Protein Needs for Kids: Benefits, Requirement & Foods

Question :

Create a Nutrition Education Handout or Brochure

The handout or brochure should be one page, either one-sided or two-sided. The topic of the handout will be the nutritional concerns of your target population.

The handout should be visually appealing, age appropriate in level of literacy, informative, using valid information and related to the topic of concern for the population.

Answer :

Protein Needs for Kids: Benefits, Requirement & Foods

It is important to focus on a well-balanced diet for kids for their effective growth and development. Food habit of kids is dominated by oily, fast and junk food, fried food, etc. that deprive kids of necessary nutrition that is key to their effective growth and development. 

Benefits of protein for kids 

• Build muscle 

• Help cells to grow 

• Boosts metabolism

• Strengthen the immune system 

• Helps in producing hemoglobin

• Protein is a calorie mine. 

How much protein do kids need?

• 9.1 grams of protein per day for 0 to 12 months of children 

• 13 grams of protein per day for 1 to 3 years of children 

• 19 grams of protein per day for 4 to 8 years of children 

• 34 grams of protein per day for 9 to 13 years of children 

High protein foods for kids

• Dairy food

• Eggs

• Meat 

• Plant-based sources of protein such as nuts. 

Nutrition Education Lesson Plan

Title: Making kids healthy and happy

Topic: Protein needs for kids: benefits, requirement & foods

Target population: Kids (particularly for 1 year to 3 years old)

Time duration: 3 Months 

Objectives

The following are the objectives that would be achieved with the help of this nutrition education lesson plan. 

• To determine the needs for protein for kids particularly for 1 to 3 years old.

• To analyze the benefits of protein for kids of 1 to 3 years old.

• To identify the high-protein foods for kids of 1 to 3 years old.

Procedure 

It is important to determine the needs for protein for kids. However, protein is not just required for kids but every individual of all age groups. Protein is necessary for the growth and development of the body. Thus, every individual should intake enough protein every day in order to ensure effective growth and development.

An analysis should be done to identify the need for protein in kids. There are several ways through which protein deficiency in kids can be identified effectively and efficiently. Identifying and analyzing the eating behavior of kids can significantly help in identifying protein deficiencies. For example, if a child is not consuming foods rich in protein, it can be said that there is protein deficiency. There are various foods that are rich in protein and hence such foods should be provided to kids so that they can consume protein-rich foods and avoid protein deficiency. Some of the protein-rich foods are dairy foods, eggs, meat, and plant-based source of protein such as nuts, tofu, legumes, peanut butter, soy yogurt, etc. Kids should be provided with these foods on a daily basis so that they can consume it and avoid protein deficiency and ensure effective growth and development.

Analyzing the growth of a child can also lead to identifying protein deficiency. For example, if the growth of a child is not as per his or her age, it could be due to protein deficiency because protein deficiency restricts the growth and development of the body. Body mass index can also be used to identify protein deficiency. If there is protein deficiency in a child, he or she should be provided with a well-balanced diet including enough protein in order to deal with the deficiency.

Method of evaluation 

Effective evaluation, as well as monitoring, is necessary to ensure that kids are consuming a well-balanced diet. The food that kids are consuming should be evaluated in order to ensure that they are consuming a well-balanced diet or not. There are various tools that could be used to measure how much calories they are consuming on a daily basis. It will help in providing the required foods if they are consuming fewer calories on a daily basis. There are various signs of protein deficiency such as lower immunity, delayed growth rate, decreased muscle development, bone or joint pain, hunger, slow wound healing, sluggish feeling or fatigue, poor concentration, etc. If such signs are found in kids, it should be considered as protein deficiency and hence protein-rich foods should be provided to them.

Materials needed 

The following material is required for developing as well as evaluating the nutrition education lesson plan such as paper, pen, evaluation tools, markers, detail of kids, information regarding protein needed for kids and foods rich in protein.

References 

Agosti, M., Agostoni, C., Chalons, S., Chavatte-Palmer, P., Villares, J. M. M., Nicklaus, S., ... & Cappa, M. (2016, June). Pianeta Nutrizione kids: international pediatric conference on food, physical activity, growth, and well-being. In the Italian Journal of Pediatrics (Vol. 42, No. 1, p. 53). BioMed Central.

Evans, M., Smart, C. E. M., Paramalingam, N., Smith, G. J., Jones, T. W., King, B. R., & Davis, E. A. (2019). Dietary protein affects both the dose and pattern of insulin delivery required to achieve postprandial euglycaemia in type 1 diabetes: a randomized trial. Diabetic Medicine, 36(4), 499-504.