Iron-rich diet – discrepancy between theory and practice
Children that are fed according to the country-specific guidelines issued by the health authorities do not need iron-rich junior and children’s milk. Unfortunately, however, theory and practice are often far apart. Nowadays, we grownups often do not have the time or possibility to prepare fresh meals for our children several times a day.
Infant and junior milk boosts the nutritional value of a meal
Instead of fruits and home-made whole-grain bread spread with vegetables, cheese or meat, we serve our kids high-sugar snacks from the fridge. For lunch or dinner, we give them frozen pizza or instant noodles from the microwave. Though ready-made dishes are easy to prepare, they are not always very rich in vitamins.
On such days, it might be good to additionally give our children some iron-rich infant and junior’s milk. Studies have shown that children have better iron values if they drink such milk instead of cow’s milk. This is because conventional milk and dairy products have some pitfalls when it comes to iron absorption.
Unfortunately, cow’s milk and some vegetables, such as soy beans, contain inhibitors that impair the absorption of iron. The range of inhibitors includes magnesium, calcium, polyphenols and phosphates. When children eat bacon and eggs, this will do little to supplement their iron stores if they drink cow’s milk or soya milk at the same time. However, this issue can be circumvented by taking vitamin C during a meal. Vitamin C helps to extract iron from the food. So it is a good idea to start off with a glass of fresh orange juice or to finish with a fruit.
The iron content of a meal can be improved in many ways. For example, the cereal or mashed vegetables can be mixed with infant or junior milk, and ready-made baby food can be enriched with fresh ingredients. We need to do what we can to make sure that our little ones are healthy and sound.
More articles on the subject of baby care are available in our online magazine HOCHDORF Inside: www.hochdorf.com/en/unternehmen/inside
Infant and junior milk can help against iron deficiency.
Efforts to compensate the lack of iron in the mother’s milk by feeding cow’s milk and dairy products will hardly be successful. The iron content of normal cow’s milk is very low.
Assuming that toddlers need 7 mg of iron a day, they would have to drink 14 l of cow’s milk in order to reach the recommended daily amount. By drinking infant or junior milk enriched with iron – e.g. with 7 to 12 mg a litre – children can easily satisfy their daily iron requirements.