Why Do Children Under Five Frequently Fall Ill?

During the first five years of life, a child's body is like a newly built house: the foundation is in place, but the walls are still thin and the doors and windows are not yet tightly sealed. A child's digestive system is not yet as efficient as an adult's. The body is still learning to adapt to bacteria and viruses in the surrounding environment. Children also undergo continuous changes in their feeding patterns: from life inside the womb to the outside world, from exclusive breastfeeding to complementary feeding, and from eating specially prepared meals to sharing family meals.

Therefore, if children do not get enough food or essential nutrients, they become more susceptible to illness than others of the same age. When children fall ill, they lose their appetite, and poor appetite leads to further nutritional deficiencies, creating a vicious cycle. Among the nutrients most commonly lacking, and also among the easiest to replenish, is vitamin A.

Vitamin A Does More Than Support "Good Eyesight"

Many parents believe that vitamin A only helps their children see clearly. This is true, but it is not the whole picture. Vitamin A performs three major functions in a child's body:

- Maintaining healthy vision: Vitamin A deficiency is a leading cause of preventable blindness in children.

- Helping children fall ill less often: Vitamin A strengthens immunity, particularly against pneumonia, diarrhea and measles – three diseases that account for a large number of hospital admissions among young children.

- Supporting growth: Vitamin A is involved in the formation and replacement of cells, helping children grow and develop healthily.

How Does Vitamin A Protect Your Child?

Vitamin A can be thought of as providing three layers of protection for a child's body:

The first layer – the external "wall": This consists of the skin and the mucous membranes lining the nose, throat, lungs and intestines. Vitamin A helps keep these protective surfaces intact, moist and tightly sealed, making it harder for bacteria and viruses to enter. Healthy mucous membranes also secrete mucus that can help eliminate bacteria and wash pathogens away. When vitamin A is deficient, this "wall" becomes dry and damaged, allowing pathogens to penetrate more easily.

The second layer – the internal "army": This consists of immune cells (white blood cells and antibodies). Vitamin A helps the body produce sufficient immune cells and enables them to recognize and eliminate pathogens more quickly. In particular, vitamin A supports the production of antibodies that guard the surfaces of the nose, throat and intestines, precisely where pathogens are most likely to enter.

The third layer – the "commander": Vitamin A also regulates the body's immune responses, signaling when to mount a strong defense and when to stop. This helps prevent excessive inflammation, prolonged fever or overactive immune responses that could damage the body's own tissues.

For these reasons, numerous international studies have shown that children who receive adequate vitamin A supplementation experience fewer episodes of diarrhea and pneumonia. If they do become ill, their symptoms tend to be less severe, recovery is faster, and survival rates are higher among children who are malnourished or already suffering from infections.

What Happens When a Child Lacks Vitamin A?

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), vitamin A deficiency can lead to:

- Frequent illness, prolonged recovery and increased susceptibility to infectious diseases.

- Progressive deterioration of vision: initially night blindness (difficulty seeing at dusk, frequent stumbling and reluctance to run or play in the dark), followed in more severe cases by xerophthalmia, corneal ulceration and permanent blindness.

- An increased risk of death, particularly when a child develops measles or diarrhea.

The concerning fact is that vitamin A deficiency often develops silently. Children may continue eating and playing as usual, only falling ill slightly more often, making it difficult for parents to recognize the problem until its consequences become apparent. Therefore, prevention from the outset is the best approach, rather than waiting for symptoms to appear.

What Should Children Eat to Get Enough Vitamin A?

Vitamin A comes from two sources: preformed vitamin A found in animal-derived foods, and provitamin A (beta-carotene) found in vegetables and fruits, which is converted into vitamin A in the body.

Quick tips to remember:

• Every day, a child's bowl of porridge or rice should include a richly colored food: dark green, orange, red or yellow.
• A few eggs and glasses of milk each week.

• A few meals containing liver each month.

Tips to Help Children Absorb as Much Vitamin A as Possible

Choosing the right foods is not enough. How food is prepared also determines how much vitamin A a child can absorb.

1. Always include some fat in meals: Vitamin A is fat-soluble, not water-soluble. Without dietary fat, even if children eat plenty of carrots and pumpkin, their bodies will absorb very little vitamin A. Add a teaspoon of cooking oil or butter to a bowl of porridge or soup, and stir-fry vegetables with oil instead of simply boiling them. Olive oil, soybean oil, fish fat, butter, and nuts such as almonds, walnuts and peanuts are all good options.

2. Avoid overcooking: Cooking vegetables for too long or at excessively high temperatures can reduce their provitamin A content. Steaming or quick stir-frying helps preserve more nutrients.

3. Chop, mince or puree foods: Cutting carrots and pumpkin into smaller pieces before cooking helps children's bodies extract more nutrients from the same amount of food.

4. Combine with zinc-rich foods: Zinc acts like a "transporter", helping move vitamin A from the liver to other organs throughout the body. Beef, seafood, legumes, whole grains and pumpkin seeds are all rich in zinc. A bowl of fish soup cooked with sweet leaf or pumpkin provides both vitamin A and zinc.

5. Add vitamin E-rich foods: Vitamin E helps protect vitamin A from degradation. Avocados, vegetable oils, sunflower seeds and nuts are readily available sources.

Things to Avoid

- Fried foods and fast food: These contain trans fats, which reduce vitamin A absorption, doing more harm than good.

- Too much coarse dietary fiber in a single meal: Consuming large amounts of bran or whole grains at once may "trap" vitamin A and interfere with its absorption. There is no need to avoid these foods entirely; simply maintain a balanced intake in accordance with dietary recommendations.

- Giving children high-dose vitamin A supplements without medical guidance: Excessive vitamin A intake can cause toxicity. Supplements should only be given according to the instructions of healthcare professionals.

- Prolonged high-dose iron or calcium supplementation without medical advice: This may also affect vitamin A absorption.