Episode 141: Exploring the Connection between Fussy Eating, Constipation, and Iron Deficiency in Children

A common theme we have been seeing in our Natural Super Kids KLUB lately is the number of children dealing with fussy eating, iron deficiency and constipation. So in today's episode I am going to discuss the link between the three. 

In this episode, we will touch on:

• How it is common for fussy eaters to become iron deficient due to lack of iron-rich foods in the diet, as well as the link to constipation due to lack of dietary fibre. 
• How a lack of dietary fibre can cause gut dysbiosis which contributes to poor appetite, fussy eating, constipation and iron absorbability;
• The link all three conditions have with the gut and the link between inflammation,  short-chain fatty acids, prebiotics, and probiotics. 
• How iron deficiency can lead to poor appetite;
• Why iron deficiency isn't just about iron intake, and why we should focus on absorbability. 
• How fussy eating and constipation affect iron absorption;
• The importance of choosing a well-absorbed iron;
• Plus so much more. 

Episode Links: 

• Check out the podcast episodes Jess mentioned here. Or subscribe to our podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, and Spotify. 
• Book a consultation with our qualified team.
• Download our free Gut Health eBook.
• Join the Natural Super Kids Klub Waitlist. 

• Sign up for our FREE Immunity masterclass here.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 1:54

