Pollution
Environmental pollution interferes with the immune response, thus increasing susceptibility to infectious diseases.
Immunity is the body’s resistance power against disease causing organisms or harmful substances. Immunity provides defence against pathogens like virus, bacteria, fungi and parasites. Immunity also identifies and eliminates tumours and helps remove foreign compounds.
The immune system is a highly organized and complex system of organs, tissues, highly specialized cells and cell products which work in tandem to provide immunity to the body.
A human body has three levels of Immunological defence in order to protect the body against inbound pathogen and harmful agents.
The 1st Line of Defence includes the skin, mucous membranes, hair within the nose, cilia in the upper respiratory tract, urine, perspiration, saliva, stomach gastric juice and sebum.
The 2nd Line of Defence includes an inflammatory response and white blood cells (called phagocytes) that ingest pathogens. It provides an immediate response but lacks immunological memory.
The 3rd Line of Defence relies on T cells and B cells, some of which produce antibodies and others which kill pathogens. It has immunological memory that makes it powerful against persistent harmful agents.
Kids are most vulnerable to infections since their immunity is still in the growing stage. Hence, it is very important to pay special attention to build their immunity. Else, the kid will get trapped in a vicious cycle of low immunity and will be undernourished.
Low immunity and frequent infections have a long term impact on their physical growth, mental growth and development.
Calorie Intake of a child reduces to 30-50% during illness days (1)
Diarrhoea infection in the first five years can cause detrimental brain development and lower IQ (3)
Absorption of macronutrients [Carbohydrates/Protein/Fat] is 10-30% lower in children suffering with illness (1)
Children who experience more than 5 attacks of malarial infection score 15% less in language and mathematics (4)
Childhood infections cause growth shortfalls of up to 8.2 cm by the age of 7 years (2)
Mild but prolonged ear infections can produce enough temporary hearing loss to affect development of speech and language (5)
India has progressed a lot in the last few years. But if we look at the health statistics of kids in India, it shows a grim picture.
India has the highest number of kids suffering from Vitamin A deficiency globally (6)
of working mothers skip work due to their child’s illness (7)
The annual expenditure on illnesses due to infections is (8)
Indian kids miss school due to infections (7)
An urban kid falls sick every month on an average (9)
80% kids do not receive RDA of key nutrients - Vitamin A, C, Iron (10)
Lack of immunity affects the overall development of the child. Immunity in kids is not at the same level when compared with kids 25 years ago.
Environmental pollution interferes with the immune response, thus increasing susceptibility to infectious diseases.
Due to food adulteration, children do not receive the right amount of nutrients and vitamins required to build their immunity.
Urban kids consume junk food for more than 100 days in a year. Junk food depletes vitamins and minerals essential for immunity. (11)
9 out of 10 working mothers believe that their kids do not receive the required amount of care to build immunity due to lack of time. (12)
Indian Kids today are deficient in key immunity nutrients and that might lead to a vicious cycle of suppressed immunity, pre-disposal to infections and aggravated malnutrition.
This vicious cycle can be broken through the following benefits provided by Food fortified with Vitamins and Minerals have been seen to have the following positive (13) impact on Immunity:
ActivKids Immuno Boosters is a unique nutritional supplement for kids that helps build their immunity. 1 choco-bite daily helps kids receive upto 100% RDA14 of key Immunity Nutrients (Vitamin A, Vitamin B9, Vitamin C, Iron) when taken along with regular diet.
ActivKids Immuno Boosters has the following vital nutrients:
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