Baby Food Myths
1. Bone broth for calcium
Broth is loved by the Chinese people, especially when it is cooked to be "milky, like milk". It is considered a nourishing delicacy. However, the nutritional value of broth is not high. The main problem lies in excessive fat and salt, while most of the nutritious proteins are still retained in the meat. Apart from a small amount of soluble peptides and amino acids, there are very few other nutrients in milky broth. Additionally, due to its high content of saturated fat, cholesterol, and purines, it is actually a junk food (low nutritional value and high harmful substances). The only advantage is its delicious taste (due to the small amount of nitrogenous compounds).
Bone broth doesn't provide calcium: Bones contain calcium, but it is not soluble in water. According to the recommended daily calcium intake of 800 milligrams by the Chinese Nutrition Society, one would need to drink dozens of liters of bone broth.
I respect everyone's habit of loving delicious broth, but please, there is no connection between it and nourishment or brain development. I have encountered several aunties who insist on giving their babies fish broth starting from three months old, claiming that "drinking fish broth makes them smart. So-and-so's child drank fish broth from an early age and later got into university." After studying hard for more than a decade, all the credit goes to fish broth, while so-and-so's child fainted in the toilet.
Truth: Feeding babies fish broth, meat broth, or using bone broth to mix with rice cereal is a typical baby food myth.
2. Red dates for blood
For babies exclusively breastfed, the iron content in breast milk is very low after 6 months. Without correctly adding high-iron foods as complementary foods, anemia can easily occur. Many elderly people panic when they hear about anemia and desperately add red dates to their baby's complementary foods to "boost blood".
The claim that red dates can supplement iron is probably just based on the association with the color "red" and has no medical basis. Indeed, iron supplementation is crucial for producing more red blood cells. However, the average iron content in 100 grams of dried red dates is only about 2 milligrams. In contrast, the iron content in 100 grams of pork liver can exceed 25 milligrams, and even rape leaves contain about 3 milligrams of iron per 100 grams.
Adding red dates as a health food to complementary foods is not wrong, but using red dates to "treat" a baby's anemia is truly a scam.
Truth: High-iron complementary foods include egg yolk, red meat, animal liver, beans, and some dark-colored vegetables. If a doctor recommends additional iron supplementation, it should be done separately from "eating food".
3. Salt for strength
This long-standing legend is really too ridiculous. All authoritative guides on complementary feeding recommend not adding salt to the baby's food under one year old to avoid excessive sodium and burden on the kidneys. Additionally, food itself contains a certain amount of sodium, so babies won't lack strength if they don't eat salt.
Truth: "Chinese Residents Dietary Guidelines 2007" recommend not adding salt, seasoning, or sugar when preparing baby's food.
4. Juice and vegetable water for vitamins
After six months, babies can start adding fruits and vegetables, but they should be mashed into purees rather than being consumed as juice or vegetable water. Juice is sweet and tasty, and babies who are used to drinking juice naturally refuse plain water. Given the risks of obesity and tooth decay, sugary drinks are not recommended for babies.
A large amount of vitamins and fiber contained in vegetables exist in the puree, while the content in vegetable water is very low. If a baby drinks a bowl of vegetable water, they are mainly consuming water with limited nutrients. Moreover, after boiling, pesticides, fertilizers, harmful bacteria, and oxalic acid on vegetables dissolve in the water, posing a threat to the child's health. The correct method is to discard the boiled water, scoop out the vegetables, and grind them into puree as a baby's complementary food.
Truth: Correct complementary foods: fruit puree, vegetable puree.
