Will children mature early if they drink honey?

It has always been believed that children drinking honey water is not only nutritious, but also has a certain effect on moisturizing the intestines. Especially when children suffer from constipation, the effect is even better. However, some friends say that children drinking honey water will cause precocious puberty. So will children drinking honey water cause precocious puberty? Is this statement true? This makes many parents particularly confused. Let us learn more about it through the following introduction.

Honey can clear away heat, tonify the middle, detoxify, moisten irritability and relieve pain. It is cool in nature and can clear away heat when eaten raw, and warm in nature and can tonify the middle when eaten cooked. Studies have confirmed that honey can promote the gastrointestinal tract's digestion of protein and fat, and has a therapeutic effect on children's nutritional anemia, infant constipation, hepatitis and other diseases. Unlike royal jelly, honey does not contain biological hormones. Therefore, eating honey can promote the growth and development of children and will not cause precocious puberty.

However, because it facilitates excretion and increases nutrition, some parents simply regard children's honey as a universal nutritional supplement, such as increasing the amount of honey consumed by children, or simply using it to replace the intake of individual medications. In this regard, experts remind that infants and young children should be cautious when eating honey.

First of all, when feeding honey to infants and young children, you need to be careful to buy honey that has passed food hygiene inspection to prevent poisoning. Because the nectar of some plants is toxic, such as the nectar of Tripterygium wilfordii, Crabapple tree and Rhododendron, eating it can cause poisoning symptoms such as dry mouth and numbness, headache and weakness, vomiting and diarrhea, rapid breathing, blurred vision, etc.

Secondly, since infants and young children have poor gastrointestinal barrier function and are unable to resist bacteria and toxins, they should be used with caution. However, botulism poisoning caused by honey is not due to the presence of botulism bacteria in the honey itself, but rather due to contamination during processing, transportation, storage or sales. Therefore, try not to give honey to babies under 1 year old. Once the honey is difficult to sterilize thoroughly, it will have side effects on babies with weak stomachs. However, for infants and young children over one year old, taking an appropriate amount of honey every day can indeed have a bowel-moistening and laxative effect on their intestines and stomachs, especially for young children who still need milk powder for their daily meals. Milk powder is dry and has a high heat content, which can easily cause constipation in children's intestines and stomachs.

Third, children should not be given too much honey. If children consume too much honey, it will cause diarrhea. Generally speaking, the daily intake of honey for a 4-year-old child is about 5 grams.

In addition, it is best not to mix honey from adults or the elderly with children. Because the latter two generally add various nutrients suitable for the corresponding age groups to ordinary honey, they are not suitable for children.

In fact, through the above we already know that the statement that children will mature early if they drink honey water is incorrect, and this situation will not happen. However, children must use warm boiled water when drinking honey water. Too hot water will destroy the nutrients contained in the honey. In summer, you can use cold water to adjust the drink, but it is not advisable to eat too much.