Baby cereal is one of the first foods introduced to babies. Cereals are nearly ideal infant transitional foods. Cereals are very convenient. Cereals can be prepared to have a consistency close to the thickness of milk or formula, which can be thickened as the baby gets older, add another source of nutrition, have fiber, which is an essential component of gut health. One of the most common cereals is rice.
What makes rice cereal so attractive? Nothing, for the babies. However, rice is technologically easier than other grains for manufacturers to turn into cereals, making them very popular.
Before selecting a baby cereal, the most crucial question parents should ask is: What is the nutritional value of rice? Well, it is an excellent source of two "nutrients": starch and arsenic. The amount of protein in rice in comparison to other grains is negligible.
The nutritional value of starch is well known: it is the most common source of empty calories, meaning that your baby can't grow well when fed rice cereal.
What about arsenic? This problem of high arsenic content in rice is much more significant than low protein content. Due to rice being grown and cultivated, arsenic accumulates in rice at several times higher concentrations than other foods. Arsenic is a known carcinogen and adversely affects memory, intelligence, the heart, reproductive system, and skin.
There is one advantage of rice over some other cereals - rice does not contain gluten, a protein found in many grains, including wheat. Gluten in the form of wheat has been one of the most important protein sources for humans for about seven thousand years, but only recently has gluten become a source of widespread concern due to the fear of gluten intolerance. The fear of gluten intolerance is based mainly on mass media hysteria propagated by publicity-looking journalists and bloggers, scientifically unfounded articles, and gossip.
Regardless of whether gluten fear is real or not, living without worry is much healthier than with it. One of the best substitutes for rice in gluten-sensitive or gluten-scared people is buckwheat. Buckwheat has no gluten, is loaded with protein and minerals, which give it this dark color. All protein reach grains have darker colors due to higher mineral content. The minerals in grains are bound to proteins, which means that colored grains are rich in protein.
Try to follow this rule: select grains of other colors than white, such as buckwheat, barley, oats, and quinoa, depending on the absence or presence of the fear of gluten.
