Unfortunately, despite your best efforts, your kids’ diet may not be enough for them to be healthy. Ideally, a child needs to get 10 servings of fruit and vegetables a day, two to four cups of milk or another dairy, and two servings of fish a week. Plus, despite your efforts for your family to stick to a better diet, the reality is, it’s very hard to sustain it. You’re tired, you work, you travel, or you’re sick of wars with picky eaters. And let’s not forget that mass agriculture techniques often leave soil lacking in the important minerals that it once contained. Simply said, right from the beginning, sometimes even vegetables are not quite as healthy as you thought they were.

This is where kids vitamin options come into play. Do kids need vitamins, you may ask? Vitamin supplements for kids are a way to fill any potential nutritional gaps your kids’ diet might have. Regardless of what type of eaters your children are, they may have some nutritional gaps and can benefit from the daily nutrition provided by a multivitamin.

What Vitamins Are Good for Kids?

Nowadays, you can find a large assortment of kids vitamin options available on the market. Though they are safe for kids, taking more than the recommended dose can be toxic. This is especially true for supplements that contain vitamins A, E, and D. With that said, make sure to talk to your pediatrician about the recommended dosages. The supplements and doses suggested below are meant for children ages 4 to 16.

Overall Health

Considering the fact that it’s impossible to get all the nutrients needed, even if your child eats the healthiest diet possible, a multivitamin is a great way to ensure that your little ones get the vitamins and minerals missing in their diets. A good multi should contain all of the essential vitamins and minerals, and it should be age and body-weight appropriate. You should never give a toddler a supplement formulated for teens. Follow the product’s label instructions.

Gut Health

Cesarian section births, antibiotics, poor eating… all this can compromise a child’s gut bacteria. Probiotic supplements improve regularity and can reduce diarrhea during and after taking antibiotics. Several strains, including L.acidophilus, L casei, bulgaricus and L. reuteri, protect against diarrhea-causing germs.

Note: don’t give probiotics to infants without a physician’s guidance and follow the product label instructions.

Germ Fighters

Gut health affects immunity. For instance, L. rhamnosus GG is known to help reduce upper-respiratory-tract symptoms in children attending daycare centres, and B. lactis and L. Brevis protect against cold and flu symptoms. A study has reported that Streptococcus salivarius K12 reduced the risk of strep infections in children.

Probiotics help keep your child’s immune system strong by fighting gastrointestinal infections. Vitamin D can also help children fight infections. For probiotics, follow the product’s label directions and for vitamin D, give 1,200 IU during winter months and less over summer if your children spend time outdoors.

Brain Food

In order to develop, children’s brains require omega-3s, mainly DHA and EPA, during infancy and throughout childhood. Research has shown that low levels of DHA can lead to poorer reading ability and memory. Infants fed omega-3s, on the other hand, scored better on rule-learning, inhibitions tasks, vocabulary and preschool intelligence from ages 3 to 5.

Because most children’s vitamins come in colourful, funny shapes, make sure your children understand that they aren’t candy, but medicine. Also, make sure to keep supplements out of their reach. For that, you can even store the pills in child-proof containers to ensure your children can’t get at them when you aren’t looking.

What to Look for in a Supplement for Kids

When buying a supplement for your child, make sure you check the purity of the ingredients. While it may seem ironic, there are actually a ton of supplements for children on the market loaded with chemicals, fillers and additives. Unfortunately, many brands also include loads of sugar, additional colouring and binding agents that are completely unnecessary and even toxic.

Reading labels will certainly help you identify a premium supplement. Use your smartphone to your advantage! Google any ingredient you don’t recognize – you’ll be surprised at what you will learn. Supplement additives to avoid include artificial colouring, corn syrup, hydrogenated oils, dicalcium phosphate, butylated hydroxytoluene, sodium selenite, artificial sugar, titanium dioxide, magnesium stearate, magnesium silicate and talc.

In addition to the quality of your supplements, you should also consider the amount of each vitamin you are actually getting. Many supplements contain very low doses of vitamins and minerals. A good practice is to aim for a therapeutic dose of each vitamin. Remember that different kids have different needs, so it’s recommended to consult with your child’s pediatrician before buying children vitamins.

If you don’t eat enough vegetables and fruits, your body will start missing some of the important nutrients. Those nutrients are needed because they can lower the risk for cancer, stroke, heart disease, and other health issues, especially for women. Consuming them through food is the ideal way, but if you cannot eat so much fruit and vegetables, then there is another, convenient way to give your body all the vitamins and minerals it needs – by taking vitamin supplements.

There are a lot of reasons why you need to start using vitamin supplements for women – one of the most dominant one being healthy ageing. As you age, your body needs more and more nutrients but at the same time, your body finds it difficult to absorb them and using supplements can offset these deficiencies. They are also good for your heart, your immune system, they support eye health, improve your hair and skin and can make you feel much better overall. However, every person is different and so are their nutritional needs. But still, there are some vitamins and minerals that women tend to need more as they age.

