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Here a Vitamin, There a Vitamin Fortified vitamin drinks aren�t a foolproof solution to get your kids their daily nutrients 
Like many parents of little leaguers, Bonnie Taub-Dix is accustomed to seeing kids sit on the bench on the field near her home in New York City. But lately, she�s been seeing something new. �I see this kid slamming down vitamin fortified drinks when they were hardly moving,� says Taub-Dix, a spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association. �I think parents are thinking they are helping their kids. I think they should be encouraging their kids to have foods that have vitamins.� �The idea that taking swigs of this stuff between innings is going to have any impact on your performance during a game is silly. It�s ignorant of the ways our bodies work,� says David Schardt, senior nutritionist at the Center for Science In the Public Interest, Washington, D.C. �Your body may not use vitamins right away. We have stores of vitamins in our body. If it eventually uses them, it may be days, weeks or months later.� There is �little evidence,� Schardt says, that vitamin fortified drinks �have any demonstrable benefit to the typical American consumer. The claims are typically exaggerated. The nutrients they are adding are for the most part very cheap. You�re talking about a fraction of a cent. This is a quick, easy way to exaggerate the benefits of the product to jack up the price.� The same issue surrounds vitamin-enhanced gummy bears, mints and other food products, Schardt says. At the same time, Schardt says, there�s little chance your child will suffer a vitamin overload from these enhanced drinks, gummy bears and other products. �It�s not going to hurt anyone,� Schardt says, �except in their pocketbook.� Experts are more concerned about uninformed parents. �It�s not about whether this is a good product or a bad product, it�s about how it fits into their diet,� Taub-Dix says. �I believe in food first. Before looking to get your vitamins and minerals in supplemental form, it�s much better to have them in foods, because nature�s foods provide a bounty of vitamins and minerals for us.� �I think you need to be aware of multiple sources of vitamin supplementation you are giving your child, primarily because what you are trying to teach your children is how to eat a balanced diet,� says Dr. Mary Lou Gavin, a medical expert for KidsHealth and pediatrician at the Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children, Wilmington, Delaware. �People use these vitamin-enhanced products as an alternative for not providing their children with a healthy meal - vitamins, protein, etc. It�s the interaction of these elements in the food that provide the health benefits, not just the vitamins alone.� In addition, Gavin says, �If you have a child that only wants to eat grilled cheese and they don�t want to eat vegetables, and you say to yourself it�s okay because they get a vitamin every day, the child will not develop the taste for healthy food.� |
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