Red Palm Oil Helps Fight Vitamin A Deficiency
When it comes to getting their daily supply of vitamins, children often miss out in the long run. Whether it's because of the morning rush to school or the lack of information their parents have on their benefits, kids aren't getting enough of these important nutritional supplements.
In a year-long study of African school children, researchers discovered the benefits of adding red palm oil to the daily meals to help boost the vitamin A levels in the students.
Red palm oil has recently been promoted as a food supplement for vitamin A. In the study, each one of the young volunteers received 15 ml of red palm oil in their individual meals three times a week after taking a baseline reading of their deficiency levels. Other children were given a vitamin A supplement with their meals, while others received neither. Twelve months later, a second reading was taken. The children who ingested the meals with the red palm oil additive saw a 26 percent improvement in their deficiency levels, comparable to the 29 percent improvement for the children who took a vitamin A capsule.
As shown by the results, vitamins can come in many forms, not just the cartoon-shaped chewable we sometimes forget to give our kids. To find out more about the benefits of vitamins and their role in development in children ask your chiropractor, or visit www.chiroweb.com/find/tellmeabout/nutrients.html.
Reference:
Zeba A, Prevel Y, Some I, et al. The positive impact of red palm oil in school meals on vitamin A status: study in Burkina Faso. Nutrition Journal 2006, 5:17. www.nutritionj.com/content/5/1/17.
