By Sheldon Baker05.03.21
Katherine Cole leads research and development efforts at ChildLife Essentials, a California-based children’s nutrition company. She is responsible for bringing together the latest science, technology, and premium ingredients to deliver innovative products in children’s health. Her passion for discovering where science and health intersect began while earning her degree at the University of California, Berkeley in Integrative Human Biology.
Health E-Insights: Are prenatal vitamins a key to newborn health?
Cole: Prenatal vitamins can be particularly important for a newborn’s health. Some of the most important ingredients in prenatal products include folic acid, iron, and omega-3 fatty acids. Folic acid is an essential component of prenatal vitamins that may help prevent birth defects, specifically, neural tube defects. Iron, another key ingredient for a healthy pregnancy, supports production of red blood cells and development of the placenta. In addition to vitamins and minerals, omega-3 fatty acids also play an important role in prenatal health by supporting healthy fetal brain and retina development, as well as preventing preterm birth. Taking a prenatal vitamin can help fill nutritional gaps and support critical aspects of fetal development.
Health E-Insights: Should children take a probiotic?
Cole: Yes. Children can benefit tremendously from probiotics and parents should consider giving their children probiotics if they are not already. The science is out there. There are surprisingly many studies on children and probiotics. There is great science being published showing benefits to digestive health, immune health, and even healthy weight in infants taking probiotics. It is now easier than ever to administer probiotics because probiotics come in many different convenient formats such as fun delicious chewable forms for older children, powders which can be added to a child’s food, and unflavored dropper products for infants.
Health E-Insights: Omega-3 products also seem to be beneficial for a child’s health.
Cole: Omega-3 fatty acids are essential for children’s health as they grow and develop. Omega-3 fatty acids are critical for healthy development and functioning of the nervous system. Two omega-3 fatty acids often found in children’s and prenatal dietary supplements are the long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids DHA and EPA. DHA and EPA are all-star omega-3s which are needed at every stage of life, with particular importance to the first 1,000 days. DHA and EPA support optimal visual and cognitive development and support healthy birth weight.
Health E-Insights: What does quality mean to you and why is it critical to your business strategy?
Cole: Quality is at the center of all that we do, and we take quality very seriously. Our goal is to always go above and beyond the minimum quality requirements to deliver products that are safe and effective; to us, this means third-party certifications and robust product testing. We are comfortable giving our products to our own children because we know we are creating products that contain high-quality ingredients and meet the highest quality standards.
Health E-Insights: Is the child’s supplement category still in a growth stage?
Cole: ChildLife started making children’s supplements 20 years ago, before it was even a separate category. To this day, we are still seeing tremendous growth in the children’s supplement category. In the last two years alone, we have seen numerous big supplement brands start their own children’s line. The category itself is expanding and a lot of development has gone into delivery formats specific to infant and children’s needs, like liquid dropper products and fun formats such as gummies.
Health E-Insights: Have any health trends emanated for children as a result of the pandemic?
Cole: We are seeing a growing interest in sleep and relaxation within the last year. Children's new day-to-day is completely different than it used to be with increasing screen time, disrupted routines, less outdoor activities, and reduced face-to-face interpersonal communications. These types of changes can be trying and stressful to some children and families. The health trends have been focused on emotional health and working toward finding alternative healthy routines and balance in this new landscape. Parents are looking for natural products and techniques to keep children comfortable and at ease, during these turbulent times.
Health E-Insights: Any changes you personally would make to the health of children?
Cole: If I had one opportunity to change the lives of children, my magic wand would give all children the gift of health, and equal opportunity to enjoy childhood, the most precious time in life, to their fullest. Unfortunately, not all children are lucky enough to start life as healthy infants in healthy environments. Nevertheless, we can still do our best to support our children by providing nurturing environments and optimal nutrition so they have the best chance to grow, discover and thrive.
Health E-Insights: Is there one message to the nutraceutical industry that you would want them to know?
Cole: Children’s health as a category is here to stay, and ChildLife is committed to providing nutritional products to support children’s health, for life. When developing new products, I stay focused on three aspects: efficacy, purity, and taste. We want parents to trust that our products are formulated to deliver what is on the label, contain natural ingredients, and taste great. We put a lot of effort into getting the taste exactly right. After all, a great product cannot be effective if a child is unwilling to take it.
