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10 nutrients that every child needs

Calcium: Builds strong bones and teeth, promotes healthy nerve and muscle function, helps blood clot, and helps the body convert food into energy.
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Tips for maximizing your child's calcium intake

Some experts believe that many children are falling short of their calcium requirement, in part because juice and other nondairy drinks are so popular that kids are drinking less milk. Here are some simple steps you can take to make sure your child gets enough calcium:

• Use milk instead of water when making cereals, hot cocoa, and soups.
• Use evaporated milk in place of regular milk in recipes – it has twice the calcium of regular milk.
• Add yogurt to fruit salads; nonfat milk powder to pancake batter, sauces, and smoothies; and cheese to vegetables, sauces, and mashed potatoes.
• Buy calcium-fortified juice, bread, and cereal.
• Vitamin D helps the body absorb calcium, so make sure your child is getting enough vitamin D, too.

Child Growth Chart Calculator

See how your child compares to other kids in height, weight, and head size.

Essential fatty acids (EFAs): Help build cells, regulate the nervous system, strengthen the cardiovascular system, build immunity, and help the body absorb nutrients. Necessary for healthy brain function and vision.
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DHA and EPA: Helping your child get enough

While the body uses omega-3s to create DHA and EPA, there are food sources – mostly fish – that will help make sure your child gets enough.

The Institute of Medicine's Food and Nutrition Board suggests that a 1- to 3-year-old child could have up to 70 mg of DHA and EPA combined, and a 4- to 8-year-old child could have up to 90 mg of DHA and EPA combined.

Encourage your child to eat DHA-rich foods at least once a week. Some good sources of DHA to try:

• 1 ounce cooked herring: kippered, 334 mg; pickled, 155 mg
• 1 ounces cooked salmon: 186 to 413 mg, depending on type
• 1 ounce sardines: Atlantic, canned in oil, drained: 144 mg; Pacific, canned in tomato sauce, drained: 282 mg
• 1 ounce rainbow trout: wild, 147 mg; farmed, 232 mg; mixed species, 192 mg
• 1 ounce mackerel, canned: Atlantic, 198 mg; Jack, 226 mg
• 1 ounce barramundi: 174 mg
• 1 ounce pollock: Atlantic, 128 mg; walleye, 80 mg
• 1 DHA-fortified egg: about 100 to 150 mg (depending on the brand)

Iron: important for making hemoglobin, the oxygen-carrying red pigment in blood, and myoglobin, a pigment that stores oxygen in muscles. Lack of iron can cause anemia, which can result in fatigue, weakness, and irritability.
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Magnesium: Keeps bones strong and the heart rhythm steady, supports the immune system, and helps maintain muscle and nerve function.
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Potassium: Works with sodium to control the body's water balance, which helps maintain blood pressure. Assists with muscle function and heart rhythm and, in later years, may reduce the risk of kidney stones and osteoporosis.
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Vitamin A: Plays an important role in vision and bone growth; helps protect the body from infections; promotes the health and growth of cells and tissues in the body, including the hair, nails, and skin.
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Good sources of vitamin A

Colorful fruits and vegetables are packed with vitamin A. Here are some of the best sources:

• 1/2 cup carrot juice: 22,567 IU
• 1/4 cup cooked sweet potato: 12,907 IU
• 1 raw carrot (7 1/2 inches): 8,666 IU
• 1/4 cup cooked carrots: 6,709 IU
• 1/4 cup cooked spinach: 5,729 IU
• 1/4 cup butternut squash: 5,717 IU
• 1/4 cup cooked kale: 4,979 IU
• 1/2 cup canned vegetable soup: 2,910 IU
• 1/4 cup cantaloupe: 1,352 IU
• 1/4 cup apricots, packed in juice: 1,031 IU
• 1/4 cup red bell pepper: 720 IU
• 1/4 cup raw spinach: 703 IU
• 1/4 cup sliced mango: 631 IU
• 1/2 cup instant fortified oatmeal, prepared with water: 626 IU
• 1/4 cup cooked broccoli: 603 IU
• 1/4 cup cooked frozen peas: 525 IU
• 1/2 cup tomato juice: 546 IU
• 1/4 cup cooked frozen peas: 525 IU
• 1/2 cup fortified milk: 250 IU
• 1/4 cup canned peaches, packed in juice: 236 IU
• 1/2 large egg, scrambled: 160 IU
• 1/2 ounce cheddar cheese: 142 IU
• 1/4 cup green bell pepper: 137 IU
• 1/4 cup fresh peaches: 125 IU
• 1/4 cup papaya: 83 IU

Vitamin C: Helps form and repair red blood cells, bones, and tissues; helps keep your child's gums healthy and strengthens blood vessels, minimizing bruising; assists with healing, boosts the immune system, and keeps infections at bay. Also helps the body absorb iron from iron-rich foods.
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Good sources of vitamin C

Brightly colored fruits and vegetables are great places to find vitamin C. Here are some of the best sources:

• 1/4 cup guava: 82.5 mg
• 1/2 cup orange juice: 50 mg
• 1/4 cup red bell peppers: 47.5 mg
• 1/4 cup papaya: 47.5 mg
• 1/4 cup kiwi: 41 mg
• 1/2 medium orange: 30 mg
• 1/4 cup broccoli: 30 mg
• 3 medium strawberries: 21 mg
• 1/4 cup pink grapefruit: 23 mg
• 1/4 cup cantaloupe: 17 mg
• 1/4 cup mango: 11 mg
• 1/4 cup raw tomato: 5 mg
• 1/4 cup spinach: 4.5 mg
• 1/4 cup potato, cooked without skin: 3 mg
• 1/4 cup banana: 2 mg

Vitamin D: Helps the body absorb minerals like calcium and builds strong teeth and bones. Essential for reaching growth potential and peak bone mass. Also functions as a hormone with roles in immune system health, insulin production, and regulation of cell growth.
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Good sources of vitamin D

Vitamin D is called the "sunshine vitamin" because the body can make it when the skin is exposed to sunlight. But your child's body isn't able to make vitamin D while covered with clothing or when wearing sunscreen to block the sun's rays. Other obstacles to vitamin D production from sun exposure include smog, clouds, dark skin, and geographic location.

Unless your child meets the 400 IU requirement via fortified foods, it's a good idea to give her a vitamin D supplement.

Here are some of the best food sources of vitamin D:

• 1 ounce salmon: 102 IU
• 6 ounces vitamin D-fortified yogurt: 80 IU
• 1 ounce canned tuna, packed in oil, drained: 66 IU
• 1/2 cup orange juice, fortified with 25% of DV for vitamin D: 50 IU
• 1/2 cup fortified milk (whole, low-fat, or skim): 49 IU
• 1 slice fortified American cheese: 40 IU
• 1/2 cup fortified, ready-to-eat cereal: 19 IU
• 1 ounce mackerel: 11.6 IU
• 1/2 large egg yolk: 10 IU
• 1/2 teaspoon fortified margarine: 10 IU
• 1/2 ounce Swiss cheese: 6 IU

Vitamin E: Limits the production of free radicals, which can damage cells. Important for immunity, DNA repair, and other metabolic processes.
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Zinc: Needed by more than 70 enzymes that aid digestion and metabolism, and essential for growth.
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For more information, please visit http://www.babycenter.com/0_10-nutrients-that-every-child-needs_1201019.bc