to feed DS rice cakes

[NoArmaniNoPunani]

Mil is worried and getting a bit judgy about our parenting after reading something about rice cakes containing poison or something. Has anyone else heard about this?

Starch is indeed composed of sugar monomers (specifically glucose), but metabolically their effects are quite different. Because the starch is a long chain of sugar molecules these have to be broken down (digested) to be useful to the body, whereas sugar is absorbed very quickly for an instant energy boost. This is why pasta gives you energy over a longer period of time, but a Mars bar (for instance) gives instant energy that maybe doesn't last as long.

Personally I don't give rice cakes to toddlers anyway because there's not that much energy in them and they need the calories. These findings just reinforce that view.

it is actually pretty simple! Why would anyone try and say something so simple and straight forward is more complicated than simple and straight forward? It is simple and straightforward, it couldn't be any more so, it really couldn't. Starch is just long chains of alpha glucose, that is all it is.

sorry, youcant, cross post, I was still talking to Narky

It's very simple and straightforward. Starches are made up of sugar.

In the same way that table salt is made up of sodium and chlorine.

No idea but I would never feed a baby ' baby rice

That wasn't her question.

Not really the point of the thread, but I've never understood why baby rice is the work of the devil/pointless wallpaper paste, whereas rice cakes are the toddler snack of choice for the middle classes.

Surely they're basically the same thing?

Since it's exactly the same thing, I douse my food in sodium and chlorine every day. Mmm.

Baby Rice;

Some manufacturers arent being careful enough where they source their rice. Be careful which brand you pick,
www.nhs.uk/news/2008/04April/Pages/Arsenicinbabyrice.aspx

The problem is not rice itself. The problem is that in one area of India, groundwater is in arsenic bearing rock. Farming was banned in that area; unfortunately flooding has released the arsenic and spread it.

Rice grown elsewhere is not affected.

It was found in baby rice too ineedwine99. The expert said he would not feed his child rice products (baby rice, milks, rice based cereals).

Thanks guys, she does have it mixed with puree to get her the right nutriants but i'll look at cutting it out

It's very simple and straightforward. Starches are made up of sugar.

no, starch IS a sugar

In the same way that table salt is made up of sodium and chlorine
not the same at all, this is an example of two elements becoming a compound, which will have totally different properties to the elements. Not even remotely related to polymer formation.

I eat rice a lot. So does 20 month old DS - he loves a curry with rice!

I do however soak it and rinse it, always have. Never overnight though.

Nutrients*

How does this affect baby rice? My 6 month old has 2-4 teaspoons a day mixed with purée

I was always strongly advised by my hcp to avoid baby rice as it doesn't contain any nutrients and you are better to give pretty much anything else than baby rice. Does your lo like porridge or weetabix? They could be given with fruit instead and would be better.

user sugar and starch are both carbohydrates (simple and complex forms, respectively) and you are correct that starches are long chains of sugar molecules, but they're not the same. Their effects on the body are quite different, and excess sugar is much more likely to cause metabolic problems for instance. I'd be much happier for a toddler to eat starchy foods than sugary ones.

I would also prefer toddlers to eat sugar in the form of starch, as some of it will be more slowly, it is exactly the same thing when it enters the blood stream though, no difference a t all, in fact lots of starch is already broken down into glucose before you even swallow it!

It's a loose analogy. Salt is a different thing from sodium and chlorine. Starch is a different thing from sugar. Starch breaks down into sugar e.g. from salivary amylase. That's why the taste of bread changes if you chew it long enough.

it is a very loose analogy. Sock! salt does not turn back into sodium and chlorine in your mouth!

Well duh.

I'm just trying to explain. Just because a thing is made of another thing doesn't mean that thing is the other thing.

There are ways of splitting starch down into sugar. There are also ways of splitting salt down into sodium and chlorine. My body can do one of those things but not the other (thankfully).

Well, technically it does, but I don't end up with a mouth full of chlorine.

I'm just trying to explain. Just because a thing is made of another thing doesn't mean that thing is the other thing. ok, I get your point. But think in this case it IS practically the same thing. (Except to manufacturers that try and cover that up by listing them separatly)

As a diabetic I'm rather glad that they list them separately.

I do still have to be careful with all carbohydrates as some of them are digested very quickly and spike my blood sugar, but there's a difference between a slice of bread and a sherbet lemon.