What will happen if infants and young children do not supplement with adequate vitamin AD?

Let me ask a question: What will happen if the baby does not supplement with sufficient vitamin AD from birth to 3 years old?

I have been engaged in clinical work for many years and I know how important vitamin AD is to maintain the body's metabolism, especially in the growth and development of infants and young children. Without it, the body will be in trouble. So I often hear our pediatricians or child health doctors tell mothers to add vitamin AD to their babies in time.

The period from birth to 3 years old is called infants and young children. What is vitamin AD? Vitamin AD is a kind of oily vitamin, which contains vitamin A and vitamin D. It is an essential nutrient for the human body. Vitamin A helps vision, enhances immunity and promotes growth and development, while vitamin D mainly promotes calcium absorption and promotes bone growth.

Vitamin AD is composed of vitamin A and D. To introduce its specific effects, it is necessary to understand the functions of the two vitamins separately.

1. Function of vitamin A: Vitamin A promotes growth and maintains the normal functions of epithelial tissues such as skin, conjunctiva, cornea, etc. It also participates in the synthesis of rhodopsin and enhances the photosensitivity of the retina.

(1) Helps vision

The most typical function of vitamin A is to help vision. Once this element is deficient, it will not only lead to a decrease in dark adaptation ability, but in severe cases it may induce night blindness and dry eyes, keratomas and even blindness.

(2) Enhance immunity

During the baby's development, vitamin A can enhance immunity and prevent infants and young children from suffering from a series of diseases such as pneumonia due to repeated fever and upper respiratory tract infection. Literature shows that babies who take vitamin AD in time are more likely to have repeated upper respiratory tract infections than those who do not take vitamin AD.

(3) Promote growth and development

Vitamin A can promote the growth of babies. If this element is lacking, the baby's growth and development will be delayed, and it may also cause a series of organ maldevelopment, such as rough skin, poor tooth development, weakened sense of taste and smell, etc.

2. The role of vitamin D

The main function of vitamin D is to help the small intestine and kidney absorb calcium and phosphorus and avoid the loss of nutrients. At the same time, it can also promote bone healing and new bone formation, and promote the health of teeth. If this element is lacking, the baby will suffer from rickets. In the early stage, the children will show increased nervous excitability, irritability, restless sleep, sweating, irritability, shaking head, square head, rib beads, enlarged fontanelle, delayed closure, delayed tooth eruption, and some children will have pigeon chest, funnel chest, X-shaped legs or O-shaped legs. Some foreign studies have shown that vitamin D can also reduce the incidence of common cancers, prevent and treat autoimmune diseases, and regulate the development and function of the placenta. Sufficient vitamin D intake in utero and in infants and young children can reduce the incidence of type 1 diabetes, asthma and schizophrenia.

Therefore, infants and young children must supplement vitamin AD every day. As general practitioners, we must do a good job of publicity and education, and must tell mothers: full-term babies should start to supplement one vitamin AD pill every day on the 15th day after birth. Premature babies and twins should supplement earlier until they are 1 year old. Babies over 1 year old will need a relatively larger amount. At this time, babies must supplement with the vitamin AD that is taken by babies over 1 year old, which contains 2000IU of vitamin A and 700IU of vitamin D.

At this point, some mothers may ask: There are many brands of vitamin AD on the market. They are available in hospitals, pharmacies, and maternal and baby stores. There are so many varieties and so many choices. So how should we choose?

Hey~ that’s a good question!

First of all, let me tell you that vitamin AD is a medicine and must be purchased in a hospital or pharmacy. Please look for the OTC sign and note that health products cannot replace medicines.

Secondly, look at the content. The qualified vitamin AD, vitamin A and vitamin D ratio is 3:1, that is, vitamin A 1500IU, vitamin D 500IU. Now many businesses make profits by insufficient vitamin D content, some only contain 200IU. If the baby rarely gets sun exposure and eats this low content of vitamin AD, it will definitely cause vitamin D deficiency in the body, thus causing rickets, developmental delay, etc.

To sum up, infants and young children must supplement adequate amounts of vitamin AD in a timely manner!

Vitamin D deficiency is not worth it: pictures