Determining the Content of Some Minerals in Fruit and Vegetable Baby Juices

Food is the main source of mineral elements but some are also provided with drinking water and supplements. Juices, for example, are an important source of mineral elements. In infants’ diet minerals are provided mainly by fruit and vegetable purée juices. Infants and young children should be given juices labelled as “special purpose food”. Pasteurised juices are recommended for infants, as they are free of bacteria and toxins, a condition that cannot be completely fulfilled while making juices at home. The aim of the present work was to determine the content of some minerals in fruit and vegetable juices for infants and children under three years of age. The research material consisted of juices, all before their use-by date, purchased in grocer shops in Lublin in January 2006. In total 20 juices were examined, 8 of which were labelled as ‘special purpose food’, 2 were recommended by the National Food and Nutrition Institute and ten juices were labelled as ‘food for young children’. Juices make an important source of minerals in the diet of infants and young children. The most valuable ones are the fruit and vegetable purée juices, as they provide significant amounts of dry mass which includes fibre, minerals and vitamins. Differences in the content of particular mineral elements in juices result primarily from their composition. Although juices for infants and young children should not contain any additives, products without certificates must be treated with caution as it cannot be excluded that some may contain prohibited compounds, e.g. calcium ascorbate or calcium chloride.