COTTAGE CHEESE - THE MOST IMPORTANT PRODUCT OF SUPPLEMENTARY FOOD FOR CHILDREN OF THE FIRST YEAR OF LIFE

Breast milk is the best feeding for the child of first 6 months of life. By the end of the early infancy, however, the nutrient content in breast milk is becoming insufficient for normal growth and development of the child. This determines the need to expand child’s diet by introducing complementary foods as an additional source of protein, fats, dietary fiber, minerals (iron, calcium, zinc, etc.) and vitamins. The most important component of the diet of the second half of the first year of life is cottage cheese as a valuable source of animal protein, fat, calcium, and vitamin B2. Modern technologies for the production of cottage cheese for children allow not only to obtain a product that is a source of well-assimilable calcium by enriching it with vitamin D, but also to give to it functional properties by introduction of probiotic strains to ensure the physiological process of the formation of intestinal microbiota and the prevention of infectious gastrointestinal diseases. The article presents modern recommendations defining the timing and sequence of introduction of complementary foods into the child’s diet, the role of cottage cheese as an important component in the prevention of calcium deficiency in children, the literature on the safety and efficacy of the probiotic Bifidobacterium lactis (BB12) strain used to improve clinical efficacy of infant products.

children of the first year of life, complementary food, cottage cheese, calcium, vitamin D, microbiota, functional products, Bifidobacterium lactis (BB12) strain, ultrafiltration