Some of the health benefits of jackfruit for your kids include providing necessary dietary fiber, minerals and vitamins. Jackfruit is also rich in energy and free from saturated fats or cholesterol. You little ones can get a rich source of vitamins A, C, riboflavin, niacin, thiamine, and folate in this fruit.

Introducing Jackfruit to your baby

In the tropical countries of Asia jackfruit is a common item of food. It can be eaten raw as well as ripe. It can also be enjoyed cooked in various delicious recipes.

Doctors and mothers are divided on when it is safe to introduce jackfruit in the baby’s diet. One thing is for certain that you need to exercise extreme precaution when introducing it. This is because the high fiber content in the fruit can cause your baby to have upset stomach. Many kids are known to pass watery stools when it is introduced to their diet.

Doctors advise that it is best to wait till your baby is eating solids to introduce jackfruit. Some doctors even advise waiting till your baby is at least 2 1/2 years old before you introduce this food.

Must Know Health Benefits of Jackfruit for Your Child

Jackfruit has numerous health benefits that can help your baby to develop and grow properly. It contains a high amount of nutrients like vitamin, minerals, electrolytes, phytonutrients, carbohydrate, fiber, fat, and protein.

Here are some of the health benefits of jackfruit fir your little ones.

Helps in building your baby’s immune system

Jackfruit is high in vitamin C that helps boost your baby’s immunity. Vitamin C present in jackfruit acts as a natural antioxidant that help your baby’s body fight against free radicals.

Free radicals are produced when oxygen reacts with certain molecules and kick starts a chain reaction that damages cell membranes and even DNA. These can increase your child’s vulnerability to nfections and diseases and more severe conditions like cancer and tumors.

It increases your child’s immunity to protect against common diseases like a cough, cold, and flu. It has also been found to form a strong resistance against infections. Inclusion of jackfruit in your baby’s diet will help him or her get adequate amount of Vitamin C from dietary sources.

Boosts Energy Level

Jackfruit is a rich source of carbohydrate and calories. However, there is hardly any accompanying fat. There is a healthy amount of simple sugars like fructose and sucrose. These are easily digested by your little one’s body.

The sugar found in jackfruit belongs to the category “Slowly Available glucose” or SAG. Sugars in this category release the glucose in your kid’s body in a restrained manner. This reduces the glycemic index of jackfruit.

So your child can have an easily digestible source of energy without you having to worry about the glucose levels in his body.

Promotes Healthy Digestion

Jackfruit is very roch in dietary fiber. When you cut open the fruit you can clearly see the soft fiber present. When consumed these fibers turn into significant amount of roughage in your baby’s bowels.

Your baby can get 1.5 grams of roughage per 100 grams serving of jackfrtuit. This is an excellent amount for the promotion of healthy bowel movement in your kid. The dietary fiber in jackfruit helps add bulk to your baby’s stools and softens them up. This allows for smoother and healthier bowel movement which further aids in healthy digestion in your baby.

Protection of Eyes

Jackfruits are rich in Vitamin A and its equivalent in the form of Beta Carotene and Lutein Zeaxanthin. Vitamin A is essential in the protection of your little one’s eyes. Vitamin A acts as an antioxidant that helps improve your kid’s vision. It also helps in protecting his or her eyes from harmful free radicals.

It is also known to help create a protective layer on the cornea and strengthening the mucuous membrane of your baby’s eyes. This helps protect your baby’s eyes from viral and bacterial infections.

The Lutein Zeaxanthin present in jackfruit helps protect your kid’s eyes from intense and harmful light waves like ultraviolet rays.

Helps Strengthen Bones

Jackfruits contain high amount of calcium. Calcium is essential for the healthy development of your baby’s bones. Calcium helps your baby have strong bones and prevents bone related diseases from happening.

Jackfruits also contain high amount of potassium This helps in decreasing the loss of calcium from your baby’s body. It also helps increase the density in your little one’s bone and strengthening it.

Prevents Anemia

Prevent your kid from anemia by including jackfruit in his or her diet. Jackfruit is rich in iron which helps fight against anemia in your baby. Vitamin C present in the fruit further helps in the absorption of iron in your baby’s body.

It is said that all iron that your baby gets from dietary sources can pass right through hir or her body without being absorbed if there is no Vitamin C in the body. Other minerals like copper and magnesium in Jackfruit improve the quality of blood.

Precautions, Side Effects and Disadvantages

In spite of having number of health benefits, it has some side effects and disadvantages to the health which are mentioned below:

• It may cause some allergic reactions to your child if he or she is sensitive to it. Jack fruits may also cause sensitivity in kids suffering from birch pollen allergies.
• It is high calorie and carbohydrate rich vegetable thus should be eaten within limit
• Because of its powerful laxative nature it may cause diarhoea in your kids

Jackfruits are very delicious fruits with incredible health benefits for your little ones. It’s sweet juicy taste becomes even better when you know about the health benefits that your kids are going to derive from it.