The Importance Of Fulfilling Amino Acid Needs In Child Development

Illustration (Anny Paterson/Pexels)

JAKARTA - The process of child development in the first 1,000 days of life is a golden period that cannot be repeated. Therefore, special attention from parents is needed, especially in providing optimal nutritional intake. Unfortunately, based on the research results of The South East Asian Nutrition Surveys (SEANUTS), the number of malnutrition in Indonesia is still quite high.

This data is also strengthened by Riskesdas 2018, where as many as 2 provinces have stunting prevalence above 40 percent, which is classified as very high; 18 provinces have a stunting prevalence of between 30-40 percent which is relatively high. This is based on the fact that the quality of nutritional intake is still not optimal, where most children of growing age in Indonesia have a lower proportion of animal protein intake, which is 30 percent compared to 70 percent of vegetable protein needed.

In fact, so that children can develop optimally, they must get a balanced nutritional intake. One of the important ingredients and rich in benefits that often goes unnoticed is the 9 Essential Amino Acids (AAE).

Amino acids have long been considered as building blocks of life, playing a very important role in the holistic development of children at the age of growth - starting from supporting strong bones and teeth, to supporting their readiness to learn. According to a study conducted by the National Center for Biotechnology Information, a deficiency of one type of 9AAE can reduce the performance of growth hormone (IGF-1) by -34 percent and up to -50 percent if all 9AAE is not met. This means that 9AAE deficiency is very influential on the growth of children.

What parents need to pay attention to is that the 9AAE content cannot be produced by the body itself, so it must be met from animal protein sources such as meat, fish, chicken, eggs or milk. Therefore it is important to provide foods rich in animal protein to children in their growing period. One of them is by adding milk which is full of nutrients and amino acids in children's daily consumption.

This fact was revealed in the Frisian Flag PRIMAGRO 1+ and 3+ launch webinar which comes with a complete content of 9 Essential Amino Acids (AAE), Omega 3, Omega 6, Fish Oil, and Iron, as well as more than 14 vitamins and 9 minerals and formulated specifically taking into account the complete nutrition that children need especially in the first 1,000 days of life.