Types of sugars

Chocolate Malt drink

A hot cup of chocolate drink is just so irresistable.

Milo, Ovaltine, Vico are a few chocolate drinks available in the market. Milo has been very popular & widely consumed, no doubt for its thick chocolate taste. Dutch Lady has also come up with its chocolate drink, and there are more and more of these drinks emerging in the market.

Have you ever wonder about its nutrient value?




















Let's look at the popular Milo & Ovaltine's nutrients comparison. 

Comparing both drinks in a serving of 28g (~ 3 tablespoon). Most nutrients are actually comparable, with only a small difference.

No doubt Ovaltine contain higher mineral level as in Calcium,Iron, Phosphorus; make it nutritious. However, its Total energy, fat, saturated fat is slightly higher; and the sugar is 5g higher than Milo's.

Milo has a GI (Glycemic Index) of 55, but by mixing a small amount of it into milk can yield a GI of ~33. (wikipedia)

Sucrose rank the first in Ovaltine's ingredient list, indicating its sugar contain is highest among its other ingredients. Full cream milk powder is used while it's skimmed milk powder in Milo.

Its sugar content may be higher but it's high in mineral such as calcium which is good for building strong bones. Hence, it's all up to consumer's preference which product they prefer.

Healthy Snacks for Kids

Interesting menu that kids would love. Getting your kids to help out in the kitchen will encourage them to eat those food as they feel satisfied at the dish they prepared themselves

watch registered dietitian Sue Mah introduce some interesting, healthy snacks for kids

kids & fiber

getting kids to eat fiber

Trans Fat

Take a glance at what’s Trans Fat/ Trans Fatty Acid

• A type of fat that is formed when liquid oils are turned into solid fats (Hydrogenation).

• Hydrogen is added to vegetable oil to increase the shelf life and flavor stability of foods. The result of the process is trans fat.

• Naturally present in milk (cow’s milk, goat’s milk, breast milk), milk products and meat.

• Can also be found in margarines, vegetable shortenings, crackers, candies, cookies, snack foods, fried foods, fast food, baked goods, and other processed foods made with partially hydrogenated vegetable oils.

• It raises LDL (bad) cholesterol and lowers the HDL (good) cholesterol in the blood.

• National Academy of Sciences (NAS) have not recommended the elimination of trans fat from the diet as trans fat is naturally present in many animal foods in trace quantities. NAS therefore recommended that trans fatty acid consumption be as low as possible while consuming a nutritionally adequate diet.

• World Health Organization (WHO) recommends in 2003 that trans fats be limited to less than 1% of overall energy intake.

• According to Ministry of Health (MOH) Malaysia, food to be claimed:
• Low in trans fat = 1.5g/100g or

0.75g/100ml
10% of total energy of the food

• Free of trans fat = 0.1g/100g or 100ml

milk formula

Milk is one of the most complete of all foods, containing nearly all the constituents of nutritional importance to us. (Dr Tee Ee Siong, president of the Nutrition Society of Malaysia)

There are variety of milk formula available in the market nowadays. So many brands and so many types to choose from. There are cow's milk, goat's milk, soy formula, organic milk...

DHA? Sugar content? etc etc...

Indecisive?

Look at the bigger picture, as Dr Tee suggested.

When you're unable to decide, go back to the basic. Is DHA the reason your child drink milk? Is DHA or sugar content the only factor that decide what milk your child should be taking? NO, definitely no.

A complete nutrition, or well-balanced diet is what you should be looking at.

Children consume milk for their calcium, iron, vitamins & other minerals which are equally important for their growth.

So, always look at the overall nutritional profile of the milk rather than only the specific nutrient. Dont judge a food by a single nutrient but its overall, complete nutritional profile.

Here is a list of cow's milk formula available in the market.

1. Danone Dumex

2. Mead Johnson

3. Novalac

4. Friso Gold

5. Dutch Lady

6. Wyeth

7. Snow

8. Nan Grow

9. Anmum

10. Fernleaf

Goat's milk

1. Karihome

Organic milk:

1. Bonlife

2. Biokinder

3. Bellamy

What Do You Know About Nutrition?