Baby food packaging littered with unconfirmed health claims

By Chris Dyer via SWNS

Baby food packaging has an average of nine unsubstantiated promotional claims about how healthy the product is, new research revealed.

Claims printed on the individual packets are largely unregulated and often imply some indirect health benefit for the infant despite there being no evidence it does, scientists said.

These promos use the "healthy halo effect" about how much salt or fat it includes, which can be confusing for parents about what product to choose, experts said.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has called for the establishment of standards for the promotion of commercial baby foods to align with best practice recommendations on infant feeding.

And the UK government has passed new legislation to restrict online advertising of food and drinks high in fat, salt, and sugar to encourage children to have healthy diets.

But without any legally binding regulations and guidelines for the make-up and promotion of  manufactured baby foods in the UK and the EU, it’s something of a free-for-all amid surging sales, researchers said.

The UK market for manufactured baby foods is set to soar to £1billion (€1.19 billion or $1.35 billion) by 2024, growing by 2.5 percent year on year, scientists said.

Researchers want to investigate the use of promotions on manufactured baby food intended for infants up to the age of one year in the UK and test links between product characteristics and the claims made.

Experts searched online offers or in store for baby foods from seven major UK supermarkets -Aldi, Asda, Lidl, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Waitrose and Morrisons as well as Amazon - in June and September 2020.

They collected information on brand name, type of packaging, net weight content in grams, target age, product name, food type - wet or dry, product type such as snack or puree, promotional claim type and claim main message.

The study authors wrote: “Since food preferences are formed early in life and infants have an innate preference for sweet and salty foods, promoting sweet [baby foods] containing a high amount of sugar could be detrimental.

"Moreover, it may contribute to high energy consumption and dental caries.”

The promotional claims were categorised as health, nutrient, composition and marketing.

The marketing claims were then divided into those for baby-led weaning that encourages self-feeding, convenience, meeting dietary goals, endorsements, ideals on feeding, lifestyle, quality, texture, taste, and other.

A total of 724 products from 34 brands were recorded, of which over half - 56 percent - were sweet, 42 percent savory and two percent sweet-savory and neutral.

Two thirds - or 68 percent - of the products were classified as "wet-spoonable," compared with around a third - 32 percent - which were classified as dry.

Snacks made up nearly three quarters - 73 percent - of dry foods, followed by cereals - 22 percent.

"Wet-spoonable" products packaged in pouches made up 35 percent of the products surveyed, followed by dry products packaged in wrappers - which was 26 percent - in jars made up 13 percent, 12 percent sold as tray meals and other forms of packaging made up 14 percent.

A total of 6265 promotional claims were identified on the 724 products, according to the study.

Nearly all products - 99 percent - carried marketing claims on the packaging, followed by composition claims that were 97 percent and nutrient claims were made on 85 percent, with  just 6 percent of products carried direct health claims.

The average number of total claims on each product was nine, with marketing claims totalling five, on average. But there were up to 17 promotional claims on a single product, the study fond.

Marketing claims referred mainly to texture in 84 per cent of packets and taste in 70 percent.

The main composition claim was organic that appeared in 63 percent of products, while nutrient claims were mainly around "no added" or "less" sugar that were in 58 percent and salt in 57 percent.

Baby-led weaning claims were found on 72 percent of snacks, with a significantly higher number of these claims on snacks that was actually on 99 percent.

But the promotion of snack habits as early as six to 12 months is questionable, given their potential to encourage overeating and obesity, the researchers said.

While health claims were found only on 16 percent of baby foods classified as dry and 0.6 percent of wet-spoonable products, dry products, which included snacks and breakfast cereals, carried the most of all the health claims made in 94 percent of cases.

The role of iron in supporting normal cognitive development was the most common health claim, the scientists said.

The widespread use of unregulated promotional claims on manufactured baby foods is of concern, say the researchers, highlighting some potential issues for the claims made.

For example "vegetable taste" suggests foods are made of vegetables when in reality the ingredients might be a combination of fruit and veg with a predominantly sweet taste, researchers said.

The authors said: “Dietary goals for fruit and vegetable consumption [five portions a day] are given for children from the age of two years - thus, the suitability of promoting claims such as ‘contributes towards your two-of-five’ or "contains one-of-five" remains questionable.

“Endorsements such as ‘nutritionist approved’ or ‘dietitian approved’ were widely used, but the meaning of these endorsements in terms of nutrient quality or veracity of health claims is not fully clear and needs further scrutiny,” they continue.

The researchers said their study provides, “just a snapshot of a fluid [commercial baby food] market,” while the promotional claims were identified from online images from retailers’ websites which may not be up to date.

But the authors added: “Promotional claims on [commercial baby food] packaging are extensively used which could mislead parents.

“The unrestricted use of messages and ‘health halo’ statements on packaging of [commercial baby foods] calls for policymakers and stakeholders to update guidelines, legislation, and policies to protect this vulnerable demographic so that infant feeding recommendations are not undermined.”

The study was published online in the Archives of Disease in Childhood.