Foodwatch Dangerously high in baby porridge

Dangerously high in sugar in baby porridge and baby biscuits

09/25/2014

The consumer protection organization Foodwatch warns parents against too much sugar in baby food. Especially carbohydrate-rich drinking meals - a sugary mixture of milk and cereals - is therefore questionable. Even small children could develop obesity and tooth decay through unhealthy diets. Foodwatch is therefore calling for stricter laws for baby formula composition with pediatricians and dentists.

Foodwatch warns of sugary drinking meals for babies
If you believe in advertising, only the healthiest ingredients are included in baby food, baby biscuits and drinking times. A manufacturer even stands for his name, he explains in the commercial. However, as Foodwatch consumer advocates said at a joint press conference with dentists and pediatricians in Berlin on Thursday, baby food often contains too much sugar and is anything but healthy. Even baby teas are often sweetened with sugar. However, if the little ones consume a lot of sugar at an early age, the risk of developing diabetes, obesity and tooth decay increases.

„Many foods available as baby products are in conflict with the nutritional or medical recommendations for infants“, Foodwatch told the news agency „AFP“. This is particularly evident in the drinking meals. According to Foodwatch, the German Society for Paediatrics and Youth Medicine (DGKJ) has been campaigning for an immediate halt to the sale of these products since 2007. Meanwhile, Danone has responded to the criticism and taken his Milupa drinking meals from the range. Hipp and Nestlé continue to offer such products.

Dentists and pediatricians support Foodwatch
Baby or infant biscuits are by no means on the diet of the youngest, according to the consumer organization. They contained sugar contents of between 14.6 and 25 percent. Nevertheless, the manufacturers would promote the product as an ideal snack for babies. The same applies to sugary baby porridge, which would also be advertised as a suitable food for babies, but in fact are unhealthy.

Many pediatricians and dentists support Foodwatch's call for tougher laws for baby food ingredients. „The diet in the first months of life is influential and affects the subsequent nutritional habits of a person. That is why it is important to avoid over-familiarizing in infancy. This should take baby food into account“, Prof. Dr. Wieland Kiess, Director of the Department of Paediatrics at the University Hospital Leipzig.

Foodwatch calls for tougher laws for the ingredients of baby food
„Early childhood caries in the first years of life is on the rise in Germany. The culprit is not least the frequent use of sweet drinks or sweet snacks, as these cause tooth decay even at the first little tooth“, reports Prof. Dr. med. Dietmar Oesterreich, Vice President of the Federal Dental Association. „This has long-term consequences: children with caries develop caries significantly more often in adult teeth.“

For Foodwatch therefore calls on the legislator to ensure stricter requirements, „that only products that are in line with child and dental recommendations will come on the market as baby food“. (Ag)