Do children actually need to take nutritional vitamins?

Parents need the perfect for his or her children, and relating to diet, nutritional vitamins can typically really feel like a easy repair.

While youngsters’s dietary supplements are nothing new, more and more, they’re being marketed in the direction of wholesome children, mimicking the wellness rhetoric of comparable merchandise focusing on adults.

In 2025, the kids’s dietary supplements business was valued at US$2.61 million ($3.7 million), according to Future Market Insights, and anticipated to double by 2035.

So, are children’ dietary supplements actually mandatory? Are they secure? And what ought to mother and father of fussy eaters do?

A ‘food first’ strategy

While it’s true that rising our bodies want extra dietary assist, Danielle Shine, an accredited practising dietitian and nutritionist, says for most youngsters, a balanced weight-reduction plan must be sufficient.

Major well being organisations, together with the World Health Organisation and the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council suggest a “food-first” strategy.

The Australian Dietary Guidelines suggest children get pleasure from all kinds of meals from the 5 main meals teams, and restrict consumption of meals containing saturated fats, added salt and sugar.

Shine says it’s vital to tell apart between dietary supplements marketed to folks of in any other case wholesome children, and those who serve a clinically indicated dietary want, like:

• Faltering growth.
• Medically recognized nutrient deficiencies that may’t be met by meals alone (similar to vitamin B12 for youths on vegan diets).
• Medical situations that have an effect on nutrient consumption, absorption or utilisation (similar to most cancers, cystic fibrosis or an consuming dysfunction like Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID)).

Amy Thompson, a lecturer of diet and dietetics on the University of the Sunshine Coast, agrees that for most youngsters consuming a diversified weight-reduction plan, dietary supplements aren’t mandatory. “There are lots of important non-vitamin and mineral parts of foods that children can miss out on if they are relying on supplements to fill in those gaps, such as antioxidants, fibre and protein,” she provides.

Are they secure?

While most youngsters’s nutritional vitamins are marketed as “natural”, Shine says the belief that this makes them secure isn’t supported by any proof.

“Many parents may not realise that these products are rarely tested for safety or effectiveness in children, can’t be assumed safe based on animal or adult data, and may increase the risk of cumulative toxicity or unpredictable interactions – particularly when multiple herbs are combined,” she says.

Fat-soluble nutritional vitamins (nutritional vitamins A, D, E and Okay) particularly can pose dangers of toxicity, since they’re saved in fats and never excreted by the physique, says Thompson.

Shine factors to at least one 2026 narrative review, which discovered “supplements are understudied in paediatric populations,” which means “there’s limited evidence to inform appropriate dosing, safety, or long-term use in children”.

Other analysis suggests “children may be particularly vulnerable to herb-drug interactions”, be inclined to adverse health outcomes from natural medication or at greater risk to kidney and liver toxicity.

Another danger of counting on dietary supplements is they will act as a Band-Aid answer to a possible well being situation, says Thompson.

“If families are struggling with their child’s eating, their child is really tired, or they’re not sleeping or growing well, we encourage families to reach out for professional support instead of using products they can get from supermarkets and pharmacies.”

The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) regulates dietary supplements as complementary medicines, which means they monitor for security and high quality, however not efficacy.

While TGA-listed dietary supplements are required to reveal the presence of non-active substances (excipients), like sugars, flavouring or colors, they aren’t required to reveal the amount.

Indeed, Thompson says mother and father should be cautious of added substances in dietary supplements, notably sugars generally present in liquid dietary supplements like toddler milks and power drinks.

“While sugars and food acids aren’t inherently harmful, the issue relates to dose, frequency, and delivery format,” says Shine.

Supplements like gummies, a lot of which suggest a dosage of two or three per day, can persist with enamel and, even with low ranges of sugar, add up with common consumption, she says.

Making certain children meet dietary wants

Thompson empathises with the pressures mother and father face from social media and advertising and marketing that may make them really feel responsible about their children’ diets.

But she reminds mother and father that “phases of fussy eating are developmentally normal for children,” and customarily go.

“Most Australian kids get all the nutrients they need from a balanced diet. Even children we describe as picky eaters are rarely deficient, and supplements don’t necessarily replace everything they need.”

“Provide a supportive feeding environment by offering meals in a relaxed, positive setting, following your child’s hunger and fullness cues, and avoiding pressure or coercion,” suggests Shine.

However, if fussy, avoidant or restrictive consuming continues, specialists suggest looking for assist from a GP, paediatrician or dietician.

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