Experts Say Indonesian Children Are Vulnerable To Lack Of Vitamins And Essential Minerals

Illustration of Indonesian children who lack micro nutrition. (Freepic)

JAKARTA - Child health experts highlight the phenomenon of hidden hunting' in Indonesian children. This condition occurs when children aged 6 months to 12 years do not get enough vitamins and minerals, although physically look healthy.

We call it hidden explanations' because parents often don't realize that their children lack essential nutrition. Children may look healthy, but lack of micronutrients can cause cognitive development disorders, decreased immune systems, to long-term health problems," explained a child health expert and CEO of Children. About Children dr. Mesty Ariotedjo, Sp.A, MPH, as quoted by ANTARA.

Research presented in the 2025 National Children's Nutrition Seminar shows that there are deficiency in several important vitamins and minerals, such as vitamins A, D, C, B1, and zinc.

Data from the Ministry of Health also reveals that eating patterns are not balanced, the high consumption of low nutritional processed foods, and a practical lifestyle is the main factor that exacerbates this problem.

The survey results on 5,000 families show that only 23 percent of children consume vegetables and fruit according to WHO recommendations. Low awareness of family nutrition is considered to be able to affect children's growth and development in the long term.

To increase attention to this issue, experts from Expert Boost by About Children develop Gummy-shaped supplements that contain 15 vitamins and minerals important for Indonesian children.

"By developing 15 vitamins and minerals Gummy, we want to help parents to remain calm in meeting their children's nutritional needs in an easy, safe, and pleasant way, on the one hand, while trying to find out and handle the causes, such as bad eating habits or basic diseases (allergies, GERD, ISK, or others)," explained Dr. Mesty.

This product is referred to as the result of three years of research, by adjusting the Nutrition Adequacy Rate (AKG) of the Ministry of Health and the Nutrition Label Reference (ALG) of BPOM. The content includes vitamins A, B complexes, C, D, E, K, zinc, and iodine with daily doses tailored to children aged 2 years and over.

In addition to developing products, Expert Boost also runs an educational program through the Indonesia Bergizi 2030 initiative which targets a 40 percent reduction in the number of micronutrient shortages in the next five years.

They also collaborated with public figure Nikita Willy to spread awareness to parents.

"I joined this campaign because I believe that every parent has the right to the best information and solutions for the health of their child. My own experience has opened my eyes to the importance of micronutrients, and I want to share this awareness with thousands of mothers in Indonesia," said Nikita.

As part of the campaign, Expert Boost developed an online nutritional monitoring application and an online educational platform that can be accessed for free. This program is expected to help parents better understand their child's nutritional needs and encourage a healthy lifestyle from an early age.