WHO: Too much sugar in baby foods on market

The United Nations specialized agency on public healthbased the conclusion on an examination by its European office of about 8,000baby food products on shelf between November 2017 and January 2018.

It warned that «the very high levels of sugarspresent in commercial products is a cause for concern» by increasing therisk of overweight and dental cavities while inducing a lifetime eating habitin favor of sugary foods.

In around half of the products examined, «morethan 30 percent of calories were from total sugars and around a third ofproducts contained added sugar or other sweetening agents,» the worldhealth body said in the report released on Monday to update guidelines forinfant diets.

The examination that covered more than 500 stores inAustria, Bulgaria, Israel and Hungary also finds the labels of up to 60 percentof the inspected food are misleading by claiming to suit infants under sixmonths old.

The WHO has long recommended that «infantsreceive exclusively breast milk for the first six months of life.»

In the WHO report, countries are advised to make newlaws on curbing high sugar intake, ban added sugars and sweeteners in babyfoods, and put an end to the promotion of breast milk substitutes.

It also requires labels on candies and sweetenedbeverages, including fruit juices and condensed milk, to state they are notsuitable for children under three.

Meanwhile, the WHO recommends that children betweensix months and two years be fed nutrient-rich home-prepared foods.

«Good nutrition in infancy and early childhoodremains key to ensuring optimal child growth and development, and to betterhealth outcomes later in life,» said Zsuzsanna Jakab, WHO regionaldirector for Europe, in a statement.