About 70% of kids' foods are ultra-processed and that includes pouches and pastes for babies and toddlers. So why are so many foods made for children so unhealthy? And what can parents do about it?
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00:00Sugar makes up about one-fifth of the daily diet
00:03of an American child,
00:05and the problem starts earlier than you might think.
00:08Baby and toddler foods are getting sweeter every year,
00:12and most of it is ultra-processed,
00:14which could have long-term health impacts
00:17like heart disease, diabetes, and even cancer.
00:21So what exactly is in these products,
00:23and how can parents tell
00:24if they're buying something healthy?
00:26I'm Mia de Graaf,
00:27and I'm a health editor at Business Insider.
00:29Thanks to more and more, miracles...
00:33Baby food emerged in the 1920s
00:36and was ultra-processed from the get-go.
00:38The first baby food is attributed
00:40to this man called Harold Clapp,
00:42who was a father in Rochester, New York.
00:45He was looking after his infant son
00:48while his wife was sick,
00:50so he fed him soups and strained peas,
00:54and he thought, how about I bottle these things up
00:56and give them to local people in my community
00:59and even local drug stores?
01:01So soon, this was being sold nationwide.
01:04Parents with kids who maybe couldn't be breastfed
01:07or weren't thriving nutritionally
01:10would buy these broths and stews and strained peas,
01:13and their kids would get better.
01:15Up until the 20th century,
01:17people thought that adult food was dangerous
01:20for babies under the age of one or even two or three.
01:24Fruits and vegetables were rarely introduced
01:27for a really long time,
01:28so their nutritional level was way lower.
01:31They really weren't getting that full plethora of protein,
01:34carbs, and vitamins,
01:36but it was really Gerber who reinvented the wheel.
01:39♪ Tell us please, we wanna know ♪
01:42♪ How'd you get that Gerber glow? ♪
01:46There was this father and son duo
01:49called Frank and Daniel Gerber
01:51who had a canning company in Fremont, Michigan.
01:54According to Gerber lore,
01:55there's a story that Daniel's wife, Dorothy,
01:59was at home trying to strain some peas
02:02for their sick infant daughter.
02:04Daniel comes home to find Dorothy
02:06just completely exhausted, covered in mushed peas,
02:10so she asks Daniel could he get people
02:12at his canning company to make this for her.
02:14Canned fruits and vegetables were, at the time,
02:17in the 20s, really expensive and kind of inaccessible,
02:21so Gerber was seeing that if they could make
02:23these foods appropriate for babies
02:25and make them easily accessible and affordable,
02:28there was huge potential for this market.
02:31Around 1926, 1927, Gerber started testing out
02:35some formulas of what they could make for babies.
02:39Gerber prepares food for the most important person
02:42in the world, your baby.
02:44They were testing these products
02:46on Daniel's own daughter, Sally,
02:49and then also on other infant kids.
02:51So by 1928, they had their first range of baby food,
02:55so that was strained peas, prunes, a beef vegetable soup,
03:00and they started rolling them out, and it was a huge hit.
03:03To learn why four out of five pediatricians
03:05who recommend baby food recommend Gerber.
03:08Baby food manufacturers were marketing these products
03:12as just as nutritious, if not more nutritious,
03:16than homemade food, also that they were scientific,
03:19that they were untouched by human hands.
03:22These canned ingredients were basically pummeled with heat
03:26to sort of sterilize it and make it shelf-stable,
03:29and that process basically breaks down everything inside,
03:32so the solids and liquids separate.
03:34It can also impact the color,
03:36so it could get a little paler.
03:38It can also impact the flavor,
03:40so to offset that, you can add in sugars and preservatives
03:44and fats that will prevent too much destabilization
03:49of the product inside.
03:50So babies were getting these foods,
03:52but there were longer-lasting effects
03:54that we didn't yet appreciate.
03:56So the global baby food market has grown significantly
04:00in the last decade, from 9.6 billion in 2010
04:05to 17.9 billion in 2022.
04:09Experts largely agree that 70% of food for babies
04:14and toddlers in the US is ultra-processed,
04:17so I'm gonna measure how much sugar
04:19is in one of these pouches.
04:21I'm picking this one.
04:22Really highlights that it's naturally flavored
04:24and that it's a yogurt pouch,
04:26but it contains 14 grams of sugar,
04:28of which eight grams are added sugars.
