Infants and toddlers to add supplementaryfood can choose coarse grains?

　　Currently, many parents add complementaryfoods to infants and toddlers after the belief that coarse grains arehealthier, will let children and their own more coarse grains. Infants andtoddlers to add supplementary food stage can choose coarse grains? Is the morecoarse grains consumed the better?

　　The Dietary Guidelines for ChineseResidents (2022) recommends a daily intake of 50-150 grams of whole grains andmixed legumes, accounting for 1/4-1/3 of the grains, and emphasizes that wholegrains and mixed legumes can be eaten once a day. Therefore, some parentsbelieve that "eating coarse grains is good and can be given to babiesevery day". However, it should be noted that this recommendation appliesin principle to children and adults over 2 years old.

　　Wang Zhiji, director of the Maternal andChild Nutrition Branch of the Chinese Nutrition Society, suggests that there isno need to deliberately give too much coarse food to infants and childrenbefore the age of 2. Although the diet is now focused on eating more coarsegrains, but that is only for adults or the elderly, the purpose is to ensurethe intake of dietary fiber, to ensure the smooth flow of the intestinal tract.After adding complementary foods to babies, it is initially recommended toconsume more refined cereals, not necessarily with a lot of coarse grains. Whenthe baby's teeth chewing ability is well developed, cereals can be addedappropriately.

　　In addition, some people draw a parallelbetween whole grains and coarse grains, in fact, whole grains and coarse grainsare different. Whole grains are grains that have not been finely processed orhave retained the endosperm, germ, bran and their natural nutrients intactdespite being milled, crushed and flaked, mainly oats, buckwheat, corn, millet,brown rice, sorghum, corn, etc., while coarse grains are one of the traditionalstaples in China.

　　Coarse grains (mixed grains) are relativeto fine grains, mainly including: cereals, such as corn, millet, purple rice,oats, buckwheat, etc.; mixed beans, such as green beans, red beans, broadbeans, peas, etc.; tubers, such as sweet potatoes, yams, potatoes, etc. Mostcoarse grains are whole grains, because they are not overly processed,retaining the original nutritional value of the grain. However, some coarsegrains are processed with the germ and seed coat removed (such as corn crumbs)and cannot be called whole grains. Although whole grains are good for humanhealth, it is not good to have more of them.

　　Li Ling, director of the Maternal andChild Nutrition Branch of the Shandong Nutrition Society, said that after 8months of age, babies can consume a certain amount of whole grains, but not asmuch as possible. 1/2), rice porridge, millet porridge, oatmeal porridge orbadly cooked eight-pack porridge, while mixed grain rice can be tried after thebaby is 2 years old.

　　Premature consumption of mixed grains isnot recommended for infants and toddlers. Shandong Academy of AgriculturalSciences cereal nutrition and quality and safety innovation team leader GongKuijie said that infants and young children are weak gastrointestinal tract,coarse dietary fiber in coarse grains, too much consumption is likely to causedamage, especially infants and young children intestinal flora structureinherited from the mother, there is no need to change.

　　More dietary fiber in coarse grains willincrease gastrointestinal peristalsis, which should be properly controlled forchildren with indigestion and diarrhea. According to Li Ling, for infants andyoung children, coarse grains can provide fewer calories and a strong sense ofsatiety, so eating more may affect the total calorie intake and affect thegrowth of the baby's weight and height. Especially for children who are alreadymalnourished, it is not recommended to consume too much coarse grains for the purposeof catching up on weight. In addition, children need a certain amount ofcalcium, iron, zinc and other micronutrients in the process of growth anddevelopment, and the phytic and ellagic acids contained in coarse grains mayaffect the absorption of these micronutrients, which is not conducive to thegrowth of infants and young children.

　　Industry experts warn that parents mustknow what stage of the child needs to supplement what nutrition. Adults eatcoarse grains to maintain a healthy body function; children's development isparticularly vigorous stage, the body has to grow, especially when you juststart to add supplementary food, to choose fine grains.

　　The diet is about comprehensive andbalanced diversity, any nutrient plays a comprehensive role together with avariety of nutrients. For infants and young children with rapid growth anddevelopment, it is important to grasp the degree of appropriate increase in theproportion of coarse grains, vegetables and fruits, to ensure the intake of high-qualityprotein, carbohydrates, multivitamins and minerals, beneficial to the growthand development of infants and young children.