A mother of an 8-month-old baby consulted me: Maternal and Child Health Station "diagnosed" her son''s zinc deficiency, do you want to give the child some oyster seeds?

　　Many nutrition textbooks have pointed out , Oysters (sea oysters) are rich in zinc "most". Some popular science materials even use "milk in the sea" as a reputation for oysters. But is the zinc content in oysters really "highest"?

　　In fact, the zinc content of shellfish is relatively high, and the zinc content of oysters is not the first. According to the data, scallops, ark shells and other seafood products have higher zinc content than oysters. Of course, because of the similarity, it should not be too much to say that oysters are one of the foods with the highest zinc content. Moreover, compared with scallops over ark shells, oysters are cheaper and more common after all. When I first came to Dalian in the early 1990s, I could eat "free" (you can smash it yourself) oysters on the seashore reef. This may be the main reason why oysters (not scallops) are widely recommended.

　　Oysters do contain more zinc, but this is still not enough to conclude that oysters are the "best" or "best" source of zinc, let alone use oysters to supplement 8-month-old infants Zinc. Why?

　　 First, the recommended daily intake of zinc (RNI) for 8-month-old infants is 8 mg (15 mg for adult males and 11.5 mg for females, according to the 2000 DRIs of the Chinese Nutrition Society). If you want to use oysters to supplement half of this amount (the other half can be obtained from milk and other foods), that is, 4mg, then you need to eat 43g of oysters (4÷9.39×100=43), close to one or two. In any case, it is unrealistic for an 8-month-old baby (in fact, the same for adults) to eat one or two oysters (sea oysters) every day.

　　Second, if you barely eat one or two oysters (sea oysters) per day, the safety issue is very worrying. Because they are born on offshore reefs or seabeds, like other shellfish, oysters (sea oysters) are very likely to be contaminated. The nutrient content can be checked in the food composition table. What about those pollutants, such as the heavy metals lead, arsenic, mercury and other harmful chemicals? There is basically nowhere to check. It is very dangerous to give such high-risk foods to children regularly and in large quantities.

　　 In short, oysters (sea oysters) certainly contain more zinc, but when giving zinc to children (almost the same as adults), please forget it and ignore it. So, how should an 8-month-old baby supplement zinc (or ensure adequate zinc intake)?

　　The answer can only be a balanced diet—it’s easy to say and hard to say, so many people Ignore it, but it is indeed a "magic weapon" to solve nutrition problems, but most people don''t understand it. In order to ensure the full intake of zinc for 8-month-old infants (other people can also refer to it), the following dietary balance recommendations are very important.

　　 1. Guarantee milk volume, should reach 600~800ml every day. Try to use formula milk powder and pay attention to its zinc content. You can also choose a part of "zinc added milk" or zinc-fortified milk powder.

　　 2. Ingest a small amount (0.52) of lean meat every day. Lean pork, lean beef, and lean lamb can be used. Reliable quality liver and other internal organs can also be selected in small amounts. Meat is a good source of zinc.

　　 3. Frequent intake of seafood mainly refers to fish and shrimp with less potential safety hazards.

　　 4. Choose baby rice flour added with zinc (and other nutrients) as a supplementary food, replacing most home-made rice porridge, noodles, etc.

　　 5. Egg yolk is rich in zinc, and one is consumed every day.

　　 6. Nuts, such as black sesame, peanuts, walnuts, and seeds, are also rich in zinc, which can be made into a paste for children to eat. In order to avoid accidental inhalation, do not give the original nut directly to infants and young children.

　　 In addition, unless there is a clear diagnosis of zinc deficiency (because there is currently no effective method to confirm the diagnosis of "zinc deficiency", so many of the diagnosis of "zinc deficiency" are now estimated and speculated), otherwise do not give the child easily Taking zinc supplements such as zinc gluconate, preventive medication is not particularly worthy of advocacy.