04:31And babies and toddlers, according to the WHO,
04:33should not be consuming added sugar.
04:36So let's have a look at what that looks like.
04:38One.
04:40So that's how much added sugar is in this pouch.
04:43Three.
04:45If you look at this, that looks like a lot of sugar to me.
04:49I can't imagine just mixing that with water
04:51and just drinking that in one go,
04:53but I could imagine consuming all of this
04:55within a couple of minutes.
04:57So it just goes to show how much hidden sugar there might be
05:01or how much sugar there might be in a product
05:02that you don't really notice straight away
05:05by looking at the front of the package.
05:07This is something that's quite pervasive
05:09in all of baby and toddler food.
05:11There's a recent report published
05:13by the World Health Organization
05:15that showed that baby and toddler foods
05:17are getting sweeter every year.
05:20The amount of sugar either added to
05:22or just inherent in these products
05:25has ballooned in the last 10 years.
05:27And it's something that may not be that straightforward
05:30to notice if you're just reading the label,
05:32especially if you live in the US.
05:35In other countries, sugar that is derived from fruit,
05:38such as fruit concentrate,
05:40is categorized as free sugars.
05:43In the US, that is not always the case.
05:46So I've got a bunch of products here
05:47and I'm gonna go through them,
05:49starting from about six months going up in age.
05:53We'll look at the nutrition labels, at the ingredients,
05:56and identify what are the red flags
05:58and what are the green flags.
06:00And we're gonna start with pouches
06:01because that is the biggest sector in baby food
06:04and the fastest growing.
06:06This has grown about 900% since 2010.
06:10First up, we have happy baby, green beans, pear, and spinach.
06:14So this pouch is really presented as a dose of vegetables.
06:20Even look at the design.
06:21It's got this sort of crown of spinach up here
06:23and then a bed of green beans down here.
06:26It says full serving of veggies up here.
06:30I had kind of missed the pear,
06:33but that's technically there.
06:34The first ingredient is going to be the most plentiful.
06:38So in this, it is organic green bean puree.
06:41And then the second one is organic pear puree.
06:45This is marketed as a veggie,
06:47but it's a lot of sugar for a baby to be eating
06:51in a vegetable meal.
06:53On this one, there are fewer calories per serving
06:57than a dietician would normally look for
06:59in something for a baby or a toddler.
07:01You're looking for 60 calories per 100 grams.
07:05This is 50 calories per 113 grams.
07:10So that is a little lower.
07:11So overall, not so bad,
07:13but there are a couple of red flags,
07:15including the low calorie count per serving
07:18and the high amount of sugar from pear.
07:21In a statement to Business Insider,
07:23Happy Family, which is the parent company of Happy Baby,
07:26said that this pouch provides a full serving
07:29of organic veggies, which for kids is a quarter cup.
07:32It also said that there's no added sugar
07:34and because baby's tastes lean to the naturally sweet,
07:38we wanted to support early veggies introduction
07:41and acceptance.
07:42Next, we are gonna look at Earth's Best Organic
07:47Apple, Peach, Oatmeal, Fruit and Grain Puree.
07:51It has 60 calories per 99 gram serving,
07:56five milligrams of sodium, total sugars, 12 grams.
08:00And that includes two grams of added sugar.
08:04That is a red flag immediately.
08:06The most plentiful ingredient in this pouch
08:08is organic apple puree concentrate,
08:12then water, then organic peach puree concentrate.
08:17The two fruits in this are concentrates.
08:19That means that the sugar from the fruit
08:21has been extracted and distilled
08:23and it's basically acting as an added sugar.
08:25So the amount of sugar that a child is gonna consume
08:28from this when they suck it up pretty quickly
08:30is not insignificant.
08:32If I look on the back of this label,
08:34it says made with wholesome ingredients
08:37from our family of certified organic farmers.
08:41But the problem with that is that
08:42that's not actually a regulated term.
08:44So it doesn't really mean anything.
08:46And the reality is quite a bit away
08:49from the general vibe that this package creates.
08:53Unfortunately, that's what experts say is a health halo.
08:57The WHO specifically calls on companies
09:01not to list all of these positives
09:04when there are also negatives hidden in the package.
09:06In this case, there's added sugar.
09:08And the two fruits included in this
09:11are actually concentrates, not whole fruits.
09:14Now I'm gonna get this apples, blueberries, and oats.
