Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 163, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 July 1916 — FAT FOR CHILDREN [ARTICLE]

FAT FOR CHILDREN

FORMS A MOST IMPORTANT PART OF THEIR DIET. If Milk and Salad Oils Are Fed in Any Quantities It Is Well to Avoid Other Foods That Contain Much Fat. Fat is an Important part of the food of children. This is not surprising, for It is found in considerable amounts in human milk, the natural food for babies. Butter, which consists chiefly of separated milk fat, and cream, which is rich in milk fat and also In the other nourishing substances of milk, are both wholesome. Salad oils of various kinds (olive, cottonseed, peanut and others) may be given to children in small amounts. Those who are not used to table oil must often be trained to like it. This can usually be done by introducing it very gradually into the diet. A good way to serve it is on spinach and other greens or on tender salad vegetables. There is more than an ounce of fat (at least 2% level tablespoonfuls) In a quart of whole milk. If the healthy child is given a quart of milk, has butter on its bread, and meat or an egg once a day, he gets enough fat, and that which he receives is in wholesome form. It is well, therefore, not to give such fatty foods as pastry, fried meats and vegetables, and doughnuts or rich cakes, for in these the fats are not in so good a form for children; as experience has shown. If the child is constipated, the occasional use of cream or salad oil is desirable, for fat in abundance is laxative.

Bacon or salt pork, cut very thin and carefully cooked, may be given occasionally, but thick pieces with much lean are not desirable. In preparing bacon or salt pork it is very important hot to burn the fat. To avoid this they should be cooked in one of the following ways: Put the slices on a broiler or wire frame over a pan; place the pan into a hot oven and cook long enough to remove most of the fat. Or keep a pan on purpose for cooking bacon on top of a stove and let the fat which fries out of it collect in the pan, taking care that none is burned. In time so much fat will collect that bacon can be dropped into this hot fat, and will Tie less likely to burn than if placed on a hot pan.—Farmers’ Bulletin 717, “Food for Young Children.”