Kids Falling Sick In Big Cities; A Research And Precautions For Parents

Chennai and Hyderabad children seemed to have the lowest immunity compared to the other big metropolitans like Bangalore, Mumbai, and Delhi. Because of children’s low immunity, mothers are spending a chunk of money on medical bills.

Immunity is directly linked with the overall health of a child and has long-term repercussions; it hinders day to day activity of a child. If balanced diet (diet with proper quantities and proportions of foods needed to maintain health) is not taken on a regular basis, the child’s liver uses the body protein to energize itself, making it weak. If a child falls sick more than five times in a year, it needs medical attention.

As per the survey:

A) 22% children miss school for more than 5 days due to illnesses.

B) 91% have missed an examination due to an illness.

C) Mothers claim to spend an average of Rs 850 per month on medicine.

As it is said ‘Precaution is always better than the cure’ here are few steps parents can take for kids’ good health.

1. Ensure that your child eats a lot of fruits and vegetables and daily dose of Micro Nutrient Rich Diet.

Feed them at least 5-7 servings of fresh vegetables every day. Yellow and orange color vegetables are rich in Vitamin-A, a, beta carotenes, whereas dark-green vegetables are a good source of minerals and anti oxidants.

Fruits are packed with vitamins, minerals, anti-oxidants like vitamin-C and many phyto-nutrients.

Micro nutrients like Iodine, vitamin A and iron are present in salt, carrots and green leafy vegetables respectively.

2. Encourage your child to sleep on time giving enough body rest before waking up.

Sleep recharges the child’s brain and body, helps in growth, even optimizes alertness and memory.

3. Exercise as a family. Children who exercise regularly have stronger muscles and bones, tend to put on less body weight, and are at less risk of developing type 2- diabetes.

4. Do not make them depend on antibiotics for every small illness. Antibiotics can reduce child’s immunity by destroying normal bacteria living in their body and allowing disease-causing bacteria to grow. Regular use of antibiotics also causes resistance in bacteria rendering the antibiotic useless.

5. Impart clean habits and guard them against germs. Make your kids wash hands before breakfast, brush twice, bath daily.

“You can’t build a great building on a weak foundation. You must have a solid foundation if you’re going to have a strong super structure.” Gordon B Hinckley.

Eat healthy, live healthy, and raise healthy kids with a strong foundation.

You can even check their daily nutritional intake with NutriMeter a simple assessment tool by Horlicks to discover the hidden gaps in your child’s nutrition.