Zinc & Immune System of Down’s Syndrome Children

Mineral play a key role in our overall health and are vital to sustaining life and improving immune systems. If you are caring for a child who has Down's syndrome, it is important to become familiar with the mineral needs of your child's health, including how the use of zinc can boost your child's overall immune system response.

Zinc is found naturally in our foods and beverages, but can also be supplemented with oral dosing. When in proper balance, zinc works to keep the immune system healthy and improves the response our immune systems by working to boosts balance in hormone levels. For individuals who are at-risk for depressed immune system responses, there is often a need to use zinc, in oral supplements, to aid in controlling immune system health.

In children who have Down's syndrome, it is often believed that a poor working thymus gland is the underlying cause of a poor immune system response. For many Down's syndrome children, however, the suppression of the immune system may be directly related to low levels of zinc and, when boosted with supplementation in diet and capsules, the immune system improves.

Before giving your child supplements of zinc, it is important to always ask your pediatrician about the best remedies for your child's specific needs. For some children, there may be a need to add heavy zinc based foods while in other children the use supplements, by capsule, tablet, or liquid formula is beneficial. To determine the best option for your child, your pediatrician may need to run a series of medical tests to determine the extent to which your child has a complication of low level zinc.

Mineral supplements are vital for the health of all children but can be especially necessary in children who have Down's syndrome. If you are concerned about your child's health, and if you find that your child is sick quite often, then boost zinc and you may find the ailments are less frequent. In the long term, a healthy diet will be the key to your child's overall quality of life.

Sources: Minerals: What Your Body Really Needs & Why, by George Redmon