Baby food not cutting the mustard

By 12. September 2013Blog, Health, Nutrition, Quality

Some baby foods on sale in the UK aimed at children as young as 4 months (current recommendation is to start weaning at 6 months) do not meet infant weaning needs. That was the take home message in a paper published in the journal “Archives of Disease in Childhood” last month.

Researchers analysed the nutritional value of baby food from 4 major UK manufacturers and 2 suppliers and compared this to formula milk.

They found that most of the products contained the same amount of energy as formula milk, 40% more protein (apparently not enough) and alot more sugar. Products containing meat had the highest iron content but was in line with the levels found in formula milk.

The researchers emphasise that “the main point of weaning foods is to increase the energy content of the diet and provide richer sources of nutrients, such as iron”. The baby food they analysed did not meet this expectation.

A press release on the paper is available from the journals website.