Benefits of zinc supplements for children with diarrhea & bull; hello healthy

Diarrhea is a disease that often occurs in many children, especially in developing countries. Even though it is considered trivial, prolonged diarrhea in children can interfere with their growth and development. Therefore diarrhea in children should not be allowed. Well, parents can provide supplements for children with diarrhea to speed up healing. How can?

Benefits of zinc supplements for children with diarrhea

Quoted from the WHO website, zinc supplements are one way to relieve symptoms of diarrhea in children while speeding up their recovery. Not only that. Zinc supplementation can also prevent children from getting diarrhea again for the next two to three months.

This is because zinc is important for helping the process of protein synthesis, cell growth, boosting immunity, maintaining body metabolism, and maintaining water and electrolyte balance in the body. Deficiency of zinc in the body can be associated with an increased risk of gastrointestinal infections and decreased immune function.

WHO and UNICEF recommend that children under five who suffer from acute diarrhea be given zinc supplements as much as 20 mg (1 tablet) for 10-14 days. Meanwhile, children under six months of age should be given 10 mg (½ tablet) per day.

Parents can dissolve zinc supplement tablets with boiled water or breast milk, then give them to children to drink

Where else can children get zinc?

Zinc is a nutrient that is not produced by the body itself. So, children must get zinc nutrition from outside sources. It can be from foods containing zinc or from zinc supplements.

When a child has acute diarrhea, his body needs additional zinc nutrition which can be obtained from zinc supplements to accelerate his recovery.

Meanwhile, when the child is healthy, the child's zinc needs are not too high. So children can meet their zinc needs only from food, and do not need to take zinc supplements.

It is feared that excess zinc intake from supplements can interfere with the absorption of other nutrients, such as iron and calcium. This in turn can interfere with the child's growth and development.

Some foods that contain zinc are meat, chicken, oysters, crab, lobster, cashews, almonds, kidney beans, oatmeal, milk, cheese, and fortified cereals.

Apart from zinc, children also need ORS during diarrhea

In addition to zinc supplementation, ORS can help cure diarrhea in children. If the child starts having diarrhea, ORS is one of the solutions that must be given immediately.

ORS is useful for replacing body fluids and electrolytes lost during diarrhea. This puts the child at risk of becoming dehydrated when diarrhea can be avoided.

ORS supplemented with zinc supplements when a child has diarrhea is a powerful enough "prescription" to stop a child's diarrhea before it's too late.

However, if the child's diarrhea gets worse or does not go away (even to the point of dehydration), you should immediately take the child to the doctor for further treatment.