Food and nutrition for kids: An evidence-based guide

© 2009-xiv Gwen Dewar, Ph.D., all rights reserved

New research offers important insights about diet for kids.

For case, studies confirm that, for their body weight, children burn down more fat (Kostyak et al 2007). These and other observations suggest that many seemingly natural, healthful diets for adults are opens in a new windowinappropriate for children.

What else should parents proceed in mind? Here is an alphabetize to evidence-based articles almost feeding children.

Babies. Researchers are besides investigating our children's primeval experiences with food. It turns out that some gustatory modality preferences may be opens in a new window formed in the womb. Food preferences are also shaped past flavors opens in a new windowin breast milk and baby formula. In improver, babies are influenced by the choices parents make with solid foods. For more than data, encounter this commodity about opens in a new windowgetting babies to consume new foods.

Fish, mercury, and nutrition for kids. Fish oil contains healthful omega-3 fat acids that are crucial for brain development. Moreover, fish consumption has been linked with meliorate cognitive development. But people are concerned near mercury in fish, and these are legitimate concerns. For highlights of the enquiry and a guide to choosing the right fish, see this article about opens in a new windowmercury levels in fish.

Atomic number 26. Laboratory analyses confirm which opens in a new windowfoods are the best sources of iron. Only more than chiefly, experimental inquiry helps us understand how we can opens in a new windowbetter iron absorption.

Milk. In that location is a lot of pseudoscientific nonsense written about the dangers of cow'due south milk and milk products. Invariably, the writers fail to cite the relevant studies. The truth? At that place are good and potentially bad things about milk. Whether or non milk consumption is worthwhile depends on what other choices you accept. For the details, see this testify-based expect at opens in a new windowthe costs and benefits of milk consumption for kids.

Paleolithic nutriton for kids. The latest research about opens in a new windowdiet for kids seems to support a prehistoric arroyo to eating.

For instance, it appears that mod agricultural diets–the diets associated with affluent, industrial nations–are in many ways inferior to the diets of our Stone Age ancestors.

In role, this is because agricultural diets are relatively new.

For hundreds of thousands of years, humans ate just wild plant and brute foods. Then, around 10,000 years ago, people began the shift to agriculture and animal husbandry. Humans began eating food types they'd never eaten before. The human torso, adapted to digest a Paleolithic nutrition, was of a sudden challenged with an agricultural diet.

Four hundred generations later, descendants of the commencement farmers have evolved new adaptations for coping with new foods (Patin and Quintana-Murci 2008). For instance, some people retain the ability to assimilate milk sugars afterwards infancy.

Others possess genes that produce actress amylase–an enzyme that breaks down dietary starch (Perry et al 2007). Indeed, there is evidence that our ancestors began eating starchy roots and tubers long before the advent of agronomics (eastward.g., Gibbons 2009; or, better yet, read anthropologist Richard Wrangham's witty and absorbing book, opens in a new windowCommunicable Fire: How Cooking Made United states Human

But humans haven't had enough time to adapt completely to the new menu of saturated fats and highly refined, highly candy cereals. Some anthropologists argue that 21st century diets are responsible for many chronic diseases, including cardiovascular affliction, hypertension, and diabetes (Cordain et al 2005).

So I think information technology'south worth a review. What can Stone Age menu teach us well-nigh nutrition for kids?Perhaps that the traditional food pyramid–which tells us to swallow lots of bread and rice–is misguided.

For more than information, read this commodity about the opens in a new windowlikely benefits of Paleolithic nutrition for kids.

Picky eaters. Are you having problem getting your child to try new foods? Or to eat his vegetables? Some kids are opens in a new windowpredisposed to be picky eaters. But inquiry suggests several skillful strategies for coping with picky eaters, such equally pairing new foods with sugariness flavors. To learn more than, see these opens in a new windowbear witness-based tips for dealing with picky eaters.

Probiotics and Prebiotics.Nutrient and supplement manufacturers are pushing prebiotics and probiotics. Are the claims overblown? Mayhap. But studies suggest that probiotic supplements can exist opens in a new windowan effective treatment for diarrhea, and the daily consumption ofprebiotics may opens in a new windowbolster the immune system.

Vitamin A supplements: Are your kids getting too much A? Kids with diagnosed deficiencies may demand extra sources of vitamin A. Only many well-nourished kids might be getting too much retinol, or vitamin A, in their multivitamin supplements. opens in a new windowHither are the details.

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References: The science of diet for kids

Cordain L, Eaton SB, Sebastian A, Mann N, Lindeberg Southward, Watkins BA, et al. 2005. Origins and evolution of the Western diet: health implications for the 21st century. Am J Clin Nutr 81: 341-354.

Gibbons A. 2009. Of tools and tubers. Science 324 (5927): 588 – 589.

Patin E, Quintana-Murci L. 2008. Demeter'south legacy: rapid changes to our genome imposed by diet. Trends Ecol Evol. 2:56-ix.

Perry GH, Dominy NJ, Claw KG, Lee AS, Fiegler H, Redon R, Werner J, Villanea FA, Mount JL, Misra R, Carter NP, Lee C, and Rock AC. 2007. Diet and the evolution of human salivary amylase gene copy number. Nat. Genet. 39(10): 1256–1260.

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