrition into any meal or snack for kids. For those who want to avoid a milk protein product, soy protein delivers a tasty and healthy source of protein and provides critical nutrients to build good health that can easily mix into a fruit smoothie or in a child’s favorite juice.
- For more information on a great tasting, easy to mix, healthy protein shake click here.
- For more information on an energizing soy protein to mix into your favorite beverage click here.
4) B-Complex: The B vitamins (also called “The Happy Vitamins”) have been linked to improved neural activity and are very helpful in reducing stress, mental confusion, irritability, mood changes, and insomnia. Look for a B-Complex that offers a complete B-Complex at the levels found in nature. (Learn about the 8 B vitamins.) This B-complex has a patented folic-acid coating for best absorption of this critical nutrient. Getting a good healthy dose of B-Complex is important today as stress and sugar depletes B-vitamins in the body. Click here for more information on B-Complex online.
5) Omega-3 fatty acids: Here’s a healthy fat that you want your child to have: Omega-3 fatty acids. Studies have found that children with learning disorders, including attention deficit and hyperactivity disorders, often have an essential fatty acid deficiency.
The right kinds of fat are needed to help the brain fire information efficiently from synapse to synapse. Essential Fatty Acids help brain cells receive the messages sent between synapses, thus eliminating the chatter and preventing the sending neuron from scooping up its own message.
Click here to find a pharmaceutical-grade Omega-3 supplement providing a full spectrum of seven natural omega 3 fatty acids including EPA, DHA, ALA to support healthy heart, vision, brain and joint function.
The above five supplements provide a good foundation for your children to enjoy better health, better learning, better sleeping, better energy and better brain function. Click here for more overall information on children’s health products.
Note for Sleep Issues: For sleep problems, a serving of chewable calcium/magnesium and an additional B-Complex to children before bed can promote restful sleep. And you may consider adding a gentle, natural sleep herbal supplement for more difficult sleep cases. If a child has trouble waking up in the morning, a protein shake right before bed can help balance their blood sugar levels for an easy morning wake up.
