Childhood can be hazardous to your health

Childhood can be a pretty scary time for both kids and parents. Children face obvious threats, such as a car speeding through an intersection that must be crossed. They also encounter mysterious hazards, such as electrical sockets, paint thinner and pesticides, and invisible villains that challenge their defence systems. While parents try their best to protect their offspring, certain unalterable “facts of childhood” create both hidden and obvious health hazards for children:

• Children are dynamos, burning enormous amounts of energy to fuel their sky-high metabolisms, maintain their tremendous growth and development and support physical activity levels that would exhaust most adults.
• Children’s poor diets are typically characterized by too much fat, too many highly processed foods and not enough fruits and vegetables.
• Children are routinely exposed to environmental pollutants such as smog, ozone, cigarette smoke and pesticides.
• Children’s immature defence systems are constantly exposed to challenges in the course of their various activities and explorations.

All of these “facts of childhood” have one thing in common: They increase children’s needs for antioxidant protection. The reason is because these situations all generate destructive free radicals. Antioxidants help protect cells, as well as strengthen the body’s defence system so children are better able to meet the many challenges they face on a daily basis. Kilogram for kilogram, children’s requirements for certain antioxidant nutrients (for instance, vitamins C and E) are greater than those of adults.

What are free radicals and how do they harm cells? Free radicals can form as byproducts of oxidation, a normal chemical reaction in cells that provides energy for physical activity and other life functions. But oxidation can also cause destruction, examples of which can be seen in rusting iron or rancid butter. Free radicals can also be created by physical activity, sunlight, smog, ozone, pesticides, food additives, cigarette smoke, many drugs and other substances to which children are exposed as a matter of course. Just as termites jeopardize the structural integrity of a house, free radicals undermine the cellular architecture upon which good present and future well-being depends. The damage accumulates over time, eventually crippling cells’ abilities to perform their vital functions.

Nature's solution to free-radical damage? Antioxidants!

Free-radical damage compromises the quality and well-being of cells in the short term, but eventually it may “snowball,” leading to age-related signs of decline. While manifestation of these signs have long been accepted as inevitable consequences of Father Time, it may be possible to forestall or prevent the cellular damage that precedes them.

Fortunately, Mother Nature has a solution to the free-radical problem. She has packaged antioxidant nutrients in the fruits and vegetables we eat to prevent their spoilage. But they also may forestall our “spoilage.” Antioxidant nutrients such as vitamin C and flavonoids, for instance, protect the watery regions of cells, whereas the vitamin E family and carotenoids defend their fatty regions, particularly the membranes through which cells absorb nutrients and excrete waste. Zinc and selenium are also crucial components of the body’s natural antioxidant enzyme systems. Mother Nature was indeed wise to put these antioxidant nutrients together in the foods we eat, because research suggests that combinations of antioxidants are more effective than larger quantities of any single antioxidant.

How do antioxidants provide protection? As long as the body has abundant antioxidants, free radicals are held in check. But when the anti-oxidant defence team becomes overwhelmed, free radicals can initiate destructive reactions. For instance, a typical human cell undergoes 10,000 oxidative “hits” to its DNA every day! Antioxidants may boost the body’s defence system. In a study conducted by the United States Department of Agriculture, for instance, GNLD’s Carotenoid Complex, many ingredients of which are found in Vita Guard, was shown to bring about a 37% upswing in the defence system of study participants. It is likely that the family of carotenoids in Vita Guard will strengthen children’s defences and help them meet the many challenges of childhood.

How much antioxidant protection is optimal? Antioxidants destroy free radicals. In the process, however, the antioxidants themselves are either destroyed or re-activated, so they must constantly be replenished. How much antioxidant protection a person needs depends on metabolic rate, lifestyle, diet and general well-being. Since most children have high metabolisms, active lifestyles, poor diets and constant exposure to challenges, their antioxidant needs can be great.

Mother nature gave us A wonderful gift in antioxidants, but we're not taking full advantage of the gift

Without question, children do not eat enough antioxidant-rich fruits and vegetables. Virtually all of the world’s major health organizations recommend high-produce diets. For example, Cancer Institutes recommend 5-9 servings of fruits and vegetables each day for optimal well-being. That’s the dietary ideal, but without question, children do not eat enough antioxidant rich fruit and vegetables.

