Parents are being misled by health claims on baby foods sold at U.S. grocery stores. According to The George Institute for Global Health in the scientific journal Nutrients, manufacturers are using promotional claims to distract consumers from a product’s poor nutritional profile, misleading what is perceived to be healthiness. In 2022, researchers tested 651 products sold in the top 10 franchise grocery stores in the U.S. for children 6 months to 3 years old. They uncovered that almost 60& of these foods failed to meet WHO guidelines for nutritional quality and met none of the standards for promotion and marketing.
Most common was the food that claimed to be non-genetically modified, which appeared on 70% of products, while 59% were labeled organic and 25% said they contained no artificial colors or flavors. It was also found that 70% of baby food failed to meet protein requirements, 44% exceeded sugar recommendations, 1 in 4 contained too many calories and 1 in 5 were deemed too salty. Baby pouches were also ranked among the unhealthiest products. (Newsweek)
