Credit: Wikipedia public domain /   World Health Organization Europe says Baby Food contains too much sugar

By Gary Raynaldo     DIPLOMATIC TIMES

UNITED NATIONS   –   A high proportion of commercial baby foods contain far too much sugar and companies are inappropriately marketing them as suitable for infants under the age of six months, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).  The global health organization’s long-standing recommendation spells out that children should be breastfed, exclusively, for the first six months. Its 2016 global Guidance on Ending the Inappropriate Promotion of Foods for Infants and Young Children explicitly states that commercial complementary foods should not be advertised for infants under 6 months of age.  The studies from WHO Europe  reveal that a high proportion of baby foods are incorrectly marketed as suitable for infants under the age of six months, when in fact much of it contains inappropriately high levels of sugar.  According to the WHO’s Regional Director for Europe, Zsuzsanna Jakab, who launched two new studies this week, proper nutrition for newborn babies into early childhood is key to development and good health in later life.

“There are concerns that many products may still be too high in sugars”

– World Health Organization, Europe

According to the WHO’s Regional Director for Europe, Zsuzsanna Jakab, who launched two new studies this week, proper nutrition for newborn babies into early childhood is key to development and good health in later life.

“Good nutrition in infancy and early childhood remains key to ensuring optimal child growth and development, and to better health outcomes later in life – including the prevention of overweight, obesity and diet-related noncommunicable diseases – thereby making United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 3 to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages much more achievable.” 

-said Zsuzsanna Jakab, WHO Regional Director

WHO/Europe also developed a methodology for identifying commercial baby foods available in retail settings, and for collecting nutritional content data on labels as well as other information from packaging, labelling and promotion (including claims).

This methodology was used to collect data on 7955 food or drink products marketed for infants and young children from 516 stores in 4 cites in the WHO European Region (Vienna, Austria; Sofia, Bulgaria; Budapest, Hungary; and Haifa, Israel) between November 2017 and January 2018.  In all 4 cities, a substantial proportion of the products – ranging from 28% to 60% – were marketed as being suitable for infants under the age of 6 months, according  to the reports.