By Tracey Hayes, ND

With the start of a new school year, keeping your kids on track for a great year of learning can be a big job! But help is here to naturally boost concentration, learning and keep stressed kids calm.

For Clever Minds Think Iodine
Groundbreaking research involving school-age children, published in the prestigious American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in 2009, assessed cognitive improvement with Iodine supplements.

The research found that supplementing Iodine deficient children with the mineral Iodine improved performance in tests of perceptual reasoning, considered a high level intellectual function.

In a nutshell, many kids stand to benefit from significantly improved school performance simply by increasing their intake of Iodine, a mineral vital for our mind and body!

Who would have believed up until five years ago our main source of Iodine came from the Iodine used to sterilise milk containers in our dairy industry! Chlorine is now used in place of Iodine for this purpose. A staggering half our Aussie kids are now considered deficient in this brain-power nutrient. With our soils extremely low in Iodine, making it near impossible to get enough from our food, supplementation is a positive and easy way to correct Iodine deficiencies in our kids helping them realise their full intellectual potential. A good kid’s multivitamin and mineral will have Iodine as a key ingredient and if you use salt, switch to the iodised variety.

Brain Boosting Brahmi
Following tradition, newborn infants in India have ceremoniously been anointed with Brahmi in the belief this herbal medicine will open the floodgates to intelligence! Fast forward and Indian children as they mature are still given Brahmi to promote mental development. But what’s the science to support this traditional use of Brahmi in kids for use today?

Brahmi has shown broad effects, improving memory and cognitive abilities in children, supported by a number of well designed clinical trials and research, involving a battery of brain function tests covering intelligence, memory and reaction time. In one double-blind controlled study of boys with average intelligence as measured by IQ tests, results revealed math skills, direct memory and several subtests of a variations on the IQ tests were all significantly improved.

Revealed in other research are Brahmi’s stress-busting and anti-anxiety effects, with studies showing an improvement in anxiety levels, better social adjustment and less mental fatigue.

Happy As Can Be With Omega 3
Recent research published in the American Journal of Psychiatry revealed Omega 3’s from fish oil showed significant positive effects on symptoms in children who are depressed. Most research to date has focused on Omega 3’s from fish oil playing a beneficial role in the prevention and treatment of ADHD and enhancing learning capability and academic performance. Kids low in Omega 3 are significantly more likely to be hyperactive, have learning disorders and display behavioural problems.

Fish oil supplements for children are great tasting and designed especially for kids needs. When choosing a fish oil for your children, ensure the product has been tested for mercury and checked for environmental contaminants like PCB’s and dioxins. Young brains could well do without these extra nasties.

Wonderfuel for Brains
Iron is responsible for transporting oxygen from our blood to our brain. Children who are low in Iron tend to have poor concentration, cognitive and motor development and behaviour problems.

One of the best sources of iron and other goodies for learning is lean red meat. If your kids are picky eaters, great tasting iron tonics just for kids are available at your Healthy Life store along with any of the other remedies mentioned above.