As a result of these dietary gaps, which are the rule rather than the exception in children, children’s diets are often deficient in several antioxidant nutrients ^4,6:

• vitamin A
• vitamin C
• vitamin E
• zinc
• carotenoids
• flavonoids

Vita guard fills the antioxidant gap and protects your child's cells

You wouldn’t depend on buying a lottery ticket to pay for your child’s university education. Similarly, optimal well-being is a lifetime need too important to leave to chance. It requires planning. Just as you’d put money in an education fund to provide for your child’s future, so should you invest in his or her well-being. Oxidative damage can accumulate and cause challenges to well-being later in life. The earlier you provide your child with antioxidants, the greater the protective benefit. Benefits may show up in childhood in the form of a stronger defence system, or they may manifest themselves during adulthood as slowed onset of the effects of aging. Good whole foods and good whole-food supplements are an investment worth making to maximize your child’s chances for optimal well-being, both now and in the future.

Another GNLD "first"

Great-tasting Vita Guard is an unmatched opportunity in children’s nutrition. It provides antioxidant nutrients typically deficient in children’s diets at a time when cellular protection is most crucial. Another GNLD “first,” Vita Guard provides complete antioxidant protection for children from fruit and vegetable concentrates. Its exclusive blend of vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients (plant nutrients) was specially formulated by our Scientific Advisory Board to maximize cellular protection, and no other children’s product provides as broad a range of water- and lipid-soluble antioxidants. And your child can begin to reap the rewards of antioxidant protection as soon as he or she is old enough to chew a tablet!

Based in nature, backed by science

All GNLD products are based in nature and backed by science. Following Nature’s blueprints, our Scientific Advisory Board uses cutting-edge research to design truly innovative, high-quality products. Our goal is to bring you vital nutrients in as natural a context as possible. Vita Guard meets that goal because it features:

• Broad-spectrum carotenoids, not just beta-carotene. Beta-carotene does not exist in isolation in nature - it’s part of a huge family with approximately 600 members! But many supplements supply it alone rather than with the other vital members of the carotenoid family. Not Vita Guard! Vita Guard is the only children’s chewable to deliver beta-carotene with the other carotenoid family members that exist in foods, such as alpha-carotene, gamma-carotene, zeta-carotene, lycopene, lutein, zeaxanthin and beta-cryptoxanthin. It’s an excellent source of vitamin A from the human food chain and it offers broader protection of cell membranes.
• The entire vitamin E family, not just alpha- tocopherol. Similarly, Vita Guard contains the entire vitamin E family of tocopherols and tocotrienols as they exist in natural foods, not just the most common member in isolation (alpha-tocopherol). The benefit is more complete protection for cell membranes.
• Broad-spectrum flavonoids. Vita Guard features a broad spectrum of flavonoids, not just the one or two found in other supplements. The result is better protection for the water-soluble portions of cells.
• Whole-food ingredients. You won’t find ingredients as wholesome as those in Vita Guard in any other children’s supplement. Made from whole foods, flavoured with naturally occurring fruit essences and sweetened with fructose and fruit juices, Vita Guard contains ingredients you can feel good about! And it doesn’t contain ingredients that cause concern - sugar and artificial colours, sweeteners and flavours.

Three for children's nutrition

GNLD’s “Feel Better” programme for children supports optimal cellular nutrition by providing products to fulfill the specific needs of growing children. Vita Squares provide the lipids, sterols, vitamins, minerals and other nutrients that help address the need to feed the cells. Our delicious Nutrishake protein supplement provides the amino acids necessary to support renewal and rebuilding of the cells. And Vita Guard delivers a broad spectrum of naturally occurring, whole-food antioxidants to help meet the challenge to protect the cells.

Technical Information

*No SARDA established for this ingredient.

Dosage

Take 2 tablets daily.

Product Features

• Water-soluble antioxidants. Flavonoids and vitamin C help protect watery portions of cells.
• Lipid-soluble antioxidants. Carotenoids and the entire vitamin E family (not just alpha-tocopherol) protect lipid regions of cells.
• Contains zinc and selenium, key mineral components of the body’s natural antioxidant enzyme systems. Selenium works synergistically with vitamin E. Zinc plays important roles in the body’s defence system, appetite and growth.
• Vitamin A from carotenoids, a superb vitamin A source from fruits and vegetables.
• Naturally occurring sweeteners and fruit-essence flavourings. No sucrose.
• No artificial colours or preservatives.
• Chewable and delicious!
• Unique shape.