Chocolate for children: when, how and why.

Can we give chocolate to children? And in pregnancy, is it recommended? Better white, milk or dark? Here are some curiosities about the famous nectar of the gods.

Pediatricians advise not to introduce chocolate into the diet of children before the second year of life: up to that age, the liver and kidneys are not yet ripe to process it.
The issue is not only linked to the presence of cocoa, but also to the richness of saturated fats and sugars. For this reason, even after the age of 2 it should be offered to children in moderation.

Not recommended in the evening: considering the exciting and stimulating power of cocoa, it is better not to offer chocolate at the end of the day but prefer it for breakfast.

For children under two years old

For children under the age of two you can let the little ones try cocoa by proposing one of the many food products designed specifically for children, such as cocoa powder to be mixed with milk or biscuits for children with low-fat cocoa.

Chocolate is good for children as a nutritious and beneficial food. The watchword, however, is always quality: to determine if a chocolate is of good quality, it must contain at least 30% cocoa. Certainly, dark chocolate is the best, having a high percentage of cocoa, while milk and white chocolate are richer in sugars and vegetable fats, therefore to be limited. However, milk chocolate does contain vitamin A.

To pregnant women.

As for pregnant women, the golden rule is moderation: since chocolate contains exciting substances, it should be included in the calculation of the caffeine consumed daily, considering that 10 grams of dark chocolate contain about 0.8 grams of caffeine, while a coffee contains between 4 and 8 grams. Mothers-to-be shouldn't take more than 20 grams per day - the bill is simple.