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60% of baby foods are ‘unhealthy’ with multiple misleading claims, study shows
Babies require a diet rich in nutrients for healthy growth. But busy parents are being fooled by misleading labels on most of the baby foods.
Feeding babies foods that meet the nutritional recommendations is important for their overall development. Sadly, several baby foods you pick from grocery stores affect your baby’s health negatively.
Two-thirds of baby foods are ‘unhealthy’
Researchers at the George Institute for Global Health wanted to see if commercial baby foods followed the promotional requirements set by World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines and if they met the nutritional recommendations.
After analyzing data from 651 infant and toddler food products available in U.S. grocery stores, they found that 60 percent of them fail to follow the nutritional guidelines. What comes across as more shocking is the amount of misinformation on the “misleading labels”.
About 70 percent of the products failed to meet protein requirements and 44 percent of them had excessive sugar. EurekAlert notes, that one in four products didn’t meet calorie requirements and one in five exceeded recommended sodium limits.
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The researchers say parents with tight schedules are tricked into believing that baby foods lacking essential nutrients are “healthier than they really are”, largely due to what the labels display.
A poor diet in the early years of life can contribute to chronic illnesses and also impact taste preferences and dietary habits, warns Dr. Elizabeth Dunford, Research Fellow at The George Institute, and Adjunct Assistant Professor at, Department of Nutrition at the University of North Carolina.
Food pouches are bad for your child’s health
Food pouches are popular in the U.S. owing to their convenience. They are light and easy to carry anywhere and enable self-feeding as a child can easily hold it.
However, its design doesn’t make it any healthy. In fact, food pouches are among the unhealthiest products assessed in the study and less than 7 percent meet the sugar recommendations.
Most baby products you find in convenience stores violate the regulations by displaying prohibited claims such as “non-genetically modified”, “organic”, “no BPA” and “no artificial colors/flavors.”
If you aren’t sure what to feed your baby, UNICEF details all the nutrients your child needs and foods that need to be avoided.
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