Nearly 60% of supermarket baby foods don’t meet nutritional guidelines, study says

The U.S. hasn’t set nutritional guidelines for commercial foods for infants and toddlers, but the World Health Organization has. And a new study says that almost 60% of the baby foods available in U.S. supermarkets fall short.

In a study published in the journal Nutrients , an international team of researchers from The George Institute for Global Health looked at the nutritional profile of infant and toddler foods on the shelves of 10 U.S. grocery chains, then compared them to the international health organization’s recommendations, which came out in 2022.

Of 651 products considered, 60% failed to meet the nutritional requirements set by WHO in its “nutrient and promotion profile model.” Seventy percent failed to meet protein requirements, while 44% had too much sugar. One-fourth of the products didn’t meet calorie requirements and 20% contained too much salt.

“Our findings highlight the urgent need for better regulation and guidance in the infant and toddler foods market in the United States — the health of future generations depends on it,” Elizabeth Dunford, research fellow at The George Institute and an adjunct assistant professor of nutrition at the University of North Carolina, said in a written statement.

The findings are cause for concern, she said. “Early childhood is a crucial period of rapid growth and when taste preferences and dietary habits form, potentially paving the way for the development of chronic diseases such as obesity, diabetes and some cancers later in life.”

She added, “Time-poor parents are increasingly choosing convenience foods, unaware that many of these products lack key nutrients needed for their child’s development and tricked into believing they are healthier than they really are.”

Snack-size packages fared worst in the study, with the “lowest compliance with nutrient requirements.”

Researchers also noted that baby food pouches are the fastest-growing products among baby foods in terms of popularity. But fewer than 7% of those pouches met the sugar guidelines.

They miss on marketing, too

None of the examined products meet WHO promotional requirements. The study said nearly all of the products had at least one marketing claim that was prohibited under the global health giant’s guidelines. The study found that, on average, products had four prohibited claims on their packaging and some had as many as 11.

Common claims were non-genetically modified (70%), organic (59%), no BPA (37%) and no artificial colors/flavors (25%).

Another institute research fellow, dietitian Daisy Coyle, said that such claims create a “health halo” around products. “The lack of regulation in this area leaves the door wide open for the food industry to deceive busy parents,” she said. “We saw this not only in the use of misleading claims, but also in the use of misleading names, where the product name did not reflect the main ingredients found on the ingredients list.”

Coyle noted, for example, that snack and finger foods often are named for fruits and vegetables, but are primarily made of flour and starches.

Is baby food regulated?

“The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has implemented regulations on infant formulas and levels of arsenic in baby food , and it makes recommendations on food safety and handling,” per CNN .

But commercially produced food for infants and toddlers counts on parents to read and understand the nutrition labels.

“Are there regulations in different countries specific to infant and toddler foods? The short answer is no, but in Europe, the UK, New Zealand and Australia, where I’m from, there are broader regulations about how ingredients can be listed on the package that also impact foods fed to children,” Dunford told CNN.

According to the article, “If a savory food was made of 10% spinach, 8% beef and 2% potato, leaving the bulk of the product apples or pears — which are often used as sweeteners in baby foods — the name of the product in those countries would be ‘Pear, spinach, beef and potato pie,’ she said.”

An app that checks labels?

The George Institute has what it calls a “FoodSwitch” database, containing information on thousands of packaged foods in not just the United States, but Australia, China, Fiji, Hong Kong, India, Kuwait, New Zealand, South Africa and the United Kingdom.

According to the institute’s website , “The FoodSwitch app works by using your mobile phone camera to scan the barcode of a packaged food. It then uses science-based algorithms to calculate and then display simple nutrition profiles of the food.”

Consumers can scan the barcode and if the item is in the database, the app will find the calculations in the database. “This is presented as easy-to-understand nutrition information that can be viewed as either a Health Star Rating (HSR) or traffic-light coloured icons for key nutrients and energy,” the institute reported.

Smartphone apps for both iOS and Android and a more complete explanation can be found here .