Advantages and disadvantages of rice milk for childrens health

The trend of feeding children with seed milk, especially rice milk, as a substitute for animal-based milk is being supported by many mothers. However, few people know that these types of milk still present certain risks if not used properly.

Rice milk is a popular choice of many parents when their children are allergic to cow's milk or do not like to drink formula or breast milk. However, is rice milk really a good choice? If you are wondering about this issue, let aFamilyToday Health follow up with the following sharing to understand more about the benefits and risks of giving your baby rice milk.

Rice milk is milk made from rice, has a natural sweet taste, and is loaded with carbohydrates, sugar and calories. Specifically, each cup of unsweetened rice milk contains about 120 calories, 10g sugar, 22g starch, 2g fat and contains no protein.

Should babies and toddlers drink rice milk?

Although rice milk is a safe choice for children prone to allergies, experts say that you should not give your newborn rice milk to completely replace formula and breast milk . The reason is that rice milk is milk derived from plants, so it may not provide the necessary amount of protein, calcium and vitamin B12. Therefore, nutritionists recommend that parents should only give their children rice milk when there is no other choice, otherwise you should still give your child other types of milk with more nutrients.

Benefits when giving children rice milk

Here are some of the benefits of rice milk for children's health:

Rice milk is the least hypoallergenic type of milk, and even children with a soy or almond milk allergy can still drink it. Therefore, for children prone to allergies, rice milk is a good choice that you can consider.

Rice milk is rich in vitamin E and magnesium, so it is good for the heart, helping to prevent stroke and other heart-related diseases. In addition, rice milk also contains many flavonoids, an antioxidant that helps keep the heart healthy.

Rice milk contains absolutely no cholesterol and contains very little fat, so children are less likely to become obese.

Rice milk contains essential minerals, so it improves the body's immunity, helping to protect children from common diseases such as allergies and viral infections.

In particular, rice milk can also be used when children have diarrhea because it is easy to digest.

Risks can be encountered when giving rice milk to infants and young children

Although it is a hypoallergenic milk, rice milk also has some potential risks.

Unlike cow's and soy milk, rice milk has very little protein. Therefore, if your child drinks rice milk regularly or uses rice milk as a substitute for cow's milk, you should pay attention to adding protein to your baby through other foods such as meat, eggs, and legumes.

According to Jatinder Bhatia, the American Pediatric Association, pediatrician, it is not safe to give children rice milk regularly as there are concerns about arsenic in rice products that could harm children. baby's brain development. Therefore, doctors recommend that parents should not give rice milk to children under 5 years old too often.

In addition, if young children drink rice milk regularly, it is also easy to be deficient in iron, zinc and essential amino acids because micronutrients in plants are often difficult to absorb.

Children under 2 years old will need a certain amount of fat, but rice milk does not meet this need. There have been many cases of children suffering from malnutrition , pale skin due to drinking only rice milk and oat milk.

Because rice milk contains a lot of carbohydrates and sugar, children with diabetes  should not use it.

For children under 1 year old, breast milk is still the best choice and you should not use rice milk as a substitute because rice milk is very poor in nutrients, easily causing a lack of nutrients.

Tell you how to make rice milk for your baby to change taste

If your baby is prone to allergies or he seems bored with cow's milk, so you decide to give your baby rice milk, you can prepare this milk according to the following method. 

Resources: 

Brown rice: 1 cup

Water: 4 cups

Vanilla: 1/2 tube 

Sugar, salt. 

Doing:

You wash the rice thoroughly and then add it to cook with a little salt. Note that you need to add more water than you need to cook white rice. For the brown rice to cook quickly, you should rinse the rice and soak it for 30-45 minutes before cooking.

After the rice is cooked, mix the rice with water and a bit of sugar, then add it to a blender.

Strain the mixture through the sieve thoroughly and remove the rice body. Then put in a glass jar and store in the refrigerator.

With this recipe, you can process about 8 cups of rice milk. In order to avoid nutritional deficiencies, you should give them other healthy supplements.

In addition to rice milk, what kind of seed milk can you give to your baby?

Almond milk, soy milk, and coconut milk are other healthy nut milk that you can give your baby a try.

1. Almond milk

Almond milk is milk made from almonds. Each cup of almond milk contains about:

30 - 60 calories

1g of carbohydrate

3g of fat

1g protein.

Although almonds are rich in protein and calcium, almond milk is not. Therefore, many dairy brands now add calcium and vitamin D to this milk.

Advantages:

Low in calories, free of sugar or saturated fat.

Rich in vitamin A

Defect:

Contains less protein.

May contain carrageenan, a substance that causes digestive problems.

2. Soy milk

Like other plant-based milks , soy milk is not high in vitamin B12. However, soymilk is a fairly common food allergen, so when you give it to your baby, you should also watch it closely. One cup of unsweetened soy milk contains about:

80 - 100 calories

4g of carbohydrate

4g of fat

7g protein. 

Advantages:

Rich in vitamin A, potassium and isoflavones. In addition, some dairy manufacturers add calcium and vitamin D to their products. 

The amount of protein in soy milk is as much as cow's milk, but the calories are lower.

Soy milk contains very little saturated fat.

Defect:

Drinking a lot of soy milk can be harmful for children with thyroid diseases .

Currently, concerns about genetically modified (genetically) soybeans are becoming the top concern of many parents.

3. Coconut milk

In addition to soy milk and almond milk, coconut milk may also be a good choice to consider. Coconut milk contains more fat than other types of nut milk. Each cup of unsweetened coconut milk contains about:

50 calories

2g of carbohydrate

5g of fat

Natural coconut milk does not contain protein, calcium, vitamin A or vitamin D. However, many commercially available coconut milk may be fortified with these nutrients.

Pros: This is a milk that rarely causes allergies.

Defect:

High in saturated fat.

Doesn't contain much protein

May contain carrageenan, a substance that causes digestive problems.

aFamilyToday Health believes that through the above sharing, you have a better overview of rice milk and milk made from grain. Thereby helping you to take measures to add nutrition to your baby if you give them these types of milk.