What are the precautions for babies to eat eggs? 5 precautions to pay attention to

Eggs are very nutritious food and are a must-have for every household. So, what are the precautions for babies to eat eggs?

What are the precautions for babies to eat eggs

1. Don't use egg custard alone as complementary food. Infants and young children can most easily obtain energy from carbohydrates, but eggs contain almost no carbohydrates. If you only eat eggs, part of the protein will be converted into energy, which will not play the role of protein in promoting growth and increase the metabolic burden. Therefore, when feeding children egg custard, you should add some carbohydrates, or crush the egg yolk and add it to rice paste or rice soup to mix well before feeding it to children to increase the utilization rate of protein.

2. Don’t eat egg yolks when you first start to add complementary foods. The absorption rate of iron in egg yolks is 3%, which is much lower than that of lean meat and animal liver (20%). Egg yolks are also one of the allergenic factors for infants and young children. Therefore, complementary foods should not contain egg yolks when they are added at 6 months old. It is recommended to start adding them at 7-9 months old, gradually increasing from 1/4 to 1.

3. Add egg white after 8 months. The digestive system of infants is not fully developed yet. The protein molecules in egg white can directly penetrate the intestinal wall into the blood, causing a series of allergic reactions or allergic diseases, such as eczema, urticaria, asthmatic bronchitis, etc. It is recommended to add egg white after 8 months.

4. Don't eat uncooked eggs. Raw eggs are not only contaminated with salmonella, but also contain two harmful substances, anti-enzyme protein and anti-biotin protein. The former affects protein digestion and absorption, and the latter can combine with biotin in food, leading to biotin deficiency in the human body, mental fatigue, muscle soreness and other symptoms. Therefore, eggs for babies must be cooked, and it is best to cook them for 7 minutes after the water boils. If it exceeds 10 minutes, the egg protein structure will be tighter and more difficult to digest. Methionine will decompose into sulfide, which reacts with the iron in the egg yolk to form iron sulfide that is not easily absorbed, resulting in a large loss of nutrition.

5. Do not eat fried eggs. High temperature oil will burn part of the protein, destroy lysine and other amino acids, and lose nutritional value. After eating, it is not easy for the digestive juice to come into contact with the mouth and stomach, which will affect the baby's digestive system.

Eggs are rich in nutrients, but the more the better. Generally speaking, children aged 1 to 2 years old need about 40 grams of protein per day. In addition to ordinary food, adding 1 to 1.5 eggs per day is enough.

The healthiest way to cook eggs

The best way to eat eggs is to boil them in the shell. No oil is added, the cooking temperature is not high, and the cholesterol in the egg yolk is not exposed to oxygen (cholesterol, once oxidized, will become one of the most serious threats to cardiovascular health), so it is the best way to eat eggs for the heart.

The best protein to digest is boiled eggs in shell. Studies have shown that the digestibility of protein in boiled eggs is as high as 99.7%, which means that almost all of it can be absorbed and utilized by the human body.

The best vitamin preservation food: boiled eggs in shell. The heating temperature is low, so all nutrients are preserved.

Pay attention to 3 points when eating eggs

1. Overnight eggs and tea eggs are bad for your health

If an egg is not fully cooked and left overnight, the nutrients in it will breed bacteria. Eating such spoiled eggs will be harmful to your health. Since the protein has been destroyed during cooking and it is left overnight, the nutritional value will be greatly reduced. Similarly, you should be careful not to eat tea eggs that have been boiled and then boiled again. This is because the substances in the tea leaves and the protein will mix and produce harmful substances.

2. Don’t eat raw eggs

Uncooked eggs contain a large amount of E. coli, which can easily cause diarrhea if eaten without cooking. Therefore, eggs must be cooked at high temperature to kill the bacteria before eating. In addition, raw eggs contain anti-biotin protein, which will affect the absorption of biotin in food, leading to "biotin deficiency symptoms" such as loss of appetite, general weakness, and muscle pain. There is also anti-trypsin, which will destroy the body's digestive function. Another thing to note is that when beating eggs, be careful of bacteria on the eggshell!

