Anemia has always been one of the main problems that endanger children's health. Anemia in children is mainly caused by iron deficiency. Nowadays, children are not short of food and drink, and the food they eat is nutritious, but doctors have found a worrying fact: although the living standard has been improving over the years, the number of children who come to see a doctor because of anemia has not decreased, and the overall level of anemia incidence in children has not decreased. A recent survey of children under 5 years old by Institute of Nutrition and Health, Chinese Academy of Preventive Medicine found that the prevalence of anemia in children is quite high. At present, the anemia rate of children in China is at least above 30%, and most of them are iron deficiency anemia.
Experts also found a new situation. Except for children suffering from iron deficiency anemia due to malnutrition and insufficient iron intake, most children suffer from this disease because of eating. Some children usually like to eat greasy and heavy-flavored food because of overnutrition and partial eclipse, which leads to overload of spleen and stomach and delayed gastrointestinal development, so iron absorption disorder occurs and anemia results.
The harm caused by anemia in children is very serious, which not only leads to children's pale face, restless sleep, yellow face, dry nails, easy to catch a cold and so on. It can also lead to dizziness, nausea, vomiting, weakness of limbs and inattention, which seriously affects physical development. Moreover, iron deficiency will lead to the child's developmental retardation, the decline of learning ability and IQ, hinder the normal development of children's intelligence and increase the absorption of lead. So anemia affects the health of many children.
How to prevent anemia and ensure the healthy development of children is a common concern of doctors and parents. Experts suggest that we should not replenish blood simply for the sake of replenishing blood, and advocate routine supplementation. Prevention is better than cure, and the prevention of anemia in children depends on a reasonable diet. Parents should help their children keep their mouths shut.
Second, the diet therapy of anemia in children
Traditional Chinese medicine believes that anemia in children is mainly due to spleen and stomach weakness and malnutrition, which leads to hematopoietic dysfunction. Therefore, supplementing qi and nourishing blood and invigorating spleen and stomach should be the basic principles in treatment. In addition to drug therapy, diet therapy can also enrich blood and strengthen the spleen and stomach.
Dietotherapy for iron deficiency anemia, of course, is to strengthen iron intake as much as possible.
Iron pot is known as "natural blood tonic". When cooking, the iron powder falling from the iron pan is combined with food, which increases the iron intake. If you add some vinegar properly when cooking, it can promote the absorption of iron.
Among animal foods, lean meat, liver, kidney, fish, shrimp, crab and pig blood are rich in iron. Among the plant foods, there are auricularia auricula, kelp, laver, tremella, mushroom, sesame, soybean, longan and Nostoc flagelliforme. Among fresh vegetables, shepherd's purse, rape, amaranth, broad bean and cowpea also contain more iron. Generally, the iron absorption rate of animal foods is high, so we should pay attention to the collocation of meat and vegetables.
Here are some dietary remedies for parents' reference:
Formula 1: 200 grams of chicken, 30 grams of Astragalus membranaceus, 0/0g of Angelica sinensis/kloc-0, stewed in water 1 hour. After removing Radix Astragali and Radix Angelicae Sinensis, add salt to taste, eat meat and drink soup.
Recipe 2: 50 grams of jujube, 50 grams of water, and appropriate amount of brown sugar. Every day 1 time, 15 days is 1 course of treatment.
Recipe 3: 20 grams of longan and 0/0 jujube/kloc (core removed), after washing, add appropriate amount of water, boil for 20 minutes, and take soup.
Recipe 4: 500 grams of carrot and apple, celery 100 grams, washed and chopped to get juice. When drinking, add a proper amount of milk, each time 15 ml, twice a day.
Formula 5: 50 grams of pumpkin seeds, 50 grams of peanut seeds and 50 grams of walnut seeds are ground into fine powder. Twice a day, 20g each time, taken with boiled water.
Formula 6: 30g for red beans, mung beans and peanuts, and 10g for brown sugar, white sugar and rock sugar. First, add a proper amount of water, cook three kinds of beans into porridge, and then add three kinds of sugar until the sugar melts.
Fang Qi: Two eggs and a little salt. Turn the eggs yellow and white, add salt after the water is boiled, and pour the eggs into the pot to cook. Drink twice a day.
Of course, for iron deficiency anemia, diet therapy is only an effective means of prevention and adjuvant treatment. If you find a child with anemia, you should go to the hospital to check the cause of anemia, so as not to delay the diagnosis and treatment. If anemia is serious, you should still insist on drug treatment. In addition, if the absorption and utilization of iron are affected by chronic blood loss and digestive tract diseases, the reasons should be found out and the primary disease should be treated as soon as possible.
Third, prevent iron deficiency anemia.
Although iron deficiency anemia is harmful to children, it can be prevented. Normal fetuses get about 225 mg of iron from their mothers, which can be used for growth for about 4 5 months after birth. If the baby is less than one month old, the iron obtained from the mother will be greatly reduced. Therefore, full-term babies should pay attention to iron supplementation 4 months after birth, and infants who are less than 2 months after birth should pay attention to iron supplementation.
The key to prevent anemia in children, especially iron deficiency anemia, lies in diet. We know that the nutrition of the fetus comes entirely from the mother, especially in the last few weeks of pregnancy. With the enhancement of the hematopoietic activity of the fetus itself, it is necessary to store enough iron for hematopoiesis after birth, so the mother needs to supplement more iron. Therefore, it is one of the main methods to prevent anemia in children to ensure that pregnant women consume enough iron and pay attention to choosing foods with more iron.
After the baby is born, iron supplementation depends on food. In order to prevent iron deficiency anemia, infants under 1 year should strongly advocate breastfeeding. Babies should be weaned as soon as possible after birth. If breast milk is sufficient, try not to add milk or other milk substitutes within 4 months to reduce the interference of other foods on iron absorption in breast milk. Breastfeeding should last at least 4 months, preferably 6.9 months. Starting from the second month, fresh orange juice can be added after breastfeeding. For full-term infants, iron supplementation should be started at the latest after 4 months, and the amount of iron supplementation is per kilogram of body weight 1 mg per day. 2 3-year-old children, to ensure adequate animal and legume food every day, can eat more fresh fruits such as chicken, duck and pig blood, shepherd's purse, laver and kelp to help iron absorption.
In order to prevent and treat anemia in children more effectively, it is best to use nutrient solution containing iron and vitamin C. It is recommended to choose special children's nutrition products produced by professional children's nutrition products manufacturers.