Not long ago, I was invited to dinner in Bora Asmara. It was a nice place. Very secluded and romantic. My husband even commented that the place is suitable for honeymooners to dine in where privacy is guaranteed.

I fell in love with the place the instant I saw it and jokingly told him that I wish to dine there on Valentine’s Day. Bora Asmara, as the name suggest, have a very romantic and exotic environment and there was even a serenading band that will come to your table and serenade a song or two to you. (sorry, there’s no more pictures, the lighting was too dark for my camera, all pictures came out blurry except for this one)

I wish I was there for romance, but I was not there for a romantic candlelight dinner, I was there for an informal dinner instead. A bunch of parent bloggers were invited for a parenting talk on added sugars in children’s growing up milk instead.

As a mother of an ADHD child whose sugar intake must be controlled due to medical reasons, I was absolutely ecstatic when I received an invitation to listen to a talk on that particular topic.

If you’ve been following my blog, you might notice that I’ve been really concerned over the added sugars in growing up milk issue. There have been so much information over the net that I wasn’t so sure which one to believe anymore. Despite of my effort to assure myself that I’m making the right decision on my boy’s growing up milk, I still have doubts.

This is the case of information overload, I believe… too much information, I suppose, and I’m glad that I could slay the dragons of doubts once and for all during the laid back dinner in Bora Asmara with Dr. Monroe and Prof. Davis. (You see, during the dinner, you get to ask them questions to clear your doubts too)

I was told that Dr. Monroe and Prof. Davis is a member of Key Opinion Leaders (KOL) who happens to be here in Malaysia for Paediatric Medical Conference. They were invited to give a talk to us parent bloggers in Bora Asmara so that parents could understand more about the issue.

The session was… enlightening, I must say. During the session, it was stressed that:

• Carbohydrates in growing up milk powder is only made up of two things: – Sugar that is naturally present in the milk powder and added sugars. The only naturally present sugar in milk is lactose.
• Added sugars are mostly factory products of chemical and enzymatic starch digestion. Some of these are known commonly as  corn syrup solids, glucose syrup solids, sucrose, etc.
• We were also told how carbohydrates were processed when it’s consumed- It first go down to the stomach, then the pancreas release the acid amylase for complete digestion. Sugars are then absorbed from small intestine. In other words, when consumed, all carbohydrates are converted into sugars in the body.

So, from what I gather, if we’re not careful, then we might be feeding our children excessive amount of sugars in their daily diet. You see, while most growing up milk better than fresh milk as it is specially formulated with DHA, iron, vitamins, etc, for their brain and physical development during their growing up years, most of the milk formula also contains too much added sugars. That’s what we do not need, cuz excessive sugars leads to various health issues like sugar rush in hyperactive children, obesity, diabetes, tooth decay, etc.

So, as parents, we got to make an informed decision when we buy growing up milk for our children.

How do we actually make an informed decision on how choose a growing up milk that does not contain excessive added sugars that will do more harm than good to our children’s body? How do we actually choose the right growing up milk without added sugars?

Why, by decoding the growing up milk label, of course. Don’t know how?

Here’s how you decode the label when you choose your  children’s growing up milk powder:

• Find the number for ‘carbohydrates per serve’ on the packaging label. Anything that is higher than 11g-12g is added sugars.
• Watch out for the ingredients like: Sucrose, corn syrup solids as well as glucose syrup solids.

Balanced energy for children is a must during their growing up years, and one of the sources is carbohydrates in their diet. That is a fact that all parents should know. But carbohydrates must come from natural food sources that’s high in complex carbohydrates like grains, fruits, veggies, milk, not from added sugars.

Excessive sugars intake may provide calories but not the nutrient that the children needs. That sort of calories are often referred to as ’empty calories’, and more often than not leads to various health issue. So if you’re wise, you’ll make an informed decision when you choose your children’s growing up milk.

Cleffairy: Say no to added sugars.