Jaggery offers many health benefits to your child. Starting from curing constipation to protecting your child’s liver, jaggery has many benefits to offer to your child. Jaggery also purifies your child’s blood and treats common flu. Jaggery also treats anemia in children and helps in making the intestine more effective. If your child suffers from stomach problems then also jaggery can be of much use. It eases your child’s respiratory problems and helps him/her to have stronger bones. Jaggery is also a good source of energy for your child. If your child is gaining too much weight, then also jaggery comes to use.

Health Benefits of Jaggery for Babies

Prevent Constipation

Jaggery triggers the digestive enzyme in your child’s body. It helps your child soothes the bowel movement. If your child is suffering from constipation, jaggery can be of great use. It will not only improve the digestion but also will help your child get cured from the tendency of gas.

Protects the Liver

It cleanse your child’s liver. It flushes out all the harmful toxins. A healthy liver will help your child to have more appetite. Eating junk food, often adds toxins and fat around your child’s liver. That is why, foods like jaggery is useful for your child.

Treats Common Cold and Flu

Jaggery has the classic quality of fighting off the symptoms of common cough and cold in your child. You can mix jaggery with tea or warm water and can feed your child twice on a daily basis. This will help him/her get rid of the flu.

Purifies the Blood

One of the best qualities of jaggery is that it can purify the blood of your child. When eaten in limited quantities, on a daily basis, the food tends to oxidize your child’s blood and help him/her to lead a healthy life.

Immunity Booster

Jaggery can work wonder for your child’s immunity. It is rich in antioxidants. It also contains minerals in the form of zinc and selenium. It helps prevent the free radical damages. It also boosts your child’s resistance against any sort of damages.

Improves Hemoglobin Count

Limited amount of jaggery, on a daily basis, can increase the overall hemoglobin count in your child’s blood. Due to the presence of minerals like zinc, iron and magnesium, the hemoglobin count increases in your child’s body.

Cleanse Bodily Toxins

Jaggery is a very natural cleansing property. This is mostly due to the presence of the anti-oxidants. It helps in cleaning your child’s lungs, respiratory tract, food pipe, intestine and stomach. You must feed your child with limited amount of jaggery, especially if he/she is exposed to too much pollution on a daily basis.

Stops the Chances of Anemia

Jaggery can ensure that your child never suffers from anemia. Jaggery has a rich content of both iron and folate. This makes sure that the blood count of your child always remains on the higher side. That is why jaggery is advised for both pregnant women and young children.

Strengthens the Intestine

Jaggery is rich in magnesium. That is why it is very good for intestinal health of your child. It promotes digestion and intestinal functions. 10 gram of jaggery can substitute to as much as 4% of the daily magnesium requirement of your child.

Soothes Stomach Pain

Jaggery is known for its ability to cool down the stomach pains and aches for your child. It has an ability of helping your child to maintain regular body temperature. That is why you can make mix soaked jaggery in ice cool water and make your child have it, during the hot summer days. This will bring down the bodily temperature and will aid in the digestion process.

Maintains a Steady Blood Pressure

Jaggery has the quality of soothing down blood pressure in your child. In his/her growth phase your child undergoes various levels of hormonal changes. This takes a toll on his/her blood pressure level. Jaggery is rich in minerals like potassium and sodium. This controls the level of acid in your child’s body. Regular intake of jaggery can help your child maintain a teady blood pressure.

Cures Respiratory Problems

If your child is suffering from any form of respiratory problems like asthma, then feeding him/her with jaggery is perhaps the best home remedy. Research has shown that regular intake of jaggery can actually cure serious respiratory problems like asthma and bronchitis.

Makes Bones Strong

Jaggery can play a very vital role in strengthening your child’s bones. Jaggery is rich in minerals like calcium and phosphorus. Your child needs these minerals for the growth of their bone tissues. This will help them grow healthy bone fibers along with teeth and nails.

Helps in Weight Loss

If your child has gained unhealthy weight to his/her junk food addiction then jaggery can provide a solution. Jaggery is a very rich source of potassium. This helps in balancing the electrolytes. They help in building of muscles and boosting healthy metabolism. According to nutritionists, the potassium present jaggery, also helps in water retention, thereby helping your child to control the weight. In this way jaggery plays a vital role in weight loss for your child.

Boosts Your Child’s Energy

Unlike sugar, jaggery is a complex carbohydrate. That is why it takes more time for it to get absorbed in your child’s body and provide energy for a longer time period. Also it does not spike up the level of blood sugar on an immediate basis. That makes it a healthier sweetener compared to regular sugar. It also will help your child to recover from regular fatigue and lethargy.

Precautions

Even though jaggery is a mineral rich food with so many good qualities, there are certain factors which you must make sure before offering it to your child.

Sweet Addiction

Since jaggery is a very sweet treat, there are chances that your child might get addicted to it. This will make him/her consume more amount of unhealthy sugar content than what is required or prescribed.

Adverse Reactions

Jaggery is not suited for every little child. There are instances where kids have suffered from adverse reactions due to the consumption of jaggery. There are instances where they had intestinal worms or mild rashes on their arms and body. There are also cases where they have found heat bumps and stomach problems for children consuming jaggery.

Unhealthy Calorie Consumption

Jaggery is a high calorie food. That is why you should only feed your child with little quantity of it. If you are planning to feed jaggggery, on a everyday basis, then limit the quantity to the minimum.

Remember jaggery can expose your child to dangerous sweet addiction which can be harmful for his/her teeth as well as overall health. Plan the meal carefully so that your little one enjoys the benefit without facing any problem.

Things to remember while buying jaggery for your family:

Do taste a piece of jaggery, it should not taste even slightly salty. If it does, this may indicate a high concentration of mineral salts. The salty taste can also tell you if it is fresh or not, the older it is, the saltier it gets.

If there is any bitterness in the gur or jaggery, it means that it has gone through the process of caramelisation during the boiling process.

Check for any crystals on the jaggery. Presence of crystals indicates that the jaggery may have gone through other processes to make it sweeter. Avoid buying such jaggery.

The colour of the jaggery also plays an important role in identifying purity. Ideally the colour of the jaggery should be dark brown. The yellowish colour in gur may indicate chemical treatment. Prefer buying hard jaggery; this ensures that there are no additives added while boiling the sugarcane juice.