Is tofu good for babies?

Tofu is a very common soy product. It is rich in protein and calcium, and has a good effect on nutritional supplementation for the human body. Although tofu has a very soft texture, it is not suitable for babies to eat because it is not easy to digest. In addition, tofu contains brine or gypsum, which may have a negative effect on the baby's health.

Why can't babies eat tofu?

First, tofu is difficult to digest, which affects the baby's absorption and development;

Second, the tofu production process uses brine or gypsum, which may be harmful to the baby's body;

Third, tofu contains estrogen, which will cause the baby to develop sexually prematurely.

Whether tofu is easy to digest has always been a controversial point. Not to mention babies, even some adults will feel uncomfortable after eating it. Bloating caused by eating too much and the use of gypsum in the production process are the main reasons why tofu has always been considered difficult to digest.

The production process of tofu does use gypsum or brine containing heavy metals, and many people are afraid to eat it when they hear these two words. As for estrogen, many people know that bean foods are rich in estrogen and are called friends of women, but they don’t want their babies to suffer from the currently "popular" precocious puberty due to early supplementation of sex hormones.

From a scientific point of view, tofu can be added to the complementary food of infants under one year old. It does not conflict with breastfeeding, so there is no scientific basis to say that infants cannot eat tofu if they are not weaning. However, it is not suitable to add soy milk to babies under one and a half years old, because the baby's gastrointestinal function is not yet perfect and there is no digestive enzyme in the stomach to break down beans, so drinking soy milk can easily cause indigestion and diarrhea.

Since the production process of tofu changes the properties of beans, it can be added in appropriate amounts to complementary foods for infants under one year old. There is no need to worry too much about the production method of gypsum and brine. The essence of gypsum is calcium carbonate, which is harmless to the human body and can be easily digested by stomach acid. Traditional Chinese medicine also believes that gypsum can relieve muscles, clear heat, relieve restlessness and quench thirst.

The brine itself is indeed toxic. It is a mixture of magnesium chloride, sodium chloride and magnesium sulfate. However, in the process of making tofu, the chlorine element in it replaces the calcium ions in the soy milk, and the brine itself is no longer brine and is therefore non-toxic. If you are still worried, you can feed your baby boxed tofu that is solidified with gluconolactone, which is healthier and has a softer texture.

Many people believe that tofu contains estrogen and eating it will cause children to puberty early. There is no need to worry too much about this issue, because tofu contains only a small amount of phytoestrogens. Every 100 grams of soybeans contains only 0.1 grams of phytoestrogens, which is much safer for the health of babies than animal foods containing large amounts of estrogen.

However, it should be noted that some babies may be allergic to soy products, and some babies are prone to bloating after eating soy products. In this case, it is recommended to postpone the addition time, or eat a small amount of processed and cooked tofu each time without any allergies.