What Are Healthy Drinks for Children?

Too often, when parents talk about nutrition, they focus only on the food they serve to their children.

Not that it is wrong. However, that is an impartial picture. One missing ingredient would be the drinks that their children consume.

It goes without saying that your children should drink lots of water. In fact, water is the best drink that you can serve your children due to its vital importance in different bodily functions. Apart from that, water does not contain sugars and calories. But what about other drinks? What are healthy drinks for children?

Now, if you want to give your children a drink that is full of nutrients — something that will complement the foods you serve — then milk should be your top choice. Just one cup of milk contains 300 mg of calcium. Children aged between one and three years old need 700 mg of calcium daily while older children need 1,000 to 1,300 mg of calcium daily. On top of that, milk can provide other vital vitamins and nutrients, especially protein and vitamin D.

One milk substitute that you can consider giving your children is PediaSure with the Triple Sure System. This formulation has been scientifically designed to provide children with balanced nutrition consisting of essential vitamins and minerals which meet or even exceed US Dietary Reference Intakes.

But what about juices?

As much as possible, serve 100 percent juice to your children instead of drinks with just 10 percent juice, which are loaded with sugars.

But even if you serve 100 percent juice, serve this drink sparingly. You should not give juice to a child aged six months and below. Once the child reaches six to 12 months, you can serve him about 120 milliliters of juice per day. Children one to six years old can drink up to 180 milliliters of juice. Finally, children aged seven to 18 years old can consume up to 360 milliliters of juice per day.

Can you give your children soft drinks?

As much as possible, avoid giving your children soft drinks as these provide zero nutritional value. Worse, these drinks are loaded with sugars which can wreak havoc on your children's oral health and lead to weight gain. Some types of soft drinks also contain caffeine which is unnecessary for growing kids.

Under no circumstance should you give young kids soft drinks. For older children, you can do so, but you should let them know that they can only drink these sparingly and occasionally.

Source:

https://pediasurearabia.com/sa/en