Children need a lot of nutrients as they grow and develop. One of the nutrients that are vital for children’s development is vitamin. You may know vitamin A, B, C, D and many more. Vitamin B is one of the vitamins that is important for both children and adults. You can read more about it in health benefits of vitamin B for kids.
Vitamin B-12 is one of the types of vitamin B children need. It plays an important role in brain development and cognitive function. Inadequate vitamin B-12 status during pregnancy and early childhood will lead to adverse child health outcomes, including impaired cognitive development.
Besides, vitamin B-12 is also important in forming red blood cells and turning the food you eat into energy. Vitamin B-12 can be obtained from many foods, such as clams and beef liver, fish, meat, poultry, shellfish, eggs, milk and dairy products.
How much vitamin B-12 should a child get? The average recommended amount of vitamin B-12 varies by age.
- Children age 1 to 3 years: 0.9 mcg
- Children age 4 to 8 years: 1.2 mcg
- Children age 9 to 13 years: 1.8 mcg
- Teenagers age 14 to 18 years: 2.4 mcg
Deficiency in vitamin B-12 in children will result in some conditions, such as lethargy, poor appetite, headaches, muscle weakness, developmental delays (speech delay), and impaired motor skills.
So, what are the health benefits of having vitamin B-12 for children? Let’s check them out!
1. Help with red blood formation and prevent anemia
Vitamin B-12 is very important to help your body produce red blood cells. When your child is lack of vitamin B-12, he or she will be likely to have a reduction in red blood cell formation and prevent them from developing properly.
Healthy red blood cells are small and round. In cases of vitamin B-12 deficiency, these red blood cells will become larger and typically oval. Because of this shape, the red blood cells won’t be able to move from the bone marrow into the blood stream. As a result, it will cause megaloblastic anemia.
When you have anemia, your body won’t have enough red blood cells to transport oxygen to your vital organs. As a result, it will cause you to have some symptoms, such as weakness and fatigue.
Never underestimate anemia. If you suffer from anemia, make sure you are knowledgeable of these food that can be used as the natural anemia treatments.
2. Boost energy
Kids are full of energy, thus they need continuous supply of energy. Vitamin B-12 plays an important role in the body’s energy production, though it doesn’t provide energy themselves.
You can feed vitamin B-12 in the forms of the real food or supplements. Make sure to consume vitamin B-12 so that your kids won’t be experience fatigue and weakness.
If you want to boost your kid’s energy, then you should give them a glass of milk every day. By doing that, your kids will surely get these health benefits of drinking milk every day for kids.
3. Help with brain function
When people age, vitamin B-12 is very important for brain health. There are some studies that suggest that vitamin B-12 may even help with preventing cognitive decline. When your children become vitamin B-12 deficient, his or her memory and cognition may be affected.
If you wish to boost your kids’ brain function, you can give them some grapefruits. Read more about it in health benefits of grapefruit for kids.
Vitamin B-12 also helps with brain development and ensures efficient message transmission by forming the sheaths around neurons. Adequate amount of vitamin B-12 will also help improve your kid’s concentration with their overall mental ability. So, if you want your kids to have better performance at school, make sure they get adequate amount of vitamin B-12.
4. Improve bone health and density
Do you know that consuming food that is rich in vitamin B-12 is also good for your bones? Vitamin B-12 is able to improve your children’s bone health and density. It does that by reducing the risk of bone diseases, such as osteoporosis.
5. Improve eye health
Vitamin B-12 is also good for your eye health. If your kids are exposed to computer screen all the time, then make sure they get enough supplement of vitamin B-12. It can help maintain and promote healthy eyesight.
6. Boost immune system
Vitamin B-12 is also great for boosting immune system. It enables your children’s body to function properly, including supporting cell health, red blood cells, energy levels and cardiovascular health.
You can also read these health benefits of lemon juice for immune system and realize how great lemon juice is!
7. Improve mood
It’s all due to its role in creating and metabolizing serotonin (an organic chemical connected with depression).
Vitamin B-12 is essential for kids’ health. That’s why you have to make sure that your children get enough vitamin B-12 supply. Other than vitamin B-12, your children should also get other nutrients. Read more about it in health benefits of omega-3 for kids and health benefits of collagen for kids.
Children should also eat nutritious food. If you want to get some ideas about what healthy food you should give to your kids, then consider reading these benefits of fish lumpia and Jamaican cheese health benefits. Make sure to always feed your children healthy and nutritious food!