Children’s Supplement Safety & Immune Support Tips

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I am thinking about this wonderful time of year for making memories with your family. I am also thinking how challenging it can be to keep families healthy at this time of year when there are so many activities and family gatherings to attend.

When supporting the immune system, focusing on healthy foods that support the immune system is priority. Incorporating healthy vegetables and fruits for their antioxidant and nutrient benefits is paramount. Also important is limiting ultra processed foods, added refined sugars, food dyes, and chemicals. In addition, in our home we also incorporate a few supplements to add further support during the cold/flu season. My favorites include a highly viable strain specific probiotic supplement, Vitamin D3/K2, zinc, and elderberry.

While supplements may be helpful for additional immune support, it is needful to address supplement safety and the  importance in children. Since children have a smaller body mass, and developing bodies, they are much more sensitive to chemicals, additives, and impurities. Therefore, the quality of supplements is very important for both efficacy and safety.

Supplement Safety Tips

When choosing supplements for your child, it is important to choose supplements from reputable research based companies. Supplements should be approved for children and contain quality ingredients that avoid added sugar, artificial sweeteners, food coloring/dyes, and food additives.

Due to recent research and FDA investigations on supplements purchased from Amazon or other third party e-commerce sites,  Wellness 4 KIDS  does not recommend purchasing oral supplements from Amazon, E-Bay, or other third party e-commerce sites. There have been ongoing incidents reported by FDA investigations and manufacturers of products purchased from these various sites which have been altered, contained contaminated or harmful ingredients, relabeled, improperly labeled, or had altered expiration dates.

In a recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, researchers performed lab analysis on 30 randomly selected immune supplements purchased on Amazon. Of the 30 supplements analyzed, 17 of the supplements were mislabeled and did not contain the ingredients as listed on the label. Of the 17 supplements mislabeled, some did not contain the ingredients as indicated, some contained adulterated ingredients, and some contained additional ingredients that were not indicated on the label (see reference below).  In addition, supplements may be ineffective or expire prior to date if they have not been stored in a properly climate-controlled environment. Many of these warehouses may not be climate-controlled to ensure efficacy or stability of the product. Therefore, your child may not benefit or possibly even be harmed by supplements that have not been obtained from a manufacturer and healthcare product supplier that ensures quality and safety standards of its healthcare products.

Wellness 4 KIDS recommends FullScript and NutriDyn for quality children’s health and wellness supplements. FullScript and NutriDyn are health care professional companies with rigorous quality, safety, and storage standards. Both companies carry a variety of professional grade children’s health and wellness products that have undergone review and approval by a medical/health care review board. They offer professional products from a variety of trusted healthcare manufacturers at competitive prices and have a reputation of quality customer service. In addition, they accept payment with a FSA or HSA card for approved health care products. 

Fullscript carries a number of reputable immune support supplements, natural children’s cough/cold/flu products, and viable probiotics for children. NutriDyn carries an excellent prebiotic/probiotic combination supplement for children as well as a couple immune supplements for children. Children’s health and wellness supplements can be found in the Children’s Health Sections at the links below. 

FullScript
NutriDyn

Are you interested in building your child's health, wellness, and immune resilience  through holistic care? Contact Wellness 4 KIDS for a FREE Pediatric Wellness Discovery Call.

References
Analysis of Select Dietary Supplement Products Marketed to Support or Boost the Immune System 
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35947382