Let’s be honest, it’s a stressful time to be a parent these days. The pandemic has turned our lives upside down and made us all paranoid in ways we wouldn’t have imagined.
With the rise in COVID-19 infections among children in Singapore and the emergence of new, more infectious coronavirus strains, we are constantly worried and looking for ways to boost our kids’ immunity.
As mums, all we want, after all, is for our kids to be happy and healthy. A balanced diet and ensuring enough sleep and exercise are vital for strengthening the immune system.
But did you know that the key to fighting infections lies in our gut? A huge proportion of the immune system - almost 70% - resides in the gut!
What Is Gut Health And Why Does It Matter So Much?
The gut is how we absorb almost all of our nutrients. If the gut is healthy, our kids will absorb more nutrients from the food they eat, which in turn, will support their growth and development.
Looking after your child’s gut health can thus lay the foundation for a lifetime of good health. When we talk about gut health, we are referring to the gut microbiome, which is a collection of trillions of microorganisms, mainly bacteria, that live in our intestinal tract.
These bacteria can be “good” or “bad.” While bad bacteria can cause infections and diseases, good bacteria aid in digestion and nutrient absorption and help in boosting immunity.
The key is to maintain a balance between these good and bad bacteria so that your child’s immune system is better equipped to ward off infections.
So How And When Does The Gut Microbiome Develop?
Right from birth, the gut microbiome begins to develop. The first years of life are an especially critical time - by the time kids reach school age, their gut microbiome may already be established, and will remain with them for years, or even their entire life.
While the impact of gut health on immunity has long been known, a recent study by experts at the Chinese University of Hong Kong investigated whether the gut microbiome is linked to disease severity in patients with COVID-19.
The researchers found out that though COVID-19 is primarily a respiratory illness, the gut may also have a role. The team suspects that lower levels of “good” bacteria may contribute to how sick a person gets with COVID-19 because of how the gut influences the immune response.
This means that when gut bacteria are properly nourished, they can grow, diversify and multiply – all of which help to strengthen a child’s immune system.
Boosting Kids’ Gut Health Through Nutrition
The food you eat plays an important role in the bacterial makeup of your gut. You can nurture the good bacteria in your child’s gut by making simple changes in their diet:
Through Probiotics - Consume the Good Bacteria
Probiotics are the “good” bacteria that are found in some foods, like the ones already in your gut. They can add to the bacteria in your intestinal tract and help keep everything in balance.
They can make the immune system stronger and may boost gastrointestinal health, too.
Probiotics can be found in some foods like cultured milk drinks, yoghurt, tempeh, buttermilk, cheese, sourdough bread, etc.
Through Prebiotics - Feed the Good Bacteria
Prebiotics are a form of dietary fibre that feeds the good bacteria in the gut and allows them to grow and reproduce, thus increasing their presence in the gut.
Feeding your child with prebiotics, vegetables, nuts, fruits like bananas, legumes (chickpeas, peas, beans) and whole grains can fuel the beneficial bacteria in their body.
While probiotics can increase the good bacteria in your child’s gut, prebiotics help to feed them, so they can survive and thrive. When you combine the two, the effect is synbiotic.
Mums, you can make easy synbiotic combinations for your kids like bananas and yoghurt, veggie sticks with hummus dip, or yoghurt topped with rolled oats and fruit. These are not just yummy and nutritious but are also great for your child’s gut health.
Alternatively, readily available cultured milk drink like VITAGEN Less Sugar contains a healthy mix of prebiotics and probiotics that are great for our kids’ gut and helps maintain a healthy digestive system.
By Avoiding Processed and Sugary Foods
Highly processed foods and drinks, those which are low in fibre, and those containing excessive added sugar, salt, and saturated fats can cause an imbalance of gut microbes and negatively impact gut health.
Even foods approved as a “Healthier Choice” may contain artificial sweeteners or sugar substitutes like sugar alcohol (Maltitol), Sucralose, etc, which are harmful to health.
In Singapore, the Health Promotion Board has specified that “All drinks (with or without Healthier Choice Symbol) that are sweetened with intense sweeteners (e.g. Maltitol, acesulfame K, sucralose, aspartame) are not allowed” in schools.
This means that drinks with artificial sweeteners and sugar alcohol are not suitable for children.
As parents, it is thus important to check the product labels and be mindful of what we are including as part of our kids’ diet.
Healthy Option In The Market
As mums, we try our best to ensure that our children have a balanced diet, but kids (especially the younger ones) can often be picky eaters and are still discovering the types of food they like and dislike. They may refuse to eat or try out certain foods.
Healthy drinks like VITAGEN Less Sugar, with its billions of live probiotics (Lactobacillus acidophilus and Lactobacillus casei), are an easy and affordable option to help you and your family build up a stronger gut defence.
VITAGEN Less Sugar is also the only cultured milk in Singapore that contains prebiotics and supports the growth of probiotics. VITAGEN Less Sugar has 7.5g of dietary fibre and makes up almost 28% of the recommended daily dietary fibre intake. This is great news for parents who often struggle to get their picky eaters to meet their daily fibre intake.
It is also a huge relief to know that VITAGEN Less Sugar uses real fruit juices rather than pure flavouring. What also makes it a healthier option is the fact that it has 50% less total sugar and 8 times less white sugar than other regular cultured drinks in the market.
Mummies, the first few years of life are a critical time for building the immune system. By first building a healthy gut, we are laying the foundation for a lifetime of good health. It’s always much easier to prevent any illness than to treat it.