Early birth babies have special milk powder. When full-term babies can not absorb enough breast milk, there is also milk powder for babies. With the growth of age, although the proportion of dairy in our diet has become smaller and has been replaced by other foods, it still appears around us in various forms, such as yogurt, liquid milk, milk beverage, and ordinary milk powder.
The merchants produced some special milk and milk powder for old person. However, what is the difference between these middle-aged and old age milk powder and ordinary milk powder? Do middle-aged and old-aged people need to supplement milk powder every day? For the convenience of reading, in this article, we define middle-aged and old-aged people as people over 50 years old-aged.
What's the difference between the nutritional needs of middle-aged and old-aged people and young people?
With the increase of age, there are three main changes in milk nutrients requirements: the increase of calcium and vitamin D requirements, and the decrease of iron requirements (1-3).
As far as the personal situation of most middle-aged and old-aged people is concerned, they may have a poor appetite, loss of appetite, limb weakness and so on. This will lead to less daily diet intake, so they need more comprehensive nutritional supplements.
What's the difference between old-aged-aged milk powder and ordinary milk powder in milk markets?
If we simplify the classification of milk powder:
Adult milk powder consists of skim milk powder and full milk powder. The biggest difference between the two is the fat content, the factual content of the skim milk powder is close to zero.
Based on these two kinds of powdered milk, some powdered milk was added to calcium and vitamin D. For the middle-aged and old-aged milk powder, there are more kinds of milk powder added based on calcium with vitamin D.
For example:
Adding dietary fiber, probiotics: This kind of old people milk powder is helpful to the gastrointestinal system, digestion, and other functions.
Adding fish oil, high-quality fatty acid: The main purpose is to help prevent chronic diseases and improve the faculty of memory. Adding protein and micronutrients: The aim is to supplement nutrients based on a daily diet.
In addition to the cost-effective products, the most important thing to consider is whether you or your elders need these additional nutrients. Keep in mind that at all times, nutrition should be prioritized intake on a daily diet.
Guidelines for the Selection and Purchase of Milk Powder for Middle and old ages:
If you are only concerned about the inadequacy of calcium and vitamin D intake, you can consider adult milk powder which adding such milk nutritional facts (that is, ordinary milk powder).
If you only feel that the daily protein intake is insufficient, and you seldom eat meat and beans, before choosing protein-fortified milk powder for old age and elderly people, you can also consider using ordinary milk as a meal, or adding ordinary milk powder to the daily diet as a "fortification" of the daily diet.
If you are worried about insufficient dietary fiber intake, it is recommended to give priority to eating more vegetables and fruits. If it is for high-quality fat intake, you can also add some nuts or nut paste, fish and other foods to your daily diet.
For the middle-aged and old-aged people who have bad teeth and poor appetite and only can eat little food, we can consider choosing milk powder with comprehensive nutrients as a diet-based meal.
We should also pay attention to these points when in the selection. In addition to those mentioned above, for lactose intolerant people, more attention should be paid to whether milk powder contains lactose or low lactose labels.
For lactose intolerance, take a look at this popular science article: Do you have lactose intolerance?
And at any time should pay attention to nutrition labels and food ingredients table whether there is added sugar, generally, sugar-free products will be more beneficial to the body. (If you can't read the nutrition label yet, please click on this link)
For fortified milk powder containing multiple nutrients, attention should also be paid to whether the maximum daily consumption is indicated on the package. After all, not eating enough nutrients is not good for your health, and eating too much is not good for your health.
Finally, let's review it again. Milk powder for middle-aged and elderly people usually has more "functional" milk powder based on adding calcium and vitamin D. But it does not mean that you must drink milk powder when you over 50, specifically according to personal needs.
Eat a nutrition meal, a balanced diet is always the key, which can not be replaced by any milk powder.
Reference material:
1. National Health Commission of the People's Republic of China, 2018, Reference Intake of Dietary Nutrients for Chinese Residents Part 2: Constant Elements.
2. National Health Commission of the People's Republic of China, 2018, Reference Intake of Dietary Nutrients for Chinese Residents Part 4: Fat-soluble Vitamins.
3. National Health Commission of the People's Republic of China, 2018, Reference Intake of Dietary Nutrients for Chinese Residents Part 3: Trace Elements.