The functions and benefits of children's nutrition packs

The core function of the children's nutrition package is to supplement micronutrients that are easily insufficient in daily diet for children aged 6-36 months in the complementary feeding stage, and effectively reduce the risk of iron deficiency anemia and growth retardation. It is currently a globally recognized and cost-effective child nutrition intervention tool. It is suitable for children's nutrition inclusive projects in underdeveloped areas and can also be used as a dietary supplement option for urban children with unbalanced diets.

Two years ago, I followed a public welfare project to a village in Lancang, Yunnan, to do household research. I bumped into a grandmother squatting by the fire pit to prepare a nutrition package for her one-year-old grandson. Previously, this baby was diagnosed with moderate iron deficiency anemia, his face was sallow, and he would fall after taking two steps. After drinking nutritional supplements for half a year, he went to the village clinic for a physical examination, and his hemoglobin finally rose to the normal line.

Don’t think that this is something only needed in remote areas. There are many mothers around me who live in first-tier cities. When they talk about their children eating, they will pat their chests and say, "My baby is eating well." Both working people get home from get off work at 7 or 8 o'clock. If you can cook some noodles and add an egg to make food for your baby, that's enough. How can you have time to make liver puree, chopped nuts, and various mixed vegetables every day? To put it bluntly, the nutritional package is to "patch" the baby's diet. The most easily deficient nutrients such as iron, zinc, vitamins A, D, and B are prepared according to the reference dietary nutrient intake of Chinese residents. It can be mixed into porridge and batter when making it, which saves a lot of effort in matching.

According to public data from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the growth retardation rate of children in my country's underdeveloped areas dropped from 18.3% to 5.8% from 2012 to 2022, and nutritional packages contributed at least 30%. More importantly, micronutrient deficiencies before the age of 3 are irreversible, especially iron deficiency and iodine deficiency. The damage to the cognitive development of the brain cannot be remedied no matter how much supplements are taken later. Previous follow-up studies have shown that children who have eaten nutritional supplements for 12 consecutive months during their childhood have cognitive ability test scores that are 7-10 points higher on average than children in the same area who have never eaten nutritional supplements after entering elementary school. This long-term benefit is actually much more important than not being anemic and growing taller.

Interestingly, there is actually a lot of controversy about nutritional supplements, and the two schools of thought have quite different views. One group of people thinks that "my kids eat well, so there is no need to eat them." This statement is actually fine. Nutritional packets are meant to be supplements, not replacements. If a balanced diet can be achieved, of course there is no need for additional supplements. However, the problem is that most parents are too happy with their judgment of "balanced meals." Look, my best friend’s baby used to be able to eat a small bowl of rice every time. The mother felt that she was not lacking anything. However, the physical examination revealed that she was deficient in iron. The doctor said that it looked like she was eating too much, but in fact it was all carbohydrates and red meat and vegetables. It took two months of nutritional supplements to bring it back to normal. Another school of thought is that "nutrition packs are an IQ tax and are not as good as food supplements." This depends on the situation. If the food is sufficient at home and the parents can match it, of course food supplements will be given priority. But for families in remote areas where fresh red meat cannot be bought, or where the elderly and their children only feed rice soup and porridge, a nutrition pack that costs a few yuan per bag is 10,000 times more reliable than those Internet celebrity children's supplements that cost hundreds of yuan.

I have met parents before who are worried that nutrition packages contain additives. In fact, the nutrition packages distributed for free in our country are strictly produced in accordance with the standards of "Complementary Food Nutritional Supplements" GB22570. In addition to the necessary nutrients, even sweeteners and flavors are rarely added. Many children think it tastes bad, which just means that they do not add anything indiscriminately. If you buy it yourself, just make sure it is marked with national food and the formula complies with national standards. You don’t need to buy expensive ones with a bunch of gimmick ingredients. Sufficient core nutrients are the key.

To put it bluntly, a nutrition pack is never a high-end supplement, it is just something that provides a baseline for your child's diet. Eat it when you need it, don't force it on you if you don't need it, don't praise it as omnipotent, and don't beat it to death with a stick and say it's useless. After all, for many children, this small bag of stuff may be the easiest way to make up for their shortcomings in growth.