Eggs + Milk + Bread = A Nutritious Breakfast, a fixed combination for many parents. In fact, there's a lot to consider when preparing a breakfast. So, how should parents prepare breakfast for their children?
About Milk
For non-obese children, whole milk should be consumed.
Professor Fan Zhihong from the College of Food Science at China Agricultural University states that what is commonly referred to as pure milk is divided into pasteurized milk. If a child does not have obesity issues, parents should still choose whole milk for them. If the amount of milk consumed is large, one can consider having the first glass as whole milk, followed by low-fat or skim milk to avoid excessive fat intake.
In addition, many brands of high-calcium milk are modified milk rather than regular milk. Is the calcium-supplementing effect of such high-calcium milk better? Ruan Guangfeng, an expert from the Food and Nutrition Information Exchange Center, explains that the calcium in milk is easily absorbed by the human body, whereas the absorption rate of artificially added calcium is very low. Due to cost considerations, most high-calcium milk on the market now contains calcium carbonate, and the absorption of this type of calcium in the human body is not ideal.
About Staple Foods
Steamed buns are better than toasted bread.
To save time, most working mothers prepare bread for their children as a breakfast staple. In recent years, there has been a trend of making homemade bread, cakes, and cookies. Professor Jiang Zhuoqin from the Nutrition Department at Sun Yat-sen University says that for children, choosing steamed buns is better than bread. "Although buns are also made from starch, buns are steamed while bread is baked. Due to the high temperatures used in baking and frying, it can affect children's absorption of nutrients such as fatty acids."
Jiang Zhuoqin also mentioned that for children, one egg a day is enough. When choosing eggs, the main thing is to check for freshness.
Expert Advice
If possible, cook some brown rice porridge.
Nutrition expert Wang Leijun states that the best food for children is congee made from whole, plump grains of brown rice, wheat, etc. This way, nutrients are less likely to be lost. Grains like wheat should be soaked for about 6 hours first, which not only makes them easier to cook but also easier to chew. Parents can also choose to blend the grains into a paste; this still retains the nutrients, and children are more likely to eat it.