Evidence is continuing to mount that many children in New Zealand are under nourished according to research published in the prestigious American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, further endorsing the Health & Herbs’ Herbal Hero campaign for better childhood nutrition.
A study by the University of Otago of 184 school aged children released in September found that iodine supplementation led to significant improvements in cognitive brain function. Previous studies suggest that up to half of all New Zealand children may be mildly deficient in iodine.
A second study, published this month, of 225 South Island toddlers, says that the one in three New Zealand pre-schoolers who have low iron levels, which can slow brain development and cause behavioural problems, would benefit from an iron fortified diet.
Health & Herbs International, has launched a new campaign headed up by ‘Herbal Hero’, a cartoon character created by Health & Herbs to educate children and their parents on the benefits of good nutrition and taking a regular dietary supplement.
Jacqui Simcock, Senior Technical Manager at Health & Herbs explains: `Radiance Kids Multi provides iodine naturally sourced from sea kelp as well as iron and adequate, yet safe levels of all the vitamin and mineral nutrients needed to keep kids healthy and vibrant. But parents do need to remember, these are not designed to replace food, they are an essential nutrient top up.’
Health & Herbs’ campaign is backed up by the most recent Ministry of Health Children’s Nutrition Survey which shows that only two out of five children meet the recommended number of fruit servings per day.
‘New Zealand children are not underfed but the foods they are eating are not meeting their nutritional needs,’ Jacqui adds. ‘A variety of nutrients are known to encourage healthy brain and nerve function, memory, mood etc – these include vitamin D, magnesium, B vitamins, essential fatty acids (DHA) as well as iron and iodine.
‘These new studies are great in that they bring recognition to often forgotten minerals such as iodine that are commonly deficient in all New Zealanders, especially children as they are rarely exposed to high iodine containing foods beyond iodised salt.’
‘Herbal Hero’ is visiting participating stores nationwide to promote Health & Herb’s new Radiance Kids range, which has taken seven years to perfect. The range includes Radiance Kids Multi, Kids Immune, Kids Vege, Kids Bone and Kids Colostrum. The Radiance Kids formulations have been specifically developed for New Zealand children’s dietary supplement needs and are exclusive to Radiance worldwide.
