From the YummyYucky team, founded by Nancy Nash

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Can Babies Eat Katuk? Safety and Risks

Katuk is a leafy green used in Southeast Asian cooking and as a breastfeeding tonic, but it is not a food to give a baby. Raw katuk and its juice have been linked to a severe, often permanent lung disease, and even cooked katuk has no established safe amount for infants. If you want a spinach-like green, well cooked spinach, kale, or peas are far better first choices.

⛔ Raw katuk and its juice are tied to serious lung disease; not a safe food for babies.

Skip katuk for babies. Raw katuk leaves and katuk juice have been tied to bronchiolitis obliterans, a severe and often permanent lung disease, first seen in a 1995 outbreak in Taiwan. The leaves contain papaverine and other alkaloids, and katuk has never been shown to be a safe food for infants and has no known safe amount for a baby. Never give katuk raw or juiced to anyone. Offer well cooked spinach, kale, or peas instead.

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When to introduce: Not recommended for babies
Common allergen?: Not a common allergen
Texture: Not recommended; never raw or juiced
Key nutrients: Vitamin C, provitamin A, iron, calcium

Katuk (Sauropus androgynus, also called sweet leaf or star gooseberry) is a soft green leaf popular in Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, and southern China, where it is stir-fried with egg or dropped into soups. It has a mild, pea-like, slightly sweet taste. It is also sold as a lactation booster for nursing mothers. All of that can make it sound like a gentle green to share with a baby, but katuk carries a real, well documented health risk that puts it in a different category from everyday greens. This page is here to explain that risk plainly so you can make a calm, informed choice.

Prep School: katuk by age, and what to offer instead

🍴 Baby-led weaning

Any ageKatuk has been tied to a serious and often irreversible narrowing of the small airways, and it has never been established as a safe food for infants. Keep it off your baby's plate.

Never raw or juicedKatuk should never be eaten raw and never juiced by anyone, at any age. The reported cases involved uncooked katuk, mostly as juice, and there is no known safe amount for a baby.

What to offer insteadOffer another cooked green your baby can pick up, like soft broccoli florets, cooked peas, or finely chopped cooked kale. If your family cooks katuk, set a baby portion aside before it goes in.

12 months+Even for a toddler, katuk is best avoided. If it appears on the family plate, keep it off your child's and offer a different cooked green.

🥄 Purées

Any ageKatuk has been tied to a serious and often irreversible narrowing of the small airways, and it has never been established as a safe food for infants. Do not blend it into a baby's food.

What to offer insteadReach for a well cooked, smooth green instead, like steamed spinach or pea puree. If your family cooks katuk, keep a baby portion aside before it goes in.

12 months+Even for a toddler, katuk is best avoided. If it appears on the family plate, keep it off your child's and spoon up a different cooked green instead.

Is katuk safe? Choking & prep

Please skip katuk for your baby. In 1995 an outbreak in Taiwan tied raw katuk leaves and katuk juice, then popular for weight loss, to bronchiolitis obliterans, a serious and often irreversible narrowing of the small airways. Some patients were left with lasting lung damage, some needed lung transplants, and nine died.¹ The plant contains papaverine and other alkaloids thought to drive this injury.¹ The reported cases involved uncooked katuk, mostly as juice, and no study has shown that cooking makes katuk safe or set a safe amount for a baby.¹² Katuk should never be eaten raw and never juiced by anyone. Given how many easy, well studied greens exist, there is no reason to take the risk with a baby. If katuk is a staple in your home, keep a baby's portion out and offer them a different cooked green instead.

Nutrition

Katuk leaves are rich in vitamin C, provitamin A (beta carotene), iron, and calcium, which is part of why they are valued in traditional cooking. For a baby, though, the nutrition does not outweigh the lung risk, and every nutrient katuk offers is available from safer greens like cooked spinach, kale, and broccoli, or from peas, lentils, and well cooked meats for iron.

Goes well with

Well cooked spinach (as a safer swap) · Peas · Sweet potato · Rice · Broccoli

Storage & freezing

If you cook katuk for the adults in your home, treat it like other tender leafy greens: keep the fresh leaves dry in the fridge, loosely wrapped, and use within a few days. Cooked katuk keeps in the fridge for up to three days. Store it well away from anything you are preparing for your baby, and never blend it into a baby's food.

More vegetables to explore

🌶️

KimchiAround 12 months, rinsed well. The limit is salt and chili, not the ferment.

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King oyster mushroomAround 9 months

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KohlrabiAround 6 months

🥬

Kohlrabi greens6 months+

🥬

KomatsunaAround 6 months

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KombuAround 6 months, to flavor

Common questions

Is katuk safe for babies?

No, we would not give katuk to a baby. Raw katuk and its juice have been linked to a severe, sometimes permanent lung disease, and even cooked katuk has never been shown to be safe for infants. Choose a well studied green like spinach, kale, or peas instead.

Does cooking make katuk safe?

Nobody has shown that it does. The reported cases involved uncooked katuk, mostly as juice, but no study has shown cooked katuk is safe or set a safe amount for a baby, so it is not a food we would introduce.¹² Never eat katuk raw or as juice at any age.

My family drinks katuk for breastfeeding. Can the baby have a little too?

Keep the baby out of it. Using katuk to support milk supply is about the nursing parent, not the baby, and giving katuk to a baby directly is a different and riskier thing. It matters for you too: the lung disease in Taiwan came from people eating raw katuk, mostly as juice, so never drink it raw or juiced.¹² Before you use katuk at all, talk with your doctor or a lactation consultant.

What green can I use instead of katuk?

Well cooked spinach, kale, broccoli, and peas all give a soft, mild green flavor and are well studied for babies. They cover the same iron, calcium, and vitamin A and C that katuk offers, without the risk.

Sources

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Last updated September 2026. Next review December 2026. How we write these: built from current published guidance from the AAP, CDC, FDA/EPA, NIAID, WHO, and other pediatric and public-health authorities, with sources cited on the page. See our editorial and medical policy for how we research, source, and update these, and how we double-check the food advice.

This is general information, not medical advice, and is not individualized for your baby. Always talk to your pediatrician about your baby's diet, introducing allergens, and any reaction. In an emergency, contact emergency services.

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