Chlorella For Kids - Nutrition To Grow On
Chlorella For Kids – How This Superfood Gives Your Children A Super Start
Worried your kids aren’t getting enough nutrients in their diet? You can fill in many of the gaps by giving them some chlorella. Nothing beats the rich array of nutritional support found in this tiny green plant.
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Chlorella supports excellent health for kids. From the womb through the teenage years, there are a couple of studies that suggest chlorella benefits children in multiple ways.
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Chlorella is safe. Chlorella has been extensively tested for toxicity. Like spinach, broccoli or any green veggie, chlorella can be trusted on just about any dinner plate and in any diet. Since it is a whole food supplement, chlorella gives your child this nutrition in the balanced way nature intended. Finally, Sun Chlorella takes particular steps to further ensure purity and safety.
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Chlorella is convenient. Whether it's in the form of tasty chewable tablets or a powder you sprinkle in a smoothie, chlorella can help add some nutrients to any meal. What a lifesaver for busy parents!
Why These Two Doctors Give Their Kids Chlorella Every Day
Because of its stellar work in helping kids grow up strong, smart and healthy, Drs. David Nelson and Mark Drucker both have given it to their children from a very young age. Dr. Mark Drucker started giving his children chlorella daily in his own two children at 8 months.
Dr. Nelson started giving it to his son, Brandon, when he was 1 ½ years old. He points out that giving Brandon chlorella every day plays an important role in influencing his dietary choices as he gets older.
“Brandon loves it!” says Dr. Nelson, “He chews those little tiny green tablets like they are candy, and when I give them to him he just says ‘mo, mo, mo’, (meaning MORE)! He then smiles with a big green smile and then puts his hand out for ‘mo!’ He loves the taste, as it is so very fresh and rich in chlorophyll.”
Chlorella Gives Kids A Powerful Clean Start
One of the things many of us parents worry about is our children’s exposure to environmental stressors, such as pollution and toxins. Chlorella may help with our body’s natural detoxification process . . .
Japanese researchers have demonstrated that this same detox power can help reduce children’s exposure to environmental stressors.
In this study, researchers measured the levels of a common environmental stressor in the blood, fat, breast milk, cord blood and placentas of 44 pregnant women. Twenty-three of these women then took chlorella during their pregnancy.
When the researchers measured the stressor levels in the breast milk of the women after delivery, they found that the women taking chlorella had 30% lower levels of this stressor in their breast milk than women who didn't.1
But that’s not all. In the same study, the researchers studied chlorella’s impact on the levels of this stressor in 35 breastfeeding women. About half of the participants took chlorella. This time, not only did they see the same reduction in this stressor levels in the breast milk when the women took chlorella, they saw an increase in immunoglobulin A, a critical immune molecule passed from mother to child.2
Additional research has shown that women who take chlorella supported a healthy pregnancy due to its iron and vitamin B12 content.3 And we all know that a healthier mom makes a healthier baby.
Chlorella For Children’s Vigorous Growth
Chlorella can help support children’s health by giving their nutrition a powerful boost.
Researchers in Japan gave 22 boys and 18 girls 2 grams of chlorella for 112 days. Fifteen girls and 22 boys did not take chlorella for comparison's sake.
When the study ended, the boys who had taken the chlorella had grown twice as rapidly as the boys who didn't take chlorella – beating them by ½ inch. They had also gained 2.3 pounds versus the non-chlorella boys' 1.6 pounds.
The girls experienced no significant difference in height gain. But the girls taking chlorella gained 4.2 pounds while the girls who did not take it gained only 2.7 pounds.
Keep in mind, this is healthy weight gain – a measure of good health.
Chlorella helps support Your Children’s Immune System
While certainly chlorella can’t put up a shield between your child and the environment, it can help support your kids’ immune health .
Chlorella has a track record in helping people stay healthy even under the worst conditions. Take sailors, for example. Sea voyages – with the exposure to wind, water and cold combined with close quarters and tough work
However, chlorella has been shown to make a difference.
In one clinical trial, 458 Japanese sailors took chlorella during a particularly punishing sea voyage. These sailors enjoyed significantly more healthy days than sailors who did not take chlorella.4
Along with keeping the immune system strong, chlorella has also been demonstrated to help keep children’s immune system balanced and well-regulated.
While most of the research on children using chlorella underscores its safety, there is one cautionary note when it comes to immune health. One study found immunoglobulin E specific to chlorella in children with mold allergies. Immunoglobulin E is an immune protein associated with allergic reactions.5 For this reason, if your child has allergies to mold, we recommend that you consult your physician before giving it to your child
Chlorella Keeps Kids’ Brains Healthy
The brain uses up as much as one third of the body’s calories. And with kids - given all the learning they’re doing – this may be even higher. Kids’ brains need all the extra TLC and nourishment to help them grow and develop at this critical time.
Many different nutrients impact brain development. But one in particular stands out - vitamin B12.
Three grams of chlorella contains 7 micrograms of B12 – an outstanding 117% of the recommended daily allowance. Other algae, like spirulina only contain analogs to B12. But chlorella contains the real B12 molecule that our bodies can absorb and use.6
How To Make Chlorella Work For Children’s Health
Now you can see how effective chlorella is for helping your kids thrive (Not to mention, taking a load of worry off your back!) The next question is how to make it work for your kids.
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In general, health experts recommend taking one (1) 200 mg tablet of Sun Chlorella for every age. So if your child is 3, you can give them 3 tablets or 600 mg. When they get to 15, they can stop increasing their dosage and simply stick with the standard adult dose of 15 tablets.
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It's great to let them chew up the tablets like Drs. Nelson and Drucker do with their children. In addition, you can try mixing Sun Chlorella granules or powder into drinks, smoothies, yogurt or sprinkle it on toast or on rice.
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Finally, as we advise with adults, start small and slowly increase how much your child eats. Some people need time to adjust to digesting it. Also, thanks to chlorella's role in helping the body clean out, your body can go through a detox phase that can make you tired, headachy and uncomfortable. If this happens to your child, pare down the initial serving and work up even more gradually to the recommended amount.
Ready to get some chlorella for your children? Go here to purchase Sun Chlorella tablets or Sun Chlorella powder.
[1]
Nakano S et al, Maternal-fetal distribution and transfer… in pregnant women in Japan and attempts to reduce maternal transfer with Chlorella (Chlorella pyrenoidosa) supplements. Chemosphere. 2005 Dec;61(9):1244-55. Epub 2005 Juen 27.
[2]
Nakano, S et al. Chlorella (Chlorella pyrenoidosa) supplementation decreases… and increases immunoglobulin A concentrations in breast milk. J Med Food. 2007 Mar;10(1):134-42.
[3]
Nakano S et al. Chlorella pyrenoidosa supplementation reduces the risk of anemia, proteinuria and edema support the health in pregnant women. Plant Foods Hum Nutr. 2010 Mar;65(1):25-30.
[4]
Chlorella Experiment with Maritime Self-Defense Forces Members, Scientific Reports on Chlorella In Japan. 1992, Silpaque Publishing, Inc. Kyoto, Japan
[6] Watanabe F et al. Characterization and bioavailability of vitamin B12-compounds from edible algae. J Nutr Sci Vitaminol (Tokyo). 2002 Oct;48 (5):325-31.