Wednesday, 1 February 2023 – 07:26 WIB
VIVA Lifestyle – The data shows that 1 in 3 child Indonesia under the age of 5 years experience anemia. Together with intake nutrition If the condition is not optimal, anemia is one of the risk factors for impaired growth (faltering growth) which is the beginning of its occurrence stunting.
Most anemia is caused by iron deficiency, and iron is one of the important nutrients in a child’s daily food intake. When iron intake is not sufficient in the daily diet, disturbances in the development of cognitive function and growth of children can occur.
For this reason, it is important for parents to ensure that their little one can meet their daily nutritional needs optimally, including iron in combination with vitamin C to support the increased absorption of iron up to two times so that growth and development are maximized.
Illustration of parenting/parents and children/children eating.
“Iron has an important role in a child’s body, especially to support maximum growth and development,” said President of the Indonesian Nutrition Association, Dr. dr. Luciana B. Sutanto, MS, SpGK(K), in a press statement from SGM Eksplor.
Luciana added, inadequate iron intake can have a short-term impact on decreasing intelligence, brain function, children’s motoric functions such as fatigue, poor appetite, and lowering the immune system so that it increases the possibility of infection.
“So if not handled properly it can affect children’s performance at school, changes in attention and social, as well as changes in behavior in children,” he said.
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In children over one year old, prevention of anemia can be done by providing a balanced nutritional diet including food and drink containing animal protein sources rich in iron and other micronutrients that support the absorption of iron such as vitamin C. This is because the combination of iron and vitamin C with a molar ratio of 2:1 can support an increase in iron absorption up to 2x.