3. Eat eggs in moderation

Although eggs have a high empirical value, the more eggs you eat, the better. Eating too many eggs can easily lead to overnutrition and obesity. It increases the burden on the liver and kidneys. Excess protein can overload the urea production system. Eating too much protein can also produce a large amount of ammonia, hydroxyl, phenol and other chemicals in the intestines, which are very toxic to the human body. It is very likely that you will experience symptoms such as abdominal distension, dizziness, limb weakness, and coma, which is often called "protein poisoning syndrome."

6 common misunderstandings about eating eggs for babies

1. Eating too many eggs at one time

Many parents think that eggs are rich in nutrients and the more children eat, the better. In fact, this is not the case. Because infants and young children have poor digestive ability, if they are allowed to eat a lot of eggs, it is not only easy to cause indigestion, but also because egg protein contains an anti-biotin protein, which can prevent absorption after binding with biotin in the intestines, causing vitamin deficiency in infants and affecting their health.

Correct approach: Babies need to eat egg yolks to supplement iron. At the beginning, only 1/4 egg yolk can be crushed and put in milk cake for consumption, and then gradually increase to 0.5-1. If the child eats too much, the gastrointestinal tract cannot bear it, which will lead to digestive absorption dysfunction, indigestion and malnutrition. Children aged 1-2 years old need about 40 grams of protein per day. In addition to ordinary food, adding 1-1.5 eggs per day is enough.

2. Use egg yolk as the first complementary food

Nutrition expert Wang Xingguo believes that egg yolks were often recommended as complementary foods in the past, but the iron in egg yolks is difficult to absorb, with an absorption rate of only 3%, far lower than lean meat and animal liver (iron absorption rate of 20%), and egg yolks are one of the ingredients that are most likely to cause food allergies in babies. Therefore, egg yolks should not be included in complementary foods starting at 6 months old, and should be added between 7-9 months old, gradually increasing from 1/4 to 1 egg per day.

Correct approach: The first regular complementary food should be baby rice cereal. Baby rice cereal is fortified with iron, zinc, vitamins, etc., and is not prone to allergies. It is the first choice for baby complementary food. Fruit juice, vegetable juice, etc. can also be added early, but generally not as the regular first complementary food. Meat paste and liver paste can also be tried in the early stage.

3. Feed your baby egg white within one year old

It should be noted that it is not suitable to eat egg white before one year old. This is because the baby's digestive system is not fully developed, the intestinal wall is very thin and the permeability is very high. The protein in egg white is albumin, which has small molecules and can directly pass through the intestinal wall into the baby's blood, easily causing a series of allergic reactions or allergic diseases, such as eczema, urticaria, asthmatic bronchitis, etc.

Correct approach: It is recommended not to add egg white to baby's complementary food within one year old.

4. Eating Undercooked Eggs

Some parents like to boil eggs with sugar for their children to eat. Since the bacteria and parasite eggs in the eggs cannot be completely scalded to death, they are easy to cause diarrhea, "Salmonella typhi" and "Salmonella enteritidis", and children may suffer from typhoid or enteritis. If there are no live bacteria in the eggs but only a large amount of toxins, it will manifest as acute food poisoning, with an incubation period of only a few hours, an acute onset, and a course of 1-2 days. The symptoms are vomiting and diarrhea. Older children complain of severe abdominal pain, accompanied by high fever, fatigue, etc.

In addition, there is a saying among the people that "raw eggs can cure constipation in children". In fact, this not only cannot cure constipation, but also may cause "Toxoplasma gondii" infection. This disease has a rapid onset and almost all organs in the body will be affected, often causing pneumonia, myocarditis, maculopapular rash, muscle and joint pain, encephalitis, meningitis, etc., and even death.

The correct way to do it: When feeding eggs to children, make sure they are cooked thoroughly. It is best to eat steamed eggs. It is not advisable to use boiling water to rinse eggs, and never feed children raw eggs.

5. Eat fried eggs

Because when frying eggs, the eggs are covered with oil, and the high temperature of the oil will burn part of the protein, destroying lysine and other amino acids and losing their nutritional value. After eating, it is not easy for the digestive juice to come into contact with the mouth and stomach, which affects digestion.

The correct approach: Let your child eat an appropriate amount of boiled egg yolks.

6. Let children with fever eat eggs

Egg protein can produce "extra" calories after consumption, which increases the heat in the body and is not conducive to the recovery of sick children.