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Children's health

31st Dec 2022

Baby food pouches are as bad as cigarettes, dentists claim

Kat O'Connor

Baby food pouches reportedly contain more sugar than Coca-Cola.

Baby food pouches contain extremely high levels of sugar, the BDA has warned.

The British Dental Association urged parents to be aware of baby food pouches because they lead to health issues including tooth decay.

The products are often used during weaning, but dentists have found that they’re causing more harm than good.

The British Dental Association found that over a quarter contained more sugar by volume than Coca-Cola.

Children under the age of 4 are now consuming more sugar than necessary.

The BDA claims marketing fools parents into thinking that the products are healthy alternatives. However, they are “misleading” due to the high sugar content.

Speaking about their findings, BDA Chair Eddie Crouch said:

“These products sadly risk hooking the next generation before they can even walk.”

“Claims of ‘no added sugar’ are meaningless when mums and dads end up delivering the lion’s share of a can of Coke to their infants.

“Ministers need to break the UK’s addiction. They must ensure sugar becomes the new tobacco, especially when it comes to our youngest patients.”

The BDA believes these products are causing damage because they’re sucked directly from the pouch. This means the food has more contact with a child’s teeth.

The BDA said: “All high sugar products adopt ‘halo labelling’ principles, focusing on status as ‘organic’, ‘high in fibre’ or ‘containing 1 of your 5 a day’, misleading parents into thinking they are making healthy choices.”

“Dentists stress expansion of fiscal measures would likely have favourable outcomes in terms of encouraging reformulation.”

“We’re calling for action on the obscene levels of sugar in many popular brands of baby food pouches to protect children’s oral health.”