Is it OK for children to eat soy sauce?

When we cook, we often add various seasonings according to the dishes we make, and soy sauce can be said to be the most commonly used. Some people put some soy sauce and no salt when cooking. This is because soy sauce also contains salt, and eating too much salt is not good for your health. But is it okay for children to eat soy sauce? If the child is under one year old, it is recommended not to eat it. Older children can eat it.

Babies over 1 year old can eat a little soy sauce. Soy sauce is not suitable for babies under 1 year old. Babies are more sensitive to salt than adults. Although we don’t feel it is salty when we add soy sauce to the porridge, babies do feel it. If they eat salty food for a long time, it will add burden to the baby’s kidneys.

For babies over 1 year old, soy sauce is better than salt. Because soy sauce is made from soybeans, it can also help supplement iron. The chemical name of table salt is sodium chloride. The kidneys of babies, like other organs in their bodies, are far from mature, so they are unable to fully excrete excess sodium in the blood. Therefore, they can easily be damaged by eating too much salt. Moreover, this damage is difficult to recover. Soy sauce does not have this problem and can be used to adjust the taste for the baby. But you can only eat a small amount of soy sauce.

The harm of eating soy sauce too early

Since babies' kidney function and gastrointestinal digestive function are not yet fully developed, if parents feed their babies soy sauce too early, it is likely to increase the burden on the baby's kidneys, causing edema in the baby. In severe cases, it is likely to cause respiratory infections.

The harm of eating soy sauce for babies

1. Soy sauce contains a lot of salt. Excessive consumption can cause poor blood circulation in the human body. The elderly and children should be especially careful not to consume too much soy sauce. Moreover, most of the soy sauce nowadays is not brewed from grains. Many are made from chemical ingredients. Therefore, in addition to proper seasoning, use less soy sauce.

2. The baby's organs are underdeveloped, gastric secretion is extremely weak, and the secretory functions of various glands are also poor. Soy sauce is a fermented food and contains many microorganisms, some of which can cause gastrointestinal discomfort or diarrhea. The stomach acid of adults can generally effectively control the reproduction of these microorganisms, but infants cannot effectively inhibit the adverse effects of certain microorganisms in the body.