For all of the reasons we need magnesium as adults, children need it too. Magnesium is involved in hundreds of processes in the body relating to energy and the nervous system, the development of bones, the functioning of muscles, and more!
The symptoms of deficiency in kids are what we see in adults. Kids who don’t get enough magnesium are:
As parents, I know we’re particularly attuned to issues around hyperactivity and sleep.
In a study of magnesium-deficient children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), those who boosted their intake through supplements showed a marked improvement in behaviour.
As for sleep, there’s a reason we call it Natural Calm. Magnesium soothes the central nervous system and acts as a sedative. It helps us fall asleep and stay asleep longer, waking more rested and better able to learn and cope with daily stress.
Children’s sleep can be disturbed by what are commonly known as ‘growing pains’. These deep pangs, typically in the legs, are thought to be caused by a deficiency in magnesium.
Kids, too, can be disturbed by nighttime twitching and jerking – either restless leg syndrome or the more common jolts associated with dreams of falling. For little people, these disturbances can be especially disruptive because they don’t always know how to get back to sleep.
So, why might your kids be deficient in magnesium?
It’s tough to get enough through diet, even for the most flexible eaters, and most kids aren’t huge fans of beans, dark, leafy greens and fish – some of the best sources.
What’s more, if they eat a lot of sugar, processed foods or animal proteins, they’ll quickly deplete what magnesium they do ingest. These foods create an acidic environment in the body and magnesium is drawn from existing supplies to restore an alkaline balance.
Your first step should always be to address deficiencies in the diet. Seeds and nuts are excellent sources, and given the chance, kids can love the rich, crunchy flavours. Try pumpkin seeds, brazil nuts and dry roasted soybeans (‘soy nuts’). If you’re talented – or persistent – you might succeed in creating little addicts of legumes and greens, too.
Not sure how much dietary magnesium your kids are getting? Unclear on how much of a gap they need to fill?
A number of diet apps (e.g. Nutrition Journal for iPhone) will calculate your intake of nutrients from a record of what you’ve eaten. Just enter your meals, snacks and drinks, and these apps will churn out a calculation of where you’re meeting your needs for minerals (as well as vitamins, calories, protein, fibre and more) and where you’re off-track. It can be really eye-opening!
You can also simply look at symptoms. If your child demonstrates any of the above symptoms of magnesium deficiency, chances are they need more.
Magnesium supplementation is often needed, and we’re regularly asked how to use our products with children of all ages.
So, over the next three posts, I’ll share practical tips for supplementing for babies, toddlers to pre-teens, and adolescents.
The focus will be on ‘how to’, and believe me, they won’t be holding their noses! No spoonful of sugar to make the magnesium go down.
In the meantime, let us know if you have any questions or success stories about kids and magnesium.
Magnesium is important for children and adults alike, however, children naturally need a far lower amount of magnesium supplementation compared to adults. An appropriate dosage of magnesium for kids falls around 65mg of magnesium in total for young children, up to 110mg per day for children between 4 and 8 years and up to 350mg of magnesium for children aged 9 years and up.
Too little magnesium in the diet can lead to your kids getting magnesium deficiency – however, magnesium supplements for children may be toxic in too high quantities. A child should usually have around 65mg of magnesium daily; this can be provided by the diet, but any magnesium deficiencies not met in the diet can be corrected with magnesium oil and supplements for kids.
Magnesium supplements for kids are valuable sources of magnesium if your child’s diet isn’t meeting their magnesium needs. Magnesium is important for children as it helps ensure a good sleep pattern, healthy bones, good blood pressure and glucose levels, and the like. A well-planned diet that includes high-magnesium fruits, fish, seeds, whole grains, and the like may be enough to meet your child’s magnesium needs, but most Canadian diets will not meet the required 350mg for over 9-year-olds; in this case, magnesium supplements for children can help prevent deficiencies.
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