For teens, good nutrition in a glass
Do you know that adolescents require at least up to twice the amount of key nutrients for growth compared to young children? The sad reality, though, is that many Filipino adolescents fall short of meeting the minimum dietary requirements leading to the prevalent stunting in that age range.
Global healthcare leader Abbott recently launched PediaSure Plus 10+. This is its first product for children from 10 to 15 years of age. This product helps provide complete and balanced nutrition to support weight and height during the last major growth spurt.
‘’Adolescence is a critical window to maximize linear growth,’’ said Dr. Jose Rodolfo V. Dimaano, Jr., area medical director for Abbott in Pacific Asia. “In this stage, optimal nutrition is important to help achieve catch-up growth to fulfill genetic potential. For Filipino adolescents, inadequate nutrition can affect growth, compromise bone and muscle development, and affect immune function, which can possibly lead to long-term effects on their health.”
Good nutrition is important at every stage of life and is especially critical during the major growth spurts children experience. The first growth spurt occurs in the first five years of life and the second major growth spurt occurs during early adolescence when diets typically become poorer, which may lead to decreased nutrient intake and the possible onset of stunting. Among adolescents in the Philippines, 27 percent are stunted, 56 percent of adolescents have inadequate protein intake and more than 75 percent have a micronutrient deficiency according to the 2019 Department of Science and Technology-Food & Nutrition Research Institute survey.
Children can gain up to 20 percent of their final adult height and achieve 45 percent of total adult bone mass during adolescence according to a study published by UNICEF in 2018. To support optimal growth and development, adolescents require up to double or more growth nutrients compared to a younger child.
When children become more independent in making food choices, parents and caregivers may encounter a greater challenge to meet their child’s nutritional requirements. This is when nutritional intervention becomes essential in maximizing this important window of growth.
‘”Nutritional intervention can help adolescents either at-risk or already behind on growth improve their trajectories and catch up before the end of puberty,” explains Dr. Sylvia B. Capistrano-Estrada, a metabolic specialist and pediatric endocrinologist.
PediaSure Plus 10+ builds on the science of PediaSure Plus, a brand with over 30 years of clinical research on the impact of nutrition for childhood growth. It provides essential growth nutrients, more protein, and more key growth nutrients to help support linear growth and bone quality during the adolescent growth spurt with two times the amount of calcium and natural vitamin K2 compared to its PediaSure Plus variant to support bone development. It also provides 100 percent of the daily vitamin D requirement (with two servings a day) plus antioxidants (vitamin C, vitamin E, and zinc) and prebiotic FOS to help strengthen the body’s immune system.
‘”Parents can play an important role in helping their kids adopt healthy habits, like good nutrition,” said Stephen Garbanzos, general manager of Abbott’s nutrition business in the Philippines. “With the launch of PediaSure Plus 10+, Abbott remains committed to developing science-based nutrition to support children’s critical growth period and making good nutrition accessible to more families across the country.”
When children become more independent in making food choices, parents and caregivers may encounter a greater challenge to meet their child’s nutritional requirements. This is when nutritional intervention becomes essential in maximizing this important window of growth.
Since the Kramer family has been connected with the PediaSure brand, it was not surprising that PediaSure Plus 10+ was launched by gorgeous mom Cheska Garcia Kramer and her firstborn Kendra, who just turned 13. Mom has 3.4 million followers on Instagram (@chekakramer) while her Kenny (@kramer.kendra) has 787,000 followers.
The “God-fearing, respectful and loving” lady is a charmer with some posts reaching hundreds of thousands of likes. Young as she is, Kendra’s authenticity endears her to many. “Each day gives us a chance to reach our highest potential. Always striving to give what we have,” she wrote in one post.
“Sometimes all you need is a higher vantage point,” she said in another.
It doesn’t hurt to reach your height potential so if the food choices of your children aged 10 to 15 are nutrient-deficient, help support their growth by giving them a glass or two of this latest Abbott product.