As a low calorie nutrient-dense vegetable food alternative chives offer a lot of health benefits to your child. Some of the health benefits include healthier skin, stronger bones, nourished eyes, better digestive health, improved nervous system and protecting your child from any sort of fatal diseases like cancer. Being rich in minerals like nickel, potassium, iron, magnesium, calcium, manganese, phosphorous and vitamins A, C and K, along with moderate amount of vitamin B complex, chives can guarantee that your child will enjoy a better digestive and respiratory health throughout his/her entire life.

Giving Chives to Your Child

The nutrient rich chive is available year-long in the market and you can avail it either in its fresh form or dried with dehydrated leaves. However, if you are planning to feed your child with chives it is advisable that you buy the fresh ones only. Buy uniform, firm, deep green fresh leaf-bunch. Choose young leaves for mild flavor. Larger leaves will have a strong oniony flavor which your toddler might not like. It is better to start with the young leaves for the young ones. Chives can be added to your little one’s daily platter in a number of ways. But make sure that you wash the chives in a bowl of cold water. Dry them by gently mopping with a paper towel. Chop the leaves closely using paring knife in a way you desire. Add at the final moments to prevent loss of flavor. You can sprinkle chives on the salads for your child to enjoy. Finely minced leaves can also be added to your child’s favorite sandwiches and soups. But do make sure that they are finely minced or chopped so that they do not get stuck to your toddler’s throat while they attempt to swallow the soup. Sprinkling of finely chopped chives also adds flavor to your child’s mash potatoes.

Health Benefits of Chives

This super-nutritious green leafy vegetable offers a number of health benefits to your child.

Improves Cognitive Functions: The amount of folate, available in chives is known to keep the cognitive abilities of your child, intact. Restoring and maintaining the level of cognitive abilities is of utmost importance for your child since these functionalities ensures his/her abilities pertaining to attention, memory, judgment, evaluation, reasoning etc

Improves Eyesight: Chives are known to be rich in vitamin A and that gives a boost to your child’s eye health. Considering the fact that your child’s eyes are constantly exposed to the screens of the television, laptop, tablets or smart-phones, this kind of leafy green sources can really be beneficial.

Strengthens Bones: Chive promises to keep your child’s teeth strong and bones in a fit shape. It has high calcium content which is the major building block of our body. But it is not only the Calcium in chives which makes your bones strong but also the important vitamin K. The vitamin K is like the glue which helps to keep the calcium stick together to ensure strong bones.

Great Detoxifier: Detoxification is the process by which your body flushes out all the toxic contents.  Chives are known for its great detoxification potency which will help your child’s body to get rid of the harmful toxins. In his/her early growth stages, your child is exposed to various levels of oxidative stresses and that can accumulate a heavy amount of toxin in his/her body. The regular consumption of similar leafy greens can really help his/her body to remain healthy and free toxic. Chives is rich in both vitamin C and A and they send free radicals to keep your child’s skin healthy and boosting his/her immunity. The detoxifiers found in chives will also prevent your child from falling ill or catching cold on a regular basis.

Aids in Blood Clotting and Controls Inflammation: A study revealed that chives contain inflammation-fighting phytonutrients and hence will contribute by quickening the healing process of any swelling or injury, your child might be suffering from. Sometimes wounds take longer to heal and it might make your child a bit irritable. However, the regular consumption of chives will in fact trigger the healing process.

Prevents Cancer: Mostly due to the anti-oxidizing properties, chives have the potential to kill any sort of cancerous cell that might be present in your child’s body. The free radicals sent out by the vitamins, found in chives, damage the DNA of similar cells and help your child to maintain a healthier life.

Precautions

Chive as a leafy vegetable is indeed a healthy choice but at the same time if your child finds it difficult to digest leafy greens then it is best to avoid it. Sometimes the leafy vegetables like chives are rich in oxalic acid and that kind trigger some stomach upset if your child’s digestive system is not ready to veggie greens.