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What drinks are healthy?.
A
It is very important to establish
healthy drinking patterns in childhood as this time that sets the blue print for
future drinking choices.
Many soft drinks are filled with sugar and chemicals. The food
standards agency therefore recommends that the best healthy choices of drinks
for children are water and milk.
Many parents are familiar with their Childs milk requirements
at specific ages. According to the food standards agency, children between the
ages of one and three need to have about 300ml milk (three fifths of a pint)
Children’s water requirements are not so well known and
vary with age as milk intake decreases. In the UK there are no agreed standards
but recommendations from the US National
Academies Food and Nutrition Board suggest that:
- 1-3 year olds should
drink 0.9 litres per day
- 4-8 year olds should
drink 1.2 litres per day
Research has shown that
drinking water can help prevent headaches, obesity, bladder, kidney and bowel
problems and some cancers.
Making healthy choices can be difficult and often we are not made aware that
fruit juices and cordials contain high amounts of sugar, which can be fattening.
So always check the labels. Soft drinks such as fizzy drinks, juices and squashes
have no nutrients in them and drinking lots can decrease your Childs appetite
so they miss out on nutrients provided at mealtimes. Fizzy drinks, even diet
drinks can often contain caffeine and have been linked to tooth decay.
health visitor
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