Local Mom, Scientist Author Viral Baby Food Study

The author of a popular baby food study says she conducted the study in Raleigh grocery stores in her spare time.

“As a mother of two young children, I became really interested in what the baby food industry was like,” said Elizabeth Dunford, PhD, assistant professor of nutrition at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Dunford was the lead author of a recent study of baby foods available in supermarkets that found they were full of non-nutritional products, too much sugar and salt, and misleading marketing claims.

According to a study published last month in the peer-reviewed journal Nutrients, 60 percent of 651 foods marketed to children ages 6 to 36 months and available on the shelves of 10 U.S. supermarkets do not meet the World Health Organization’s recommendations for infant and young child feeding.

Almost none of the advertised products met WHO advertising standards, which emphasize clear labeling of ingredients and accurate information about health properties.

Of all the products surveyed, 70% did not meet WHO guidelines for protein content, and 25% did not meet calorie recommendations, researchers found. One in five foods for infants or young children contained salt levels that exceeded the organization’s recommended limits.

A quarter of the products contained added or hidden sweeteners, Dunford said, and 44% of products for infants and young children contained more than the WHO recommended amounts of sugar.

One of the most important takeaways from the study was to not believe every claim made on a package, but instead read the back to find nutritional information that will help you make a healthy choice for your child.

“I’ve bought a lot of these products, including these piping bags, and I don’t think they’re as good as I hope they are,” Dunford told WRAL.

When looking at labels, be sure to look for information such as the amount of sugar in the food. If you see 5 grams of sugar, note that this is equal to one whole teaspoon of sugar.

“Studies show that 50 per cent of the sugar consumed in baby food comes from sachets, and we found that sachets are the biggest cause,” said Dunford, who is also a research fellow at the George Institute for Global Health in Sydney, which created FoodSwitch, an app that provides nutritional information on thousands of products from around the world.

The study found that sales of baby food pouches have increased by 900% in the U.S. over the past 13 years, making them one of the fastest-growing market segments.

Sweeteners added to baby food sachets

The growing demand is understandable, because the ease and convenience of using the sachets can make them irresistible to overworked, stressed-out parents and caregivers, said Dr. Mark Corkins, St. Jude Endowed Chair for Excellence in Pediatric Gastroenterology at Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis. He was not involved in the new study.

“These bags are very concerning,” said Corkins, who is also chairman of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Committee on Nutrition.

“Children need to learn to chew, so they should eat regular fruit, not pureed, sweetened things in sachets,” he said. “Often these mixtures are not natural and are much sweeter than real fruit, so the child learns to only like super-sweet things.”

There is also the issue of texture, which needs to be learned at the appropriate age, Corkins added.

“We tell parents to gradually increase the texture of foods when introducing real foods between 6 months and a year,” Corkins said. “If you don’t expose kids to a variety of textures and chew more during this critical period, they can develop a texture aversion and refuse anything that isn’t smooth, blended.”

CNN contacted several trade associations representing baby food manufacturers but did not receive a response before publication.

No guidelines for infant and toddler food

The study included more than 650 products collected in 2023 from the baby food aisle of 10 of the largest U.S. supermarkets. Dairy and other refrigerated products marketed to children were not analyzed.

The study did not reveal the names or brands of food products.

The researchers used the 2022 recommendations on nutrition and promotion for commercially produced foods for infants and young children issued by the WHO Regional Office for Europe. The WHO recommendations are an attempt to resolve global confusion over nutritional guidelines for foods for infants and young children, which are worse in the United States than in other Western countries, experts said.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has introduced regulations on infant formula and arsenic levels in baby foods, and has also issued recommendations on food safety and handling.

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

For example, if a savory dish was 10 percent spinach, 8 percent beef and 2 percent potatoes, and the majority of the product was apples or pears — often used as sweeteners in baby food — the name of the product in those countries would be “Pear, Spinach, Beef and Potato Cake,” she said.

Producers in those countries are also required to clearly state percentages on the label, such as “spinach (10%), beef (8%), and potatoes (2%), making it obvious how much pear or apple is in the mix,” Dunford said. “But the U.S. doesn’t have that regulation, so it’s harder to understand what’s in the products you’re buying.”

Dunford said such hidden sweeteners could be a key reason why only 31% of non-fruit pouches met WHO recommendations for total sugar.

Misleading advertising

Nearly all — 99.4 percent — of the 651 products in the study contained at least one marketing claim that was banned by the WHO recommendations. Products contained an average of four or five such claims; some contained as many as 13, the study found.

Common claims included: “non-genetically modified” or GM (70%); “organic” (59%); “BPA (bisphenol A) free” (37%); and “no artificial colours or flavours” (25%) — the WHO frowns on such marketing claims because they can give consumers the impression that a product is more nutritious than the one next to it on the shelf, which may or may not be true, Dunford said.

“The reason we call it the Wild West when we talk about the baby food aisle is because manufacturers can pick and choose what elements of their product they want to emphasize,” Dunford said. “They certainly don’t emphasize the bad things, do they? If their product has a high sugar content, they’ll just say on the label, ‘No added colors or flavors.’”

She added that in countries like Australia, ingredients must meet minimum nutrient profile requirements: if a food or drink does not meet basic nutritional standards, the manufacturer is not allowed to make any specific health claims about that ingredient.

“For example, if a product does not meet the minimum nutrient profile for calcium, you cannot claim added calcium on the label,” Dunford said.

About 62% of the products surveyed made general health and nutrition claims, while 58% made ingredient-specific claims, the researchers found.

“Snacks and snacks often refer to fruits or vegetables in the product name, even though they are made primarily from flour or other starches,” said study co-author Dr. Daisy Coyle, a research associate and dietitian at the George Institute for Global Health.

“The lack of regulation in this area leaves the door wide open for the food industry to prey on busy parents,” Coyle said in a statement.

Experts say such claims create a “health cloak” around these children’s foods.

“One of the biggest concerns about infant and toddler foods is the often bogus health claims on the front of the products,” Corkins said. “Some of them are obvious, some are implied and can be misleading to parents and caregivers.

“A concerned, well-meaning parent will read claims that a product is healthy and nutritious and not only buy those products but also spend more money on them because of those claims,” he said.