HealthLink: Meat as a first complementary food may benefit infants
During the transition to solid foods when infants are 6 months, iron-containing foods are recommended as the first solid foods to prevent iron deficiency. According to the latest update to Health Canada’s, Feeding for Healthy Term Infants recommendations (2005), either iron-fortified infant cereals or iron-rich meat and alternatives can be introduced as the first complementary food when infants are 6 months old.
A recent American study published in the February 2006 Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology & Nutrition found that introducing meat as the first complementary food may help older infants meet their needs for both iron and zinc. This study compared the effects of starting exclusively breastfed infants on either meat or iron-fortified infant cereal as their first solid food by 6 months of age. Both foods were easily accepted.
At 7 months, infants in the meat group had significantly higher zinc and protein intakes, while infants in the cereal group had significantly higher iron intakes. During the 7 to 12 month interval, they observed a greater growth rate in the head circumference of the infants in the meat group. Infants in the meat group also consumed 90% of the Estimated Average Requirement (EAR) for zinc at 7 months, while those in the cereal group consumed less than 50% of the EAR. The study found a high percent of infants with marginal zinc and iron status and concluded that the introduction of meat as an early complementary food was associated with improved zinc intake and potential benefits.
CONSUMER TIPS:
Infants need nutrient-rich complementary foods at 6 months to meet their increasing nutritional and developmental needs. Iron-containing foods are recommended as the first foods to prevent iron deficiency. Either iron-fortified infant cereals or meats and alternatives rich in iron and zinc may be introduced as first foods.
WANT TO LEARN MORE? See Health Canada’s updated recommendations on First Foods in the section on Transition to Solid Foods in
Feeding for Healthy Term Infants.
Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology & Nutrition
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