The Overlooked Importance of Protein in Children's Nutrition

Give kids what they need to grow

Children are nothing more than small adults. Their needs aren’t much different than ours. Maybe that explains why nutrition recommendations from pediatricians and medical associations are so terrible.

Think back to your childhood or your time raising kids. You walk down the children’s aisle in the grocery store to grab some baby food and a snack. It’s almost all processed junk food and carbohydrates. Then you go to your pediatrician and find out your kid is a little underweight. They tell you to buy some “baby cereal” to help him gain weight. Again, all carbs.

I don’t have anything against carbs, personally. People who exercise need a lot of carbs to keep up with their energy demands. Active children at any age will almost certainly burn off any carbs they receive from a normal diet. But when you start raising sedentary children addicted to the tablet and stuff them full of highly processed, hyper-palatable, calorie-dense foods, you run into issues.

Protein is absolutely vital to human function. Without adequate protein, you will die. It starts with changes in body composition, especially muscle atrophy. The liver can become fatty and inflamed. Bones become demineralized. Your hair and nails become brittle. Your immune system becomes suppressed.

Over time you develop a disease like Kwashiorkor. This is characterized by severe whole-body edema. Without adequate protein intake, your body can’t produce albumin which keeps fluid inside the blood vessels.

Children with Kwashiorkor

None of that sounds pleasant. Fortunately, it’s not common in the developed world. These types of things tend to pop up in war zones and areas with famines. Nonetheless, these symptoms help us understand the underlying pathophysiology of protein deficiency.

Why Protein is Important

The importance of protein cannot be overstated. It is involved in countless processes within the body. It would be ridiculous to even try to list all the uses of protein in the body. They are involved in transporting nutrients, act within the immune system, as a building block, and on and on and on.

I really don’t want to expand on this topic any further. If you want to know more about what protein does in the body, read about it. I’ll save you some time and just say that virtually every biological process involves proteins at some point.

Children Need Protein

I’m not going to fearmonger and say that any of these symptoms are likely. Even a bad pediatrician or incredibly stupid parent would be able to pick up on the obvious signs of protein deficiency.

However, there are plenty of kids not meeting their protein demands. They are likely subclinical, meaning there are no overt signs or symptoms. But they are deficient or borderline deficient nonetheless.

The most muscular child in the world still doesn’t have a lot of muscle mass. They are mostly baby fat, skin, and bones. They build muscle over the years and eventually develop into a fully formed human.

Compare the muscle mass of a baby to that of an adult. Remove all protein from their diet and see who lasts longer. Obviously, the adult will. Because they have higher muscle mass, they have the ability to break down muscle and use it for necessary bodily functions. This means the risk of being deficient is higher in children, especially young children.

With that in mind, consider the fact that adults are fully grown. If they are deficient in protein, it will present with outward signs. If they are borderline, it probably won’t and may not even have any real negative effects.

Children are not so lucky. If they are borderline or deficient it increases the risk of long-term side effects. Protein is vital for proper bone formation, immune system functioning, and so much more. If a child was likely to be 6”0” but they don’t consume enough protein it’s very likely they won’t achieve their potential.

This is evidenced by the fact that average human height has continually increased over the last 200 years. As the availability of food improved, height increased.

You can even compare current trends. As you can see below, more wealthy countries tend to achieve higher average heights. Of course, this is not a perfect trend. And certainly, it should be noted that there are genetic differences, as well as differences in overall nutrient availability.

Children are like little wrecking balls. They run into things, fall, hurt themselves, and so on all the time. Protein is vital for repairing damaged tissue in the body. They are growing, which requires protein to build both muscle and bone. Removing protein from their diet will slow healing and growth.

Calculating Needs

You can go online and check out a calculator for adult protein needs. There are countless since the bodybuilding community is so large. No such thing exists for kids.

Instead, you are stuck with whatever arbitrary recommendations the pediatrician and medical associations recommend. These two groups tend to be stupid. They base protein requirements on age, rather than weight, like a moderately intelligent person would.

I am not going to give you advice over the internet. But I will say the protein recommendations are wholly inadequate for children – as they are for adults.

For example, the daily recommended protein for a child 2–3 years old is 13 grams per day. That is approximately 2 large eggs. My son has been eating 2 eggs for breakfast since he was about 9 months old. That’s how low the bar is.

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How to Add Protein

If you’re a future parent or have a young child, you’ll have a much easier time. Starting children on new foods is exponentially easier when they are young. It helps develop their palate and ensures they eat a diverse array of foods.

When my son started on solid foods we gave him unflavored Greek yogurt every day. I mixed some of his soft foods with Kefir. He loved it. Eventually, we moved on to eggs, which he now enjoys. I bought some tough, thin steaks and cooked them in butter, and let him chew on the beef sticks as soon as he was able to hold them. As children get older you can mix in protein shakes (thankfully they’re flavored) and whatnot to meet their increased demands.

The point here is not to brag. You must be very intentional.