The European division of The World Health Organization (WHO) has slammed the baby food market, noting that a large proportion of products are high in sugar and incorrectly promoted as suitable for infants under six months. In a bid to strengthen current market regulations, it has developed a draft Nutrient Profile Model (NPM) as part of a damning report designed to tackle the high levels of sugar and eliminate misleading marketing practises. This sets composition thresholds for baby food products, including fats, sugar and salt, in line with WHO guidance, with the aim of promoting a healthy diet for infants and young children.

The WHO/Europe report has made a number of recommendations for tackling the high-sugar levels. Among these are:

Do not market fruit drinks and juices, confectionery and sweet snacks as suitable for infants and young children.
Prohibit added sugars – including concentrated fruit juice – in all baby foods.
Improve product labeling for total sugar and total fruit contents.
Ban misleading labeling and claims relating to sugar contents or product healthiness.
Do not market baby food as suitable for children under six months of age.

Experts strongly suggest that the report and guidelines should be embraced by the food industry. “Companies should work towards more varied and savory product ranges, aim to lower sugar contents and provide more foods that are unpureed – thereby lowering free sugar content. They should also clearly label products with informative and non-misleading statements or names,” Dr. Diane Threapleton, Leeds Institute of Cardiovascular and metabolic Medicine, tells .

The sugar content of many baby food products may slip under the radar of parents or caregivers. This means manufacturers or retailers have an opportunity to play a more positive role in helping consumers make a healthy choice for their children, she adds.

Not so sweet results 
The report notes that only about a third of products out of almost 4,000 European baby food products examined met all of the six main compositional thresholds proposed by the NPM. Researchers from the University of Leeds – who co-developed the NPM – surveyed 2,641 baby food products from Denmark, Spain and the UK and a further 1,314 products in seven additional European countries.

Of particular concern were high levels of sugar and the use of concentrated fruit juice or other sweetening agents. The study found, on average, that approximately one-third of energy in the baby foods came from total sugar. The total sugar includes added sugar, and naturally occurring sugar, such as in milk products and fruit.

WHO’s existing recommendations state that free sugars should contribute less than 10 percent of total energy intake for children and warn against the addition of free sugars to food for infants and young children. Total sugar in fruit purees marketed as baby food was found on average to be more than 70 percent of total energy.

“The large number of savory or vegetable-type purees that derived much of their energy from sugar was surprising. It was because sweet vegetables, such as parsnip or carrots, were used or because fruit was mixed in,” says Threapleton.

“It’s disappointing that so many products rely on bland sweet ingredients such as apple or pear juice or puree to make them more palatable and mask more interesting flavors, such as sour or bitter,” she adds. 

Free sugar refers to sugar added by the manufacturer and can also include sugars naturally present in honey, syrups and unsweetened fruit juices as well as sugars that are “released” from fruit or vegetable cellular structures when they are processed and pureed.

Why is sugar particularly threatening to infants?

Consuming foods with high sugar content is known to be detrimental to health, but it can be particularly harmful to infants. 

“There are serious concerns that introducing foods with high sugar content at a young age could enhance a taste preference for sweet foods,” says Dr. Jayne Hutchinson, School of Food Science and Nutrition, University of Leeds.

Enhanced preference for sweet flavors, or the so-called “sweet-tooth,” is increasingly a trait that comes with health warnings. A recent study published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) found that the sugar in soda and fruit juice may increase cancer risk. The French-based study was the first significant research to establish a specific association between sugar and cancer. 

Dietary quality during infancy may also be responsible for programming a life-long risk of non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, heart disease or cancer.

“We know that dietary habits formed in early years can persist into later life. High sugar intake is associated with poor diet quality and disease development. Foods high in sugar, if consumed frequently, are thought to contribute to childhood obesity and are likely to be an important factor in tooth decay,” Threapleton explains.

The higher-than-recommended sugar intake of young children in Britain has also been flagged.

Obesity-prevention charity Sugarwise noted that children in Britain are consuming high levels of sugar at school due to a lack of limits being in place. In light of this, it launched a certification scheme that curbs the over-consumption of sugar in over 500 schools.