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Sep 29, 2023

Review into hundreds of baby food pouches called for after study finds little to no nutritional value in them

Health experts are calling for a review into hundreds of baby food pouches after

Health experts are calling for a review into hundreds of baby food pouches after they were found to have little to no nutritional value to them.

A study by BioMed Central tested 276 products and determined only two of those were "nutritionally sufficient", missing key components like iron, calcium and fibre for growth and development and with extra sweetening additives included.

Researcher and paediatric nutritionist, Dr Catharine Fleming told Today a key finding from the study was that parents needed to be feeding their babies and younger children whole foods that were fresh wherever possible.

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"Unfortunately, at the moment there is not laws and regulations in place to keep children and parents safe in the choices they are making," she said.

"When we are talking about sugars and added sugars into baby products there are two types - one is your white table sugar as an adult sugar, but then there are these free sugars from processes, like fruit juice concentrates which are still a sweetened sugar products.

"At the moment there is no regulations around how much can be included in baby products for children in Australia."

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Fleming said another issue with pouched foods was that while they may be convenient, children from seven months old should be eating foods to encourage chewing.

"They are not an everyday option and do not to make up the diet of your child all the time," she said.

See what else Dr Fleming had to say in the video above

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