Sheldon Baker is a senior member of Baker Dillon Group LLC and has created numerous nutraceutical brand marketing communications and public relations campaigns for many well-known supplement and food industry companies. For Health E-Insights interview consideration or brand marketing consulting, contact him at SBaker@BakerDillon.com.
Health E-Insights: Are prenatal vitamins a key to newborn health?
Cole: Prenatal vitamins can be particularly important for a newborn’s health. Some of the most important ingredients in prenatal products include folic acid, iron, and omega-3 fatty acids. Folic acid is an essential component of prenatal vitamins that may help prevent birth defects, specifically, neural tube defects. Iron, another key ingredient for a healthy pregnancy, supports production of red blood cells and development of the placenta. In addition to vitamins and minerals, omega-3 fatty acids also play an important role in prenatal health by supporting healthy fetal brain and retina development, as well as preventing preterm birth. Taking a prenatal vitamin can help fill nutritional gaps and support critical aspects of fetal development.
Health E-Insights: Should children take a probiotic?
Cole: Yes. Children can benefit tremendously from probiotics and parents should consider giving their children probiotics if they are not already. The science is out there. There are surprisingly many studies on children and probiotics. There is great science being published showing benefits to digestive health, immune health, and even healthy weight in infants taking probiotics. It is now easier than ever to administer probiotics because probiotics come in many different convenient formats such as fun delicious chewable forms for older children, powders which can be added to a child’s food, and unflavored dropper products for infants.
Health E-Insights: Omega-3 products also seem to be beneficial for a child’s health.
Cole: Omega-3 fatty acids are essential for children’s health as they grow and develop. Omega-3 fatty acids are critical for healthy development and functioning of the nervous system. Two omega-3 fatty acids often found in children’s and prenatal dietary supplements are the long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids DHA and EPA. DHA and EPA are all-star omega-3s which are needed at every stage of life, with particular importance to the first 1,000 days. DHA and EPA support optimal visual and cognitive development and support healthy birth weight.
Health E-Insights: What does quality mean to you and why is it critical to your business strategy?
Cole: Quality is at the center of all that we do, and we take quality very seriously. Our goal is to always go above and beyond the minimum quality requirements to deliver products that are safe and effective; to us, this means third-party certifications and robust product testing. We are comfortable giving our products to our own children because we know we are creating products that contain high-quality ingredients and meet the highest quality standards.
Health E-Insights: Is the child’s supplement category still in a growth stage?
Cole: ChildLife started making children’s supplements 20 years ago, before it was even a separate category. To this day, we are still seeing tremendous growth in the children’s supplement category. In the last two years alone, we have seen numerous big supplement brands start their own children’s line. The category itself is expanding and a lot of development has gone into delivery formats specific to infant and children’s needs, like liquid dropper products and fun formats such as gummies.
Health E-Insights: Have any health trends emanated for children as a result of the pandemic?
Cole: We are seeing a growing interest in sleep and relaxation within the last year. Children's new day-to-day is completely different than it used to be with increasing screen time, disrupted routines, less outdoor activities, and reduced face-to-face interpersonal communications. These types of changes can be trying and stressful to some children and families. The health trends have been focused on emotional health and working toward finding alternative healthy routines and balance in this new landscape. Parents are looking for natural products and techniques to keep children comfortable and at ease, during these turbulent times.
Health E-Insights: Any changes you personally would make to the health of children?
Cole: If I had one opportunity to change the lives of children, my magic wand would give all children the gift of health, and equal opportunity to enjoy childhood, the most precious time in life, to their fullest. Unfortunately, not all children are lucky enough to start life as healthy infants in healthy environments. Nevertheless, we can still do our best to support our children by providing nurturing environments and optimal nutrition so they have the best chance to grow, discover and thrive.
Health E-Insights: Is there one message to the nutraceutical industry that you would want them to know?
Cole: Children’s health as a category is here to stay, and ChildLife is committed to providing nutritional products to support children’s health, for life. When developing new products, I stay focused on three aspects: efficacy, purity, and taste. We want parents to trust that our products are formulated to deliver what is on the label, contain natural ingredients, and taste great. We put a lot of effort into getting the taste exactly right. After all, a great product cannot be effective if a child is unwilling to take it.
Sheldon Baker is a senior member of Baker Dillon Group LLC and has created numerous nutraceutical brand marketing communications and public relations campaigns for many well-known supplement and food industry companies. For Health E-Insights interview consideration or brand marketing consulting, contact him at SBaker@BakerDillon.com.
