TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – Mother Nutritionist and Child Sandra Fikawati said that iron is a micronutrient or often known as a vitamin and mineral which is very important to support children’s learning abilities. Millions of children experience stunted growth, cognitive delays, weak immunity and iron deficiency disease. “In fact, preschool-aged children need good environmental support, especially balanced nutrition support, so parents must know their nutritional needs, how to fulfill them, and how to improve their nutrition,” he said at the National Nutrition Day event, January 25, 2021.
Fikawati said that if parents are not alert, the impact will be known when it is too late. “Even though a child may look full, it could be that his body is starving due to lack of micronutrients,” said Fikawati.
Read: Why Can’t Children Lack Iron? Member Explanation Check
Basic Health Research data 2018 (Riskesdas) shows 1 in 3 Indonesian children under five have anemia. Other data shows that more than 40 percent of children under five in developing countries suffer from anemia and 50-60 percent of anemia cases are caused by deficiency iron .
Iron deficiency is a condition when the level of iron availability in the body is less than the daily requirement. Iron deficiency, especially in children, has short-term and long-term impacts, for example, disturbances in cognitive, motor, sensory and behavioral and emotional development. When children enter school age, iron deficiency will have an impact on lack of concentration while studying, learning disabilities, and delayed development.
The WHO document states that there is strong evidence through research that iron deficiency appears to conclusively delay psychomotor development and interfere with cognitive performance of preschoolers and school-age children in Egypt, India, Indonesia, Thailand, and the United States.
An estimated 30-80 percent of children in developing countries, are deficient in iron by the age of 1 year. These children will experience both cognitive and psychomotor development delays, and when they reach school age they will experience impaired performance on tests of language skills, motor skills, and coordination, equivalent to a 5 to 10 point deficit in IQ.
The chairman of HIMPAUDI Pusat, Netti Herawati, shared her experience that the learning process should be a fun experience. The teaching and learning process in early childhood should not be disturbed by various problems, including health problems. Parents and educators must support each other in the learning process of children, including in basic education such as early childhood education. “Educators provide material to parents to give to children, as well as provide directions to help parents or come up with ideas in teaching children. So that children can play until their imagination comes out during the learning process,” said Netti.
According to him, all this can be achieved if the child is healthy and does not experience iron deficiency. “So we always ask parents to pay attention to nutritious intake at home, to support their learning process so they can absorb knowledge optimally,” said Netti.
The cause of iron deficiency is mostly caused by an unbalanced diet and a disruption in the iron absorption process. “Micronutrient deficiencies are often referred to as ‘hidden hunger’ because the effects are not immediately visible, but develop gradually over time. Especially iron, this micronutrient functions to deliver oxygen to the lungs for use in other parts of the body. Therefore, parents need to pay attention to the consumption of iron and other micronutrients needed to help optimal absorption of iron such as Vitamin C, “said Fikawati.
When the child is 1 year old and over and can eat home food, parents need to ensure regular consumption of iron-containing foods. Iron can be found in beef and chicken, liver, eggs, nuts, fish and vegetables. Not only that, parents also need to ensure the consumption of food sources of vitamin C to support iron absorption. The combination of iron with vitamin C can also be found in foods and drinks fortified with iron and vitamin C such as growing milk for children over 1 year.
“Supporting every Indonesian child so that their rights to progress and achievement are fulfilled is our collective responsibility. For that, Danone Specialized Nutrition (SN) Indonesia would like to invite parents to be able to pay special attention to ensuring that children’s daily nutritional needs, including iron, have been fulfilled and well absorbed, “said Corporate Communications Director Danone Indonesia, Arif Mujahidin.
Danone Specialized Nutrition Indonesia also provides an online platform to help parents test the risk of iron deficiency in their little one through a feature on the website www.generasimaju.co.id. On this site, parents can also find a series of articles related to the topic of nutrition including iron deficiency and how to overcome it, as well as various articles on tips for supporting children to become Advanced Generation Children. “This feature is expected to help parents detect iron deficiency in children from an early age and how the stimulation needs to be done in order to support them to become the advanced generation,” said Arif.
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