Welcome to the Natural Super Kids podcast, where you will discover practical strategies to inspire you to boost the health and nutrition of your kids. I'm Jessica Donovan, a qualified naturopath specialising in kids health, and I want to make it as easy as possible for you to raise healthy and happy kids. Let's get into it, hello, hello, welcome back to the Natural Super Kids podcast, jessica Donovan here. So today I want to chat with you about the link between fussy eating, constipation and iron deficiency, and this was an idea that came to me recently. We welcomed a whole heap of new members into the Natural Super Kids club. If you are a club member, shout out to you, and we always have a huge influx of questions coming in with new members, and I was doing my weekly Ask the Naturopath session, which I do every single Thursday morning. I go live and answer our members' questions, and there was just this common denominator that kept coming up. That was, you know, that was this link between kids that were fussy eaters, that struggled with constipation and were iron deficient, and it was just so interesting how often this came up with our new members, so I wanted to chat about it From a high level. I'm not going to get into the nitty gritty detail, but I really want this information to help parents to understand that, oh, maybe my child's fussy eating is linked with their iron deficiency or their constipation, like these three struggles that so many parents have. It's really interesting the link between them and you know, of course there's obvious links, like, of course, a fussy eater might not eat enough iron rich foods, so they're going to be more likely to develop a deficiency in iron. But there's certainly more to it than that and that's really what I want to dive into today. So, if you're listening to this and you're wanting more information about constipation in children, iron deficiency or fussy eating, we certainly have dedicated episodes to these topics on the podcast. So if you go back to episodes 30, 31, and 32, we cover a lot of fussy eating strategies there. We cover iron deficiency in children in episode 113. And we talk about a naturopathic approach to constipation in episode 41. So those are episodes that you might want to listen to for some deeper information on those topics once you are done with this one. So fussy eating is, I think, the biggest challenge we hear from parents. You know, related to their kids' health and nutrition. So it's something that a lot of families struggle with, you know, in varying degrees, and it's something that we certainly support a lot of families with here at Natural Super Kids and in the Natural Super Kids Club. And, as I said, you know, on a basic level fussy eaters will often lack, have a lack of intake of iron rich foods. So iron is found predominantly in animal proteins, red meat being, you know, one of the best sources of iron. We can also find iron in liver and paté. Green leafy veggies, beans, legumes are quite decent sources of iron as well. So a lot of fussy kids will avoid a lot of iron rich foods. So that makes sense that they will become, you know, easily become deficient in iron. But then if we go a step further, I guess, or a step deeper, the other thing that is really common in fussy eaters is a gut imbalance, or what we call dysbiosis, an imbalance in the good and bad bacteria, put simply, in the microbiome. And this is a bit of a chicken and what came first, the chicken or the egg sort of scenario. Because when our kids are fussy, of course you know they're not going to eat as many gut friendly, healthy gut foods, so they're more likely to develop a gut imbalance. But on the other hand, you know, a gut imbalance can lead to more fussy eating tendencies. So when our kids do have that, that dysbiosis, they're going to often be a bit attracted and crave those starchy, carby, white, beige foods that are often, you know, the favourites among fussy eaters. So that gut imbalance or dysbiosis can contribute, for sure, to fussy eaters and then fussy eaters are more likely to develop a gut imbalance as well and that, of course, can lead on to constipation. You know, gut imbalance and dysbiosis is another is a contributor to constipation and also to iron deficiency, which we'll get to in a moment. So, you know, really, if you're going to take anything from this episode, what I want you to understand is that all of these three challenges that we're talking about today fussy eating, constipation and iron deficiency you know, have this underlying driver that is, a gut imbalance or a dysbiosis, which the cause of that, you know, is kind of quite varied. You know, in short, it's really our modern diet and lifestyle that leads to these imbalances within the gut. And then, when we think back to fussy eating, of course the other factor here is that a lot of fussy eaters will lack good fibre in their diet. You know again. They, you know, tend to go for those lower fibre, white version, white carbohydrates sort of foods that lack fibre, and fibre is a really important fuel for the microbiome, and fibre, of course, is also really important in gut motility. We know that a higher fibre diet will increase the frequency of bowel movements. So if kids aren't getting enough fibre, they're going to be much more, much more prone to constipation or that lower, that slower sort of transit time where food, you know, isn't moving through the gut as quickly as it should. So then when we talk about constipation, of course a huge contributing factor to constipation in kids is a lack of that dietary fiber. So that's a huge link between constipation and fussy eating. Fussy eaters often don't get enough fiber or don't really like those sort of fiber-rich foods, and then we've got that dysbiosis that I was talking about before. So when there is an imbalance in the gut microbiome, there is more likely to be inflammation in the gut, and this is where it gets really interesting. Constipation itself can lead to inflammation in the gut and dysbiosis, so that that imbalance in the gut can lead to constipation. But when kids are constipated a particularly long term, that can then lead to a further imbalance in the gut microbiome and gut inflammation, and the reason that this is so important is that these two things dysbiosis in the gut and also gut inflammation negatively affect the absorber ability of iron. So when we're talking about iron deficiency, it's not just about what supplement can my child take to increase their iron levels. What's the best iron supplement for kids? Yes, that can be important, but we also need to look at that absorber ability and if a child is constipated and iron deficient and often fussy as well, then that absorber ability of the iron, no matter how much you're putting in through food sources or supplements, is potentially going to be a problem. The other thing that happens when we're with kids that are constipated is they often have lower levels of short chain fatty acids in the gut. Now, short chain fatty acids are a really a really positive in the gut environment. There's lots of good stuff that they do within the gut. One of those is to reduce that gut inflammation, keep inflammation in check, and they also really help with that gut motility. So when kids are fussy and they're not eating enough fiber, especially prebiotic fiber, that will lead to a low level of these short chain fatty acids. So when we think about what's really important for the gut microbiome. I often talk about prebiotics and probiotics and it's when these two come together the probiotics, the good bacteria, and then the prebiotic fibers. Those two together create