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Assessing Vitamins, Minerals and Supplements Marketed to Children in Canada

Given the growth of supplements specifically designed for children in Canada, this study examines the nutrient levels of these products, and evaluates them in light of the US Health and Medical Division (HMD)—formerly the Institute of Medicine—and Health Canada’s recommendations. Content analysis wa...

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Autor principal: Elliott, Charlene
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6888471/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31698815
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16224326
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author Elliott, Charlene
author_facet Elliott, Charlene
author_sort Elliott, Charlene
collection PubMed
description Given the growth of supplements specifically designed for children in Canada, this study examines the nutrient levels of these products, and evaluates them in light of the US Health and Medical Division (HMD)—formerly the Institute of Medicine—and Health Canada’s recommendations. Content analysis was used to document the nutrient levels of child-targeted vitamins, minerals and fish oils/omega-3s (n = 80) in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Products were assessed according to HMD and Health Canada dosage recommendations for children, and the percentage of Estimate Average Requirements (EAR), Adequate Intakes (AI), and Tolerable Upper Intakes Level (UL) calculated. Median EAR/AI/UL percentages and quartiles were calculated for each nutrient, and estimates for the adequate intake recommendations plotted with box plots. Sixty five percent of the products assessed were multivitamins; the median dose was higher than AI recommendations for vitamins A, B6, B12, and C, as well as thiamin, riboflavin, pantothenic acid, and biotin. Substantial variation in vitamin, mineral, or fish oil dosage was found between similar supplements—with nutrients such as vitamin B12 ranging from 83% to 5557% of AI. Such findings matter because the very existence of these products suggests that children should be taking them, yet more research is needed on their potential (adverse) effects over both the short and long term. The substantial variation in dosages between products also raises questions about the (perhaps unnecessary) fortification of our children, as well as the expectations that parents know—or are even aware of—appropriate nutrient levels for their kids.
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spelling pubmed-68884712019-12-09 Assessing Vitamins, Minerals and Supplements Marketed to Children in Canada Elliott, Charlene Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Given the growth of supplements specifically designed for children in Canada, this study examines the nutrient levels of these products, and evaluates them in light of the US Health and Medical Division (HMD)—formerly the Institute of Medicine—and Health Canada’s recommendations. Content analysis was used to document the nutrient levels of child-targeted vitamins, minerals and fish oils/omega-3s (n = 80) in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Products were assessed according to HMD and Health Canada dosage recommendations for children, and the percentage of Estimate Average Requirements (EAR), Adequate Intakes (AI), and Tolerable Upper Intakes Level (UL) calculated. Median EAR/AI/UL percentages and quartiles were calculated for each nutrient, and estimates for the adequate intake recommendations plotted with box plots. Sixty five percent of the products assessed were multivitamins; the median dose was higher than AI recommendations for vitamins A, B6, B12, and C, as well as thiamin, riboflavin, pantothenic acid, and biotin. Substantial variation in vitamin, mineral, or fish oil dosage was found between similar supplements—with nutrients such as vitamin B12 ranging from 83% to 5557% of AI. Such findings matter because the very existence of these products suggests that children should be taking them, yet more research is needed on their potential (adverse) effects over both the short and long term. The substantial variation in dosages between products also raises questions about the (perhaps unnecessary) fortification of our children, as well as the expectations that parents know—or are even aware of—appropriate nutrient levels for their kids. MDPI 2019-11-06 2019-11 /pmc/articles/PMC6888471/ /pubmed/31698815 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16224326 Text en © 2019 by the author. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Elliott, Charlene
Assessing Vitamins, Minerals and Supplements Marketed to Children in Canada
title Assessing Vitamins, Minerals and Supplements Marketed to Children in Canada
title_full Assessing Vitamins, Minerals and Supplements Marketed to Children in Canada
title_fullStr Assessing Vitamins, Minerals and Supplements Marketed to Children in Canada
title_full_unstemmed Assessing Vitamins, Minerals and Supplements Marketed to Children in Canada
title_short Assessing Vitamins, Minerals and Supplements Marketed to Children in Canada
title_sort assessing vitamins, minerals and supplements marketed to children in canada
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6888471/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31698815
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16224326
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