Some Baby Foods Less Nutritious Than Cheeseburgers
A new health report claims that cheeseburgers and chocolate biscuits are more nutritious than some of the most popular baby foods from Britain’s leading brands, The Guardian UK reported.
The food company Heinz was cited in the report for producing several of these foods lacking nutritional value.
The study showed that Farley’s rusks, a classic weaning food, contained more sugar than chocolate digestives, while its mini cheese biscuits, aimed at toddlers, contained more saturated fat per 100g than a McDonald’s quarter-pounder burger with cheese.
A large proportion of these foods are high in saturated fat, salt and sugar, according to the survey by the Children’s Food Campaign of 107 foods marketed for consumption by babies and young children.
All of the foods were purchased from mainstream British supermarkets and only half of all the products surveyed were low in saturated fat, salt and sugar.
For Heinz products, this figure was one in four. One in nine Cow & Gate products were found to be high in sugar.
The company’s Baby Balance bear biscuits””which were recently withdrawn from sale””were also found to contain unhealthy trans fat, which have proven links with heart disease. The products were also poorly labeled.
With support from more than 300 national and local health organizations and 12,000 members of the public, The Children’s Food Campaign (CFC) works to improve children’s health and wellbeing through better food.
"Many foods marketed for babies and young children are advertised as ‘healthy’. In reality, in terms of sugar and saturated fat content, some are worse than junk food. In particular, failing to correctly label products that contain dangerous trans fats is outrageous," said CFC joint coordinator Christine Haigh.
The Food Commission exposed the high levels of sugar in baby biscuits during an investigation in 2000, and urged manufacturers to reduce the amount.
"Farley’s rusks have been enjoyed by generations of babies, and some adults too, for 120 years. Enriched with vitamins and minerals, the unique Farley’s rusk recipe has remained virtually unchanged," Heinz said.
"They [Farley's rusks] also contain very little fat and, in keeping with the special nutritional needs of infants, contain no added salt."
Heinz claims it offers a range of reduced sugar rusks providing 30 percent less sugar than Farley’s original rusks.
The company argued that it was misleading to compare its mini cheese biscuits with a McDonald’s quarter-pounder with cheese, which is consumed in a much larger portion size.
"Today, more than 90% of the Cow & Gate baby food range contains only naturally occurring sugars and “¦ no added sugar," said
a spokeswoman for Cow & Gate.
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