For a long time, readily available baby food was considered healthy.

However, according to a new study, up to two-thirds of the baby food sold in grocery stores in the United States is harmful to health.

The aim of the study was to raise awareness among parents and legislators about the widespread use of false advertising claims on the packaging of these products.

Unhealthy baby food products

The study was conducted by the George Institute for Global Health and published on Wednesday in the peer-reviewed journal. Nutritional values.

According to the study, 60 percent of 651 foods sold in American supermarkets for children between the ages of six and 36 months did not meet the nutritional guidelines for infant and young child formula recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Almost none of the foods complied with all of the WHO’s advertising guidelines, which require genuine health claims and legible labeling of ingredients.

The researchers found that 70 percent of all products did not meet WHO guidelines for protein content and 25 percent did not meet calorie recommendations. In infant and young child foods, one in five products had a higher salt content than the group recommended.

The study examined more than 650 items sampled from the baby food section of ten major U.S. stores in 2023. Dairy products and other refrigerated foods marketed to children were not examined.

The names or brands of the foods were not disclosed in the study.

The WHO Regional Office for Europe’s 2022 recommendations for commercially produced infant and young child formula were implemented by the researchers using nutritional and advertising guidelines.

These recommendations aim to eliminate global confusion surrounding guidelines for nutritionally sound foods for infants and young children.

Added sweeteners in food pouches

Baby food pouches were among the unhealthiest products evaluated, with less than seven percent meeting the recommended daily amount of sugar. The product’s popularity has increased by an incredible 900 percent in the last 13 years.

A quarter of the products contained hidden or added sweeteners and 44 percent of foods for babies and toddlers contained more sugar than the WHO recommended, said Dr. Elizabeth Dunford, lead author of the study and adjunct assistant professor of nutrition at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

“Research shows that 50 percent of the sugar consumed in infant formula comes from pouches, and we have found that these are among the worst offenders,” she said, according to CNN.

Fast food solutions: a big problem

Researchers have highlighted the worrying increase in the consumption of processed convenience foods among newborns and young children.

“Early childhood is a critical period of rapid growth and the formation of taste preferences and dietary habits that may pave the way for the development of chronic diseases such as obesity, diabetes and some cancers later in life,” Dunford said in a press release.

“Our findings underscore the urgent need for better regulation and guidance in the infant and young child formula market in the United States – the health of future generations depends on it,” Dunford said.

More and more busy parents are turning to such ready meals, “not knowing that many of these products lack important nutrients for their children’s development and are being misled into believing that these products are healthier than they actually are,” Dunford is quoted as saying in the press release.

Misleading advertising

The study uncovered unfair marketing techniques when looking at food packaging.

In terms of packaging, 99.4 percent of the products contained at least one violation of the law.

70 percent of them said they were “non-GMO,” 59 percent “organic,” 37 percent “BPA-free,” and 25 percent “free of artificial colors or flavors.”

“The reason we call the baby food aisle the Wild West is because manufacturers can choose which elements of their product they want to highlight. They certainly don’t highlight the bad stuff, do they? If their product has a lot of sugar, they just write on the label ‘no added colors or flavors’,” CNN Dunford was quoted as saying.

The researchers found that 62 percent of all products examined contained general advertising claims about health and nutritional value, while 58 percent contained advertising claims about specific ingredients.

Researcher Daisy Coyle said such claims gave the products a fictitious “health aura”, adding: “The lack of regulation in this area opens the door for the food industry to deceive busy parents.”

In some cases the product names were also misleading.

“Snacks and finger foods often have fruit or vegetables in the product name, even though they are made primarily from flour or other starches,” Coyle said.

Lack of regulation

Food safety and handling guidelines are provided by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which also has regulations on the ingredients and concentrations of baby formula.

“Are there specific regulations for infant and young child foods in different countries? The short answer is no, but in Europe, the UK, New Zealand and Australia, where I come from, there are more comprehensive regulations about how ingredients can be listed on packaging that also affect foods given to children,” Dunford said.

Accordingly CNNTo illustrate, she explained that if a savoury dish consists of 10 percent spinach, 8 percent beef and 2 percent potatoes, with the remainder consisting of apples or pears, which are often used as sweeteners in baby food, then the name of the product in those countries would be, for example, ‘pear, spinach, beef and potato cake’.

In addition, according to Dunford, manufacturers in these countries must clearly display percentages on the label, such as “spinach (10 percent), beef (8 percent) and potatoes (2 percent), so that it is clear how much pear or apple is contained.”

In their view, there are no such regulations in the United States, which makes it more difficult to understand the ingredients of the products you buy.

She added that only 31 percent of non-fruit bags met WHO standards for total sugar content, partly due to these hidden sweeteners.

With contributions from agencies