09:19This is from Happy Baby Organics.
09:21So we have 80 calories per 113 gram serving.
09:26That is good.
09:2813 grams of sugar,
09:29which is higher than some of the other pouches
09:32that I've looked at,
09:33but this is a fruit-based sweet product.
09:36The fact that you have no added sugar here
09:39means that all of the sugar
09:40is coming naturally from the fruits.
09:42In the ingredients list,
09:44organic apple puree, organic blueberry puree,
09:48milled organic whole grain oats.
09:51If you're gonna have oats in a product,
09:52you do want it to be whole grain.
09:54That means that it contains every aspect of the grain.
09:57The only ingredient you might not recognize
10:00in this ingredient list is ascorbic acid.
10:02And it's used commonly in processed food
10:05to inject a bit of vitamin C,
10:07but mainly to improve shelf stability
10:10and also to kind of fuse back together
10:12the nutritional makeup of ingredients
10:14that have been broken down in the process.
10:16Pouches are really interesting in the sector of baby food.
10:20They're really, really popular.
10:22At the same time,
10:23because these things are really mushed up
10:25and do have sugars inherently infused into them,
10:28you're consuming these sugars much faster
10:32and not necessarily burning the calories
10:34or digesting the nutrients in the same way
10:36that you would with homemade food.
10:38What you want them to be doing is seeing a green bean,
10:42seeing an apple, touching it
10:44so that they associate whole foods positively in their brain
10:49and build that connection.
10:51And they also have that sort of sensory experience
10:54of learning how to interact with foods and feed themselves.
10:59We also have puffs.
11:01So baby puffs is a really classic snack.
11:04You can have them from about the age
11:06of six months old and onwards.
11:08They've got a really good level of texture.
11:10This one that we got actually, pretty healthy.
11:13It contains organic peanut butter,
11:16organic whole grain yellow cornmeal,
11:19organic de-germed yellow cornmeal, and sea salt.
11:22Very few ingredients,
11:24and it doesn't have added sugars, which is good.
11:27One of the things that doctors usually care about with puffs
11:29is that it can be a vehicle for added sugars.
11:32And often they're made with sort of low nutrient grains
11:35like rice or wheat without the germ.
11:39So now I'm gonna look at some food that's marketed
11:41to babies who are slightly older,
11:43around eight months old or crawling.
11:46First, we have Happy Baby Organic Yogis,
11:51freeze dried yogurt and fruit snacks.
11:54This one is mixed berry,
11:56gluten-free and made with real yogurt.
11:59We really associate yogurt with probiotics
12:01and things that are gonna nurture your gut.
12:03But crucially here, it does say in small print,
12:07does not contain live and active cultures.
12:11So that means it's not necessarily going to be a fountain
12:14of probiotics that you might get from a fresh yogurt.
12:18Some things that stand out to me.
12:20Number one, tapioca starch.
12:23It's often used in gluten-free foods,
12:26and this is listed as gluten-free.
12:27But tapioca starch is often seen as something
12:30that is a deliverer of empty calories.
12:33And while it can be healthy,
12:35if you're using it to make something,
12:37it can still sort of spike your blood sugar in certain ways.
12:40Another red flag is that this product contains things
12:42listed as flavors, mixed berry flavor and strawberry flavor.
12:47That means that that is not coming
12:50from the real fruit itself.
12:52You've created that flavor based on using different kinds
12:54of chemicals and oils, it's artificially made.
12:57Whereas in other products, you might see a fruit concentrate
13:01or a puree or the fruit itself.
13:03It's really confusing because when you get this product
13:06that says mixed berry made with real yogurt,
13:10it's really kind of portraying this idea
13:12that this is real and natural.
13:15And then when you look on the back,
13:16you get to the very bottom of this long
13:18and tiny printed list of ingredients.
13:21And you see that some of these flavors
13:23aren't actually from the real fruit.
13:25These sort of dissolvable yogurt products,
13:28they're really common within the baby food sector.
13:31And it's a bit of a pet peeve for dietitians
13:34and doctors and researchers in this area.
13:36Because they say that this is just a classic way
13:40of delivering unnecessary sugars and chemicals
13:44and preservatives to kids.
13:46Let's open it.
13:48So holding this, I can really feel this kind
13:52of the milk powder and dried aspect of this.
13:54They feel really sort of dry and crispy.
13:57Let's give it a taste.
14:01Wow.
