OK For 13 Month Old to Eat Deli Meat

When my son was starting solids foods his doctor told me no deli meats or packaged meats because of the preservatives, etc. {For the same reasons responder Liev was saying she read on msnbc}

Liev gave some good advice. We eat deli meat ocassionally, but a better idea is to buy a turkey breast and roast it (if you have a rotisserie, better yet) and use it for sandwiches. It tastes better, is better for you and is cheaper per pound.

When my daughter started eating table food, she ate whatever I ate, including cold cuts, and never had any problems.

the old wives tale i have always heard is that the deli meat is a bit hard on the tummy and the salts in it are not so good for baby. I used to bake chicken breast and shred it and freeze it instead of deli meats for quik lunches and snacks

I read the quote below on msnbc.com. The most important thing, which they don't mention (because it's not geared for the parenting audience in particular), is that anything that causes cancer in a lot of adult people causes a LOT MORE cancer in a LOT MORE babies and young children. The reason is, there is a lot less body per unit food - making the exposure far more severe - and especially in babies, the organs aren't as good at getting toxins out of the body.

Another thing to think about is, young children are growing so fast that any carcinogenic effects are even stronger because what is affected in cancer initiation is the division of cells, the proliferation of cells, the growth of cells, and cell death. These are all processes that are going on at hyper speeds and in enormous amounts in babies and children relative to adults. There is that much more chance of cancer occurring with every cell division.

Finally, the effects of chemicals on the brain are more intense because it is such a developmentally stupendous time for such little ones. This is really true of all of the organs.

It's truly a shame that products like deli meats are legal to sell. It makes people like parents believe that they must be okay to eat.

I hope you'll consider leaving deli meats out of your baby's diet, at least until he is an older toddler.

Here's the quote:

"Sodium nitrite helps prevent the growth of Clostridium botulinum, which can cause botulism in humans and is also used alone or in conjunction with sodium nitrate as a color fixative in cured meat and poultry products (bologna, hot dogs, bacon). During the cooking process, nitrites combine with amines naturally present in meat to form carcinogenic N-nitroso compounds. It is also suspected that nitrites can combine with amines in the human stomach to form N-nitroso compounds. These compounds are known carcinogens and have been associated with cancer of the oral cavity, urinary bladder, esophagus, stomach and brain.

Research in Sweden found that Swedes who ate on average three ounces of processed meat each day had a 15 percent greater chance of developing stomach cancer than those who consumed two ounces or less. Results of a study by the Cancer Research Center of Hawaii and the University of Southern California reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute (2005;97:1458-65) of 190,000 people, ages 45 to 75, for seven years state that those who ate the most processed meat (bacon, ham, cold cuts) had a 68% higher risk of pancreatic cancer than those who ate the least. “Most” was defined as at least 0.6 ounce processed meat, one ounce beef or 0.3 ounce pork per 1,000 calories consumed."

They tucked this crucial information at the bottom of their article - probably because they rely on advertisers like Oscar Meyer for their income!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16361276//