Table of contents:
- The reason for the importance of maintaining a child's digestive health
- 1. Healthy digestion can absorb nutrients better
- 2. Healthy digestion can affect the brain
- 3. Healthy digestion can make waste removal easier
- 4. Healthy digestion can support the child's immunity
- Nutrition to maintain children's digestive health
If your child gets sick easily, you need to be vigilant as this could indicate something is wrong with their digestion. This can occur due to an imbalance in the number of bacteria in the child's digestive tract.
Bacteria are more commonly known as the cause of various diseases. However, the bacterial imbalance in question is good bacteria that function to maintain your child's digestive health.
So, how important is it to maintain the health of the child's digestive tract? Here we have summarized four reasons why it is important to maintain a child's digestive health and ways you can take care of it.
The reason for the importance of maintaining a child's digestive health
Maintaining the digestive health of children in the early years of life has a long-term effect on their development and growth in the future. One of them, healthy digestion will make children less susceptible to infection and disease.
This is because in the digestive tract there are many microbiota or good bacteria that can help control the digestive system. These good bacteria are also able to support the child's immune system and affect the overall health aspects of the child's body, both physically and mentally.
1. Healthy digestion can absorb nutrients better
All the nutrients you provide your child with will be absorbed through their digestive tract. Good absorption of nutrients will help children get the maximum benefit from each nutritional intake consumed.
Some of the nutrients that are usually absorbed in the intestines or digestive tract of children include iron, protein, carbohydrates and fats. These nutrients are very important to support a child's growth.
2. Healthy digestion can affect the brain
In the body, there is a network of the Gut-Brain Axis (Gut-Brain Axis) which connects the microbiota or good bacteria in the digestive tract with emotional and cognitive functions in the brain.
Based on research published in the Annals of Gastroenterology, good bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract can influence the Gut-Brain Axis interaction. The interactions referred to include stress responses, anxiety, and memory functions.
Therefore, an imbalance in the digestive tract in children can make children prone to feeling stressed, anxious, and depressed. Conversely, if the child's digestion is healthy, the risk of stress, anxiety and depression in children will be reduced.
3. Healthy digestion can make waste removal easier
The digestive tract has a role to remove waste from the body, which is important in supporting liver function.
Therefore, give your child foods that contain lots of fiber to keep their digestive tract healthy so that the child will have regular bowel movements.
Apart from fiber, water can also help maintain the health of the digestive tract, especially regarding waste disposal.
4. Healthy digestion can support the child's immunity
About 70% of the human body's immune system can be found in the digestive tract. Therefore, if your child's digestive tract does not have a balance of good bacteria colonization, the child will be more susceptible to disease.
In fact, according to research from Weill Cornell Medicine Qatar, a bacterial imbalance that occurs in childhood can increase a child's risk of exposure to asthma and eczema.
To prevent these risks, make sure you always support your child's immunity by maintaining digestive health from an early age.
Nutrition to maintain children's digestive health
Healthy nutrition is one of the main factors to form a balance of good bacteria in the digestive tract. Therefore, the first step you can take to maintain a child's digestive health is to meet their daily needs with proper nutrition.
You can provide the following nutrients to help maintain a child's digestive health:
- Fermented food. Fermented food can maintain the balance of good bacteria in the digestive tract. Fermented foods that you can give your children such as yogurt, kefir, fermented vegetables such as kimchi, and tempeh.
- High-fiber foods. Consuming fiber can help reduce the risk of constipation in children. Fiber that you can give to children in the form of whole wheat bread, brown rice, bananas and berries.
- Probiotic supplementation. Probiotics contain good bacteria to maintain the balance of bacteria in the digestive tract. Given the benefits, provide probiotic supplementation to your child through growth milk containing PDX: GOS and Beta-glucan. Both of these ingredients are believed to enrich the good bacteria in the digestive tract so that the child's immune system is optimal.
You also need to consider avoiding giving your child processed food and drink products. For example, chips, fast food, and drinks that contain artificial sweeteners. This is because these products can disrupt the balance of good bacteria in the digestive tract of children.
What's more, when your child has a disease such as fever, don't rush to give antibiotics.
These antibiotics are believed to reduce good bacteria in the gut. Therefore, always consult with a pediatrician before giving the right medicine to treat diseases in children.
Apart from meeting nutritional needs, adopting good sleep habits can also affect the balance of bacteria in the digestive tract.
Therefore, teach children to sleep adequately according to age recommendations. For example, children aged 1-2 years need 11-14 hours of sleep, while children aged 3-5 years are 10-13 hours. Want to know more about good nutrition for children's digestive health? Please click here.
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