Q: Is it safe to give your child multiple types of vitamins/supplements (e.g., one good for digestion, the other for immune system, another to get child to eat).
Answered by: Dr Ahmad Bazli Bin Mohamad, Paediatrician, Pantai Hospital Laguna Merbok (PHLM)
To begin with, for most children, it’s not necessary to give multivitamins/supplements if they eat a balanced diet and grow normally as they can get all the nutrients from eating a variety of food. However, there are specific categories of children who need to be supplemented. For example, infants who are breastfed may be deficient in vitamin D and need to be supplemented.
Some other categories of children that need vitamins/supplements are those who eat a vegetarian diet, children who have a condition that affects the absorption of or increases the need for nutrients such as celiac disease, cancer, cystic fibrosis and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), an extremely picky eater that struggle to eat a variety of food, and those who undergo surgery that impacts the intestines or stomach (e.g., short bowel syndrome).
So, for those children who are taking multiple types of vitamins/supplements, is it safe for them to consume them concurrently? My answer, generally it is safe, but it is not a good idea. However, there are a lot of vitamins/supplements out there which come in multivitamins/minerals form for easier consumption instead of getting each vitamin individually.
Most multivitamins are formulated in such a way to counteract any potential negative nutrient interactions as they usually contain appropriate levels of synergistic and antagonistic nutrients (meaning that some vitamins and minerals can enhance or inhibit others). Some of the vitamins/supplements come together with pre and probiotics which avoid them to be consumed separately.
However, there are some vitamins and minerals that need to be taken separately with each other to avoid negative effect on absorption such as magnesium and calcium, copper and zinc, and iron and green tea. These combinations if taken separately are advised to be taken at least 2 hours apart. There are certain precautions when consuming vitamins/supplements as they can be toxic to the body when taken in excess amounts. This is especially true with fat soluble vitamins A, D, E and K as they are stored in body fat.
