Tame children's taste bud from young

Tame children's taste bud from young

It is recommended that children's taste bud should be tamed from young. "An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure" still applies when feeding babies sugars early in life. Sugars fed early will increase a baby's threshold for sweetness. The disadvantages of introducing sucrose early in life outweigh the benefits. Examples of these are listed below:

1. Babies will have increased liking and tolerance to sweet foods which could be carried on to adulthood.

2. Babies fed sucrose- laden milk formulas are predisposed to obesity due to overfeeding and early addiction to sweet foods. Studies have shown that babies have an innate liking for sweet foods. They tend to drink more of the sweetened formula or beverages, thus frequent feeding may predispose them to overfeeding leading to obesity. Giving them sucrose- containing formula or beverages will just increase their "craving" or preference for sweetened milk.

3. Consuming too much sweet foods leave less room for healthier foods. "Too much sweets spoils the appetite" Older babies who eat too many sweet foods tend to eat less of the main meals, also have less room for healthier foods. Sugar displaces more important nutrients from the baby's diet.

Facts on Sugar:

Sucrose is ordinary table sugar. Sugar cane and sugar beets are two sources from which sugar is purified and granulated to various extents to provide the brown, white and powdered sugars available in the supermarket. It is also the source of sweetness found in carbonated beverages, candies, cakes, and other concentrated sweets. Milk even without sucrose tastes naturally sweet, because it contains lactose , which is the least sweet of all sugars.