Dr. Yigal Blum,
Vice President of R&D and Chief Scientist at Amorphical

With each passing day, our children grow up and go through wonderful changes: from helpless babies, through being small and opinionated adults to adolescence. One of our main goals as parents is to make sure that the child develops and grows properly physically and mentally. An essential means of this is a healthy and balanced diet that includes, among other things, adequate intake of calcium: we must make them eat properly and accustom them to consuming foods that include vitamins and minerals that are essential for their development. Why is calcium so important for children? What happens if the child does not need enough dairy products? And how you can equip your child In foods rich in calcium To school or kindergarten?

Childhood period: An unusual window of opportunity for bone mass accumulation

Calcium is one of the major minerals in the human body, and is considered one of the most important in the process of growth and development of the child. What sets calcium apart is the fact that it is one of the main building materials of skeleton and bone construction. Calcium also plays an important role in tooth development, muscle contraction, nervous system function, hormone regulation and release, and ongoing cellular activity. In recent years, there has been an increase in awareness of the issue of nutrition and its effects on general health. The issue is also very relevant for children – who are naturally in the process of physical development.

Our children triple their weight in the first year of life. In the following years, the child grows again and naturally also gains weight, to which we add the period of puberty in which accelerated growth occurs again, and the following years in which the muscles and bones grow – and we get fertile ground for the importance of calcium as the body building material. The body of an adolescent child has more than one kilogram of calcium. It is important to know that the bone building process is associated with a balanced diet and regular athletic activity. Assume that this period is a window of opportunity for bone mass accumulation, and make sure that your children consume enough calcium in order to reach maximum bone density.

Studies show that calcium is important for the health and development of the child, Read the full study

Calcium consumption potential in children is particularly high thanks to dairy products

The reasons for calcium deficiency As a result of lifestyle they are many and varied: low calcium diet, drinking carbonated beverages as a substitute for dairy products, smoking and drinking alcoholic beverages in adolescence and more. Dairy products are considered a rich and good source of calcium and protein – which is an essential component for building tissue in the body, and their big bonus is that overall children love them. Examples of dairy products are yellow cheese, which is considered a product with an adequate amount of calcium, and in one slice of it you can provide a significant portion of the recommended amount of calcium for your child. Yogurts such as probiotic yogurt or bio yogurt also contain a large amount of calcium and protein in high nutritional quality. The healthy bacteria in yogurt also affect the immune system and suppress the number of harmful bacteria in the digestive system – thus reducing the risk of inflammation.

How can a child who is sensitive to milk, cow’s milk or lactose consume enough calcium?

A child sensitive to milk or lactose (sugar found in milk), can consume calcium from plants: okra, broccoli, chives, parsley and more. Soy and whole sesame tahini are also considered calcium-rich foods (whole sesame tahini contains up to seven times more calcium than regular tahini): four tablespoons of tahini can provide your child with an adequate amount of calcium. Although it is rich in fat, do not be afraid of it, as the amount of saturated fat in it is low in relation to the amount of unsaturated fat (which is considered essential for the body
The person).

There are also children who are sensitive to cow’s milk, which is an immune response caused by one or more of the cow’s proteins. Signs of this allergy can manifest in the gastrointestinal tract (diarrhea, constipation and vomiting), in the respiratory system (difficulty breathing) and also on the skin (rash). These children are advised to completely avoid dairy products, which include goat milk and sheep milk. In the three cases mentioned here, it is recommended to add calcium-enriched foods to the child’s diet or to avoid calcium supplement .

How much calcium should a child consume per day?

The recommendation of the Ministry of Health’s Nutrition Committee * for the amount of daily calcium intake is adapted to the child’s age, and increases as the years go by.
The following is a table listing the recommended amounts of calcium by age:

Building strong bones during childhood and adolescence reduces the chance of For calcium escape at older ages.

So how can you equip your child with daily calcium servings?

A calcium-rich diet begins with buying the products: it is recommended to look at the nutritional label of the product and check how many mg of calcium are in one serving (and not just 100 grams) – so you can plan for your child calcium intake according to the recommended daily amount of calcium. From the early hours of the morning, when you prepare them for going to kindergarten or school, this is your chance to prepare a recommended daily dish rich in calcium.

Healthy foods and recommended for children

You can, for example, make a whole spelled bread sandwich or rye bread and combine it with yellow cheese, lettuce and other vegetables such as cabbage, baby leaves, cucumber, tomato, basil and spinach. Yellow cheese is especially recommended because it is rich in protein and low in lactose. You can also combine steamed broccoli in the sandwich, which is a great alternative for children who avoid dairy products: one cup of steamed broccoli contains about 45 mg of calcium. It is relevant and very useful, because at lunch, you can even combine it with pasta.

In terms of spreads, you can combine the various sandwiches with a whole sesame tahini spread, make your child homemade chickpeas or a pesto spread based on basil and more. And if the child wants sweet? Treat it with almond spread, sesame spread, hazelnut and honey spread or walnut and date spread. If you want to pamper it even more and supplement your recommended daily calcium intake, you can make it a juicy fruit smoothie, crush and put into it – but just a moment before serving and drinking – some of the powder of Density Kids , mix, serve and enjoy a health drink.

What can happen if the child is in a state of calcium deficiency?

Childhood is characterized by rapid growth and development of the skeleton (leading to the growth process), and low levels of calcium may be manifested in its abnormal development (the same is true for the teeth). Calcium deficiency can even cause neurological problems and damage to the immune system. Of the childhood problems associated with calcium absorption, the most common is softening , next Manifested in very soft bones and abnormal anatomical structure of the skeleton. However, there are also drugs that impair calcium absorption such as anti-epileptic drugs.

In a state of insufficient intake or non-absorption of calcium, the body will break down calcium from the bones, in order to maintain its normal level in the blood, muscles and even cells. Sometimes we have a tendency to think that insufficient calcium intake will lead to  For osteoporosis (Calcium leakage), and that it is irrelevant at an early age, but it should be internalized that today we hear about more and more cases of osteoporosis even before reaching menopause. It is important to understand that a child who does not consume enough calcium will increase the risk of developing osteoporosis early in life. In addition, there will be a slowdown in his physical growth – something that may also affect his self-image and confidence.

* The information was taken from the Nutrition Division of the Ministry of Health (the reference values were updated in 2014 and 2019 and are based on the DRI’s data
For the years 2019-1997).

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