A recently published study by the World Health Organization (WHO) has reported alarming levels of hidden sugars in commercially prepared baby food.

The study was conducted in four cities – Vienna (Austria), Sofia (Bulgaria), Budapest (Hungary) and Haifa (Israel) – and examined the ingredients in a total of nearly 8,000 products. In all four countries, a surprisingly high proportion of products targeted at infants listed ingredients that are used for their sweetening properties, including sugar, glucose, fructose and fruit juice concentrate – ranging from 30 percent in Austria to 41 percent in Bulgaria (although the proportion using the word sugar in the ingredients list was less than a quarter in all the countries).

In addition to the sweetening agents, many of the products contained fruit puree, even in products with a savoury product description. Many parents believe that feeding their babies fruit purees is healthy (providing “one of the five-a-day” portions of fruit or vegetables). Indeed, virtually all the products found included some nutritional or health claim on their label, confirming parents’ beliefs.

What most purchasers are not aware of is that commercially prepared fruit purees contain much higher levels of free sugar than the equivalent home-made foods. The proportion of calories derived from sugars was shockingly high in Austria, with 50.5 per cent of products deriving more than 40 per cent of their calories from sugars. Hungary and Bulgaria were not far behind, with levels of 47.3 per cent and 41.9 per cent respectively deriving more than 40 per cent of their calories from sugars, although in Israel this level was much lower at 18.2 per cent.

Consumption of high levels of sugar in a child’s formative years may affect their metabolism in a way that sets them up in later life for a range of health issues, including obesity, diabetes and heart disease. Moreover, children’s tastes are developed in their early years, and habits formed in infancy are hard to break: a toddler who develops a sweet tooth is likely to continue to consume high levels of sweet foods into adulthood.

The WHO has therefore called upon member states to take action to ensure that commercial baby foods comply with its 2016 “Guidance on ending inappropriate promotion of foods for infants and young children” and the long-standing “International code of marketing of breast-milk substitutes” (1981)

With current interest in clean-label, organic and natural foods in general, and an even more focused demand for healthy foods for babies, the time is ripe for baby food manufacturers to grasp the nettle and develop baby foods that are as good for babies as their labels imply – with significant potential for growth resulting from increased uptake and higher unit prices.