Charlotte Children’s Dentist Shares News about Healthy Drinks

Cheers! Charlotte children’s dentist Dr. Marcela Mujica would like to raise her glass and toast your children with a wish for happiness and health. One of the things you can do to help your children enjoy healthy smiles is to make sure they always have healthy beverages to drink when they raise a glass. Read on to find out what drinks are healthy for kids and what drinks are best avoided.

What Drinks to Offer

Water. Good old clear cool water is absolutely the best beverage for young children and teenagers. Water keeps a body hydrated and does not add calories, fat or sugar to a diet. If your child prefers flavored beverages then try adding some natural flavors to the water. Mint leaves, berries, apples or a cinnamon stick can all add a tasty twist to water.

Milk. Dairy products are an important component of almost everyone’s diet and milk is an excellent source. Milk provides calcium, vitamin D and protein. Your child should have around 16 to 24 ounces of milk a day. If they cannot digest milk, then choose an unsweetened milk alternative such as almond, soy or coconut milk. Your pediatrician can help you decide whether whole, reduced or fat free milk is best for your child.

What Drinks to Avoid

Soft drinks. Whether you grew up calling them sodas or pop, these carbonated beverages are filled with sugar and offer almost no benefits. When children have too many soft drinks, the results are always negative. Some of the consequences include weight gain, type 2 diabetes and, of course, poor dental health.

Fruit drinks. Lemonade, fruit punch, powdered mixes, orange juice and apple juice are primarily—you guessed it—sugar water. Just because the package says “100 percent vitamin C in every serving” doesn’t mean you are giving your child something healthy to drink. If your child is eating enough fresh fruits and vegetables daily, then you don’t have to worry about their intake of vitamin C.

Chocolate milk. Tastes good and it does have all the goodness of milk. However, chocolate milk and other flavored milks typically contain around four teaspoons of sugar per serving, which is not good for your child’s teeth or his body.

Vitamin Water. Must be healthy if it has vitamins, right? Wrong. One 20-ounce serving of the popular brand Vitaminwater contains about 120 calories and 31 grams of sugar.

Contact Your Charlotte Children’s Dentist Today

For more information about good nutrition for your child’s oral health, call All Kids Pediatric Dentistry in Charlotte today.