I have recently been made aware of a new dietary supplement which is aimed at “fussy” children. PaediaSure is sold as a shake in a choice of 3 flavours (chocolate, vanilla and strawberry) and is meant to be used by children aged 1-10 for when they go through their fussy eating phase. You can view the advert here… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4x1_r_13dk

Now the major issue I have with this is the phase that children go through is only that… A phase. Meaning it is only a stage of the child’s development. If you start to give them a chocolate milk shake every time they decide they don’t want to eat their vegetables they will learn that by not eating the things they decide they don’t like they will be “rewarded” with a nice flavoured milkshake, which will mean it will be much more difficult to get them back to eating proper healthy food in the future.

I have looked into it further and on the website of the main stockist it gives the following information regarding hazards and cautions…

Hazards and Cautions

“Food supplements should not be used as a substitute for a varied diet. Speak to your health professional for advice.”

My main concern about this is that the product is designed to be taken when children are being fussy, my take on this is when they are not eating something they have one of these shakes instead. So by saying it should not be used as a substitute for a varied diet sounds to me as though the company are aware of the issues the product can cause but have put this warning on the product to keep them out of trouble.

I have also looked into the ingredients list and it is just a minefield of words that the majority of people will either struggle to pronounce or have no idea what they are.

Ingredients

Hydrolysed corn starch, sugar, milk proteins, soy oil, high oleic sunflower oil, cocoa powder, medium chain triglycerides from palm kernel oil, soy protein isolate, fructooligosaccharides powder, flavouring, potassium citrate, magnesium phosphate, potassium chloride, sodium chloride, calcium phosphate, potassium phosphate, docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) (soy), choline chloride, vitamin C, calcium carbonate, arachidonic acid (AA) (soy), taurine, m-inositol, ferrous sulphate, carnitine tartrate, Lactobacillus acidophilus, antioxidant: E306, vitamin E, zinc sulphate, calcium pantothenate, niacin, Bifidobacterium lactis, manganese sulphate, vitamin B6, vitamin B1, vitamin B2, vitamin A, copper sulphate, folic acid, potassium iodide, chromium chloride, sodium selenite, vitamin K, sodium molybdate, biotin, vitamin D3, vitamin B12

Let me explain to you what some of these ingredients are used for elsewhere…

choline chloride

Commonly used as an additive in animal feeds

calcium carbonate

This is a common substrate found in rock. It is the active ingredient in agricultural lime which is used as a soil additive.

copper sulphate

Used as a fungicide, algaecide, root killer and herbicide.

manganese sulphate

Used in fertilizers, feed additives, paint, varnish, ceramic, textile dyes, medicines and fungicides

 

This list can go on and on. In the advert It claims to “contain balanced nutrition”, yes, it might have some vitamins and minerals in it but I really wouldn’t like to give my child something containing these things.

 

Again, like I have said many times before, be very careful with supplements. Their claims may sound good but when you look into it, it may not be as good as it sounds and could be doing more harm than good with some companies appearing more interested in financial gains.