Nearly two-thirds of infant and toddler food items sold in grocery stores and supermarkets in the United States are unhealthy.
That is according to a new study from the George Institute for Global Health, an Australia-based research group. Researchers compared data on 651 commercial baby foods to nutritional guidelines from the World Health Organization (WHO) and found that 60% of food items marketed for children between the ages of six months to three years old failed to meet the organization's recommendation.
In addition, researchers found that all of the products deemed "unhealthy" also made prohibited promotional claims on its packaging. For instance, some of the food items made primarily of flour or other starches had "fruit" or "vegetables" in the product name, Dr. Daisy Coyle, one of the study's authors, said.
What Nutritional Recommendations Did the Food Items Fail To Meet?
Of all the products analyzed by researchers, 70% did not meet WHO's guidance on protein content and 44% exceeded the recommended total sugar requirements. Additionally, 25% of the baby and toddler foods failed to meet calorie recommendations and 20% had salt levels above the WHO's recommended limits.
Over the past decade, sales of baby food pouches have increased by 900% in the US alone. However, researchers said these pouches, especially those containing fruit-based products, had a lot of sugar and were among the unhealthiest baby and toddler food items.
Researchers' Recommendations
Following the study's findings, the researchers are "urgently" calling on the US government to impose more regulations on infant and toddler food items, especially with the country's growing childhood obesity epidemic.
The study follows the passing of the Baby Food Safety Act of 2024, which would empower the US Food and Drug Administration (USDA) to limit toxic heavy metals in commercial baby food. The legislation was signed after traces of lead and arsenic were found in some infant food products.