the short chain fatty acids. And the short chain fatty acids are really important for, as I said, keeping inflammation in check, which is important for the absorption of iron and to keep those bowel movements sort of flowing regularly. So that can be another factor at play. And then, as I said, constipation itself can perpetuate this problem and lead to further imbalances in the gut, more gut inflammation, and that will lead to that lower sort of absorber ability of iron. The other thing that is fairly obvious when it comes to constipation if you've ever been constipated yourself, you know that it can feel pretty yucky, and so constipation can lead to appetite changes, a reduction in appetite, a lot of kids that are constipated. They won't have a big appetite and that will contribute to them being more fussy and picky with food. And that really is true for any sort of gut discomfort. If there's food intolerances or constipation, like we're talking about here, we'll often see kids that won't be that interested in eating food, let alone healthy food that we are trying to encourage them to eat. So when we look more closely at iron deficiency, you know it's one of the really common deficiencies that we see in kids. Iron deficiency itself can lead to a lower appetite. Now this again, it's perpetuating the problem, because a lot of kids that have iron deficiency are fussy or picky eaters and the lower their iron levels go, the lower their appetite goes. And this is related to one of our hunger hormones called ghrelin. It's spelt G-H-R-E-L-I-N, and iron is really important in the production of ghrelin, and when we don't have enough ghrelin then our appetite can reduce. So you've got constipation, you've got iron deficiency. No wonder these kids with these challenges are fussy and picky eaters and often not really interested in food much at all. The other thing with iron deficiency is it leads to fatigue. Iron is essential for red blood cell production and if kids are iron deficient, their red blood cell production will be reduced, and so this leads to them feeling tired, because of course, red blood cells are what transport the oxygen around our body and that really helps with our energy levels. So when kids are tired they might have reduced movement, reduced physical movement, which can perpetuate the constipation. One of the best things to keep the bowels moving, knowing that our bowel is a muscle, is that physical movement? I actually used to share a flat with a lady in my 20s in London and she I was sort of a new naturopath at the time. So we would openly talk about her issues with constipation and what she swore by for her constipation was going for a run and it just used to be a joke that she'd always have to run past where there was going to be public toilets because running would no doubt help her need to go to the toilet and that's what we're talking about here. So kids that are iron deficient potentially are getting less physical movement. So that is perpetuating the constipation issue. And, as I sort of talked about before, the gut microbiome and the level of inflammation in the gut are really important factors when it comes to the absorber ability of iron. So we are talking about iron deficiency a lot in the Natural Super Kids Club and we're always reminding our club members that it's not just about iron intake, it's also about absorber ability. So getting on top of any sort of digestive symptoms that your child has, whether it is constipation, like we're talking about today can really help with that absorber ability of iron, and there are some really well researched probiotic strains that have been shown to help with iron absorption as well, and you can find combination iron supplements with some of these strains of probiotics in them to help with that absorber ability. So I really want you to understand that it's not just about loading your kids with iron supplements because you get diagnosed by a GP with iron deficiency. That's what they will talk about what iron supplements to take and yes, that is an important piece of the puzzle. We want to make sure that the form of iron they're taking is a well absorbed form and we also want to make sure we're looking at these other factors. You know, how well is this iron being absorbed? Why are they low in iron in the first place? You know we really want to dig deeper and so you know, if you're listening and you have a child with issues, you know, in these three areas the fussy eating, the constipation and the iron deficiency, or even if it's just a couple of them know that they are commonly you know commonly an issue all of them for many children, and what you can really like a good first step is to start working on one of the areas Now. You know, for some kids, starting with, you know, really addressing that constipation is the key. Other kids you really want to, you know, get more variety in their diet and start to address the fussy eating first. But the good news is that working on a child's gut health and, you know, enhancing their digestive system and getting on top of any digestive symptoms that they have is a really good place to start. And will, you know, start to improve the iron levels, or the iron absorption at least, which often goes a long way in, you know, in starting to increase those iron levels and also, you know, have a have a positive impact on their fussy eating as well. You know I've worked with with countless children that when we start to work on on their gut with foods and supplements, sometimes as well, then they start to eat more variety in their diet because that gut dysbiosis is being addressed, that balance of microbes within the gut is becoming healthier, so that leads them to a better, healthier appetite and healthier sort of food preferences as well. There is, you know, so much to fussy eating. So this isn't the only factor, but it can make a huge difference in so many children. So I hope that helps you to understand that link between fussy eating, constipation and iron deficiency. If you're wanting help in this area, you know if you're a club member, we can certainly help and answer your questions, and we've got a load of resources in the club. We've got cheat sheets on addressing constipation. We've got a really great cheat sheet on boosting your kids iron with foods and supplements, with you know talking about all of these factors, and we've got, you know, multiple masterclasses on fussy eating. If you're not a club member, you know you can pop your name on the wait list for the next time we open the doors. I'll make sure that link is in the show notes and also you can look at booking an appointment with one of our practitioners. Both of our practitioners are really well versed in these areas and can support you to get on top of these issues once and for all, because they can be really, you know, tricky to manage. But the good news, with them all you know, being linked, is that when we start to improve one of these areas, the other areas start to improve as well. I hope this has been helpful. We are going into some really exciting guest interviews on the podcast in the coming weeks, so stay tuned for those and I'd love to hear from you on Instagram. Reach out to me over at natural superkids on Instagram. Let me know how you liked this episode. If you've got any questions, I'd love to hear from you over there. Thanks so much for listening. Have a great day. Thank you so much for joining me on the podcast today. Head on over to our website, naturalsuperkidscom, for the show notes for this episode, as well as a whole heap of inspiration to help you raise healthy and happy kids. I'll see you next week.