After wave after wave of popular science, I believe many people know that babies do not need salt within one year old, and they should eat a light diet within three years old (i.e. Very little salt is needed).
However, parents always feel that they do not add some condiments, as if they are short of what. Since salt cannot be added, it is always OK to add some other condiments. It is said that monosodium glutamate is harmful to human body, so it is always OK to add some chicken essence to the baby’s supplementary food.
Seeing everyone’s [witty] ideas, Ding Ma deeply felt that it was really necessary to talk about chicken essence and monosodium glutamate.
In fact, monosodium glutamate is not as terrible as you think, and chicken essence is not as safe as you think. However, both chicken essence and monosodium glutamate should be limited when they are given to babies, just like salt.
There is no essential difference between chicken essence and monosodium glutamate.
Don’t think its name is chicken essence, which means it is [chicken essence] and [chicken-flavored monosodium glutamate] is the correct solution. Why do you say that? Go into the kitchen, pick up a bag of chicken essence and look at the ingredient list behind it, and you will know.
In the ingredient list of chicken essence, sodium glutamate is ranked first (the higher the content of the ingredients, the higher), which is the same as the main ingredients of monosodium glutamate.
The difference between them is that chicken essence will add other substances to the sodium glutamate to enhance flavor and freshness, such as disodium 5 ‘-tasting nucleotide, etc. In addition, in some more conscientious chicken essence, it will still mean to add some chicken powder or other meat extracts.
Is monosodium glutamate and chicken essence harmful to human body?
There are many [legends] circulating among friends about the carcinogenesis of monosodium glutamate, but in fact, scientists have long studied the safety of monosodium glutamate and have not found that it can cause harm. The World Health Organization (WHO) classifies monosodium glutamate into the [safest] category.
Glutamic acid and taste nucleotides, the main components of chicken essence and monosodium glutamate, are also widely found in organisms, which is why stewed broth, kelp soup, etc., even without monosodium glutamate, chicken essence can taste delicious flavor.
Of course, modern monosodium glutamate is not boiled from kelp, but fermented by some bacteria that are good at secreting glutamic acid. The raw materials for fermentation can be starch, beet or sugar cane, which is similar to the principle of brewing wine, vinegar and yogurt.
Therefore, whether you eat monosodium glutamate or chicken essence, as long as you buy compliance products from regular manufacturers, it is safe.
Can that be for the baby?
Theoretically, monosodium glutamate and chicken essence are harmless to human body. However, the influence of sodium on human health cannot be ignored.
We all know that babies under the age of 1 are not recommended to eat salt. The restriction on salt here is mainly aimed at the sodium contained in salt (sodium chloride), so sodium glutamate, the main component of monosodium glutamate and chicken essence, contains sodium. Therefore, for babies under the age of 1, monosodium glutamate and chicken essence should not be eaten as well.
Even after the age of 1, the food given to the baby should also use as little condiment as possible to keep the original taste of the food. If salt, chicken essence and monosodium glutamate are used, the total amount must be paid attention to. If chicken essence and monosodium glutamate are added, the amount of salt should be reduced accordingly.
The Chinese Nutrition Society recommends that babies under the age of 4 should not consume more than 700 mg of sodium (equivalent to 1.8 g of salt) per day. Considering that other foods in the daily diet, including meat, eggs, milk, beans and bean products, radish, cabbage and other vegetables, are rich in sodium, the total amount of additional sodium-containing condiments, including salt, monosodium glutamate and chicken essence, should not exceed 1 g per day.
When the baby gradually starts to try family food and eat with his family, he should pay attention to putting as little condiment as possible when preparing food to protect the baby’s health and also benefit the health of the whole family.