Lowfat Diets for Kids Linked to Vitamin C, E Deficiencies

OMAHA, Neb. – Lowfat diets might be fine for adults, but at least one small study suggests grown-ups using that approach for their families could be depriving young children of vitamins they need.

University of Nebraska-Lincoln nutrition scientist Judy Driskell said her recent study of preschool children living in Lincoln found two-thirds of them lacking the recommended levels of vitamin E and one-third short on vitamin C – a finding attributed mainly to parents sharing their eating habits with their children.

“Parents are eating a lot of lowfat and nonfat products, and we’re finding they also give their children such things as skim milk,” Driskell said. “The lowfat diet is probably associated with their being low in vitamin E.”

Some child nutrition experts were surprised by the findings, noting that vitamin deficiencies – particularly of vitamin C – are considered uncommon in the United States.

“It doesn’t take that much fresh fruit intake … to get a recommended daily allowance of vitamin C,” said Dr. Terrill Bravender, director of adolescent medicine at Duke University Medical Center in North Carolina.

Bravender also noted debate in the medical field about how much vitamin E is needed for good health, particularly for young children.

Driskell and colleagues from the university’s Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources tested major antioxidant vitamin levels, which include vitamins E and C, in children ages 2-5 at four Lincoln day care centers.

What the UNL researchers found was that many suffered borderline deficiencies.

“They were at the point that they could be treated using food or vitamin supplements,” Driskell said.