Women under 40

Iodine is one of the most important elements for the healthy development of the baby’s brain while it is still in his/her mummy’s womb. However, according to a study, women between the ages of 20 and 39 have lower levels of iodine and women in this group are also more likely to get pregnant. Another important vitamin is folic acid. It is most important to be taken during the years that women reproduce because it reduces the risk of birth abnormalities, especially those involving the brain and spine.

Women aged 41 to 50

Iron is crucial for this group of women because while they are in perimenopause they have a higher risk of developing iron deficiencies. This mineral is important for wound-healing, energy production, immune function, growth, development and red blood cell formation. Calcium and vitamin D are also on the must-take list because, as women age, they are at an increased risk of developing osteoporosis – a condition that weakens the bones. These two vitamins are known for improving the health condition of bones.

Women aged 51 to 60

If you count in this group of women, then vitamin supplements for women such as B6, B12 and folic acid should be on your must-take list. Vitamins from B group are known to improve the overall health condition and it is well known that women over 50 need more B vitamins than younger ones. They help with red blood cell production, energy production, cognitive development, nervous system function and protein metabolism. B vitamins can lower the risk of many health conditions that can impact older women.

Women over 70

Apart from all other vitamins and minerals, the must-take vitamin supplement for women over 70 is vitamin D. It is essential for bone health and it helps to maintain muscle mass. As people age, they start to lose both muscle and bone mass, which means that women over 70 need more vitamin D than younger women.

When it comes to shopping, fact is there are still those of us who prefer to do so the old-fashioned way but that doesn’t change the truth you save up both time and money when you buy online. Shopping for vitamins, medicines and personal care products from a pharmaceutical online store is no different.

Not only does it save you the time, you buy from the comfort of your home which can be reassuring if you’re an individual shying from purchasing certain products in person. Besides, having the chance to look through the wide range of products the pharmaceutical online store offers gives you a better look of everything you need; even if you’ve forgotten to put something on the list, a quick look through the categories would remind you.

Sure, it might seem a bit questionable resorting to the internet for medicines, however as long as you pay attention to some details, you can steer clear from untrustworthy stores. For example, if the chemist store only offers medicines requiring the needed Australian doctors’ prescription, then you know they mean serious business.

Also, since it’s online, you’d have to supply them with the prescription through mail prior to getting your medicines. When the pharmacy has contact information, for instance provided address and phone, it indicates they are to be trusted. If on the other hand they don’t ask you for prescription, then it’s best to stay away from that store.

Likewise, having the chance to contact a pharmacist working at that specific online pharmacy is a good sign as it can rid you off the doubts you might be having about some products or dosage, and give you advice.

If you need more reason to buy online, you’re more likely to come across better deals and there’s also the option to have repeat prescriptions and you’d only have to send an email to get a refill, no need to waste more time sending the prescriptions for the same medicines.

In case you require more medication throughout the year, you could check whether you are entitled to a PBS Safety Net card, and if you are the online pharmacy can keep a record for you, notifying you when you’ve reached the Net.

Of course, the proper nutrition is the priority, but every mum-to-be is advised to also get the help of supplements in the form of vitamins for pregnancy. Good nutrition is the foundation, but additional vitamins are essential for childbearing, or in other words, they are essential for both mum and the baby.

They also prove to be crucial later on through breastfeeding as well. The primary reason they are important is the fact it’s not so easy to get all the needed nutrients through a variety of foods alone, that would be enough for both. More so when we consider there is the need for certain nutrients in a higher amount throughout pregnancy, in the likes of folic acid, calcium, and iron to name a few which is exactly what vitamins for pregnancy can supply a mum with.

A daily dose of these vitamin supplements, taken pre-conception and during pregnancy, is enough to assist the proper cell growth, and replication, while maintaining a healthy cardiovascular system, as well as help with the healthy brain development, and reduce the risk of neural tube defects (affecting the brain and spinal cord) that develop throughout the first 28 days after conception happens.

If you require further convincing to include supplements in your prenatal diet, let’s take a closer look at the basics. Folic acid boosts fertility, no doubt about it. That’s why its role pre-conception is crucial. Then again, so is during pregnancy. The addition of folic acid supports the proper development of the brain of the fetus, cutting down the risk of mental abnormalities.

Knowing the importance of calcium for bone health, when a mum-to-be takes calcium supplements, there’s enough calcium in her body for the baby’s strength and health, as well as her own health, and the prevention of pre-eclampsia. Insufficient amount of calcium leads to weakness, along with abnormal heartbeat of both mum and baby.

Iron is essential for a boost in the immune system that happens to weaken during conceiving. So, a question to be asked is: How can you protect yourself and your baby if you can’t fight back bacteria? This makes iron intake a must, more so since mums-to-be require more blood than usual and it’s iron that helps build red-blood cells that assist the development of the baby’s cells. Have your peace of mind enriching your diet with prenatal vitamins.