14:02Yeah, not very satisfying, I will say,
14:04but I am not eight months old.
14:05So maybe it would hit different if I was a baby.
14:07Tasting this really helps me to understand
14:11what food researchers say when they talk
14:14about multi-phase processing.
14:17When you feel it, it feels crispy.
14:19You put it in your mouth and then it dissolves
14:21and you get this kind of yogurt creaminess.
14:25And then it disappears kind of instantly.
14:26And that now is making me want to eat another one,
14:29which is kind of wild.
14:30I can see that process when my brain wants to repeat
14:33that multifaceted eating experience.
14:36And the problem long-term with that,
14:38if you're training a baby on how to be a baby,
14:43on how to perceive and interact with food
14:45based on something like this,
14:48it is a really difficult starting point
14:50because you expect that every food you eat
14:53is going to deliver these like constant shots
14:55of like dopamine release
14:57and that everything's gonna have this multi-phase,
15:00multi-textural thing.
15:01Then when you get to eating a whole food
15:03that is gonna be delivering so many great nutrients,
15:06it might feel kind of like unexciting by comparison.
15:10A baby might be training themselves
15:13to expect this level of manufactured brain experience
15:18when they eat a food like this.
15:19We asked Happy Family for a comment
15:21about this snack product.
15:23They said it's made with yogurt cultures and fruit
15:25and it's freeze-dried to melt in your mouth
15:27for a fun texture adventure.
15:30They also said the one gram of added sugar per serving
15:32can be balanced in the context
15:34of an overall nutritious eating plan.
15:36So now let's look at some foods for toddlers.
15:40We're gonna start with animal crackers for toddlers.
15:44They are cinnamon graham flavored
15:47and they come in these really sweet animal shapes.
15:50On the front, it says that this is delivering 10%
15:54of your daily value of iron and vitamin E per serving.
15:58Sounds nice.
15:59Baked with whole grains.
16:01Also says non-GMO ingredients.
16:03Again, here we have love to learn animal shapes.
16:07This is something that you see a lot on baby food
16:09where it's really marketing not just a nutritional value
16:12but also a cognitive value
16:14that your baby might be using this food
16:16to learn and develop.
16:17It says it just contains goodness.
16:20No artificial sweeteners, flavors, or colors.
16:23Total sugars, two grams,
16:25which includes two grams of added sugar.
16:27So all of the sugar in this is added,
16:29which means that it's not naturally coming
16:31from the ingredients that it's made from.
16:33It's being added in separately.
16:35So ingredients list.
16:37Some of the red flags that stand out to me,
16:39cane sugar being one of the most plentiful ingredients
16:41is not ideal.
16:42There is sunflower oil and then a ton of other chemicals
16:47which are basically used to fortify these ingredients
16:51against the process.
16:52It's just a whole mix of preservatives.
16:55That reads more like something I would see
16:58on like a store-bought packet of bread for an adult.
17:03If you Google each of these individual things,
17:05they're not necessarily bad for you in tiny amounts.
17:09But the thing about having them all together
17:11is it's an indication that this is ultra processed.
17:14And then it's important to note
17:16that the front of this package really advertises the fact
17:20that this is high in iron and vitamin E.
17:23But when you look at the ingredients list,
17:25it shows you that those are things
17:26that have been added in as supplements.
17:29Despite having read this whole ingredient list
17:31that makes it sound awful,
17:32they do look good.
17:33I'm excited to try them.
17:35Wow.
17:36Okay, I'm smelling that sugar.
17:38Smells great.
17:40Oh, this is really sweet, actually.
17:42There's a little dog.
17:43Kind of scarily, there is another dog
17:45that doesn't have eyes.
17:47These are really cute.
17:49Let's give it a go.
17:53I really like crackers like this,
17:55even though I'm in my 30s, but this is really sweet.
17:58The reason that sugar is risky for kids,
18:03especially when they're under the age of two,
18:05is that their whole body is developing.
18:08And recent studies have shown
18:10that kids who consume a high amount of sugar
18:13in their early years have a much higher risk
18:16in their whole lifetime of having a stroke,
18:19heart attack, developing diabetes, obesity,
18:23all these kinds of things.
18:24The WHO has explicitly called on manufacturers
18:27to stop putting added sugar in food
18:30that is marketed to kids of this age,
18:33because it can create these cascading health effects
18:37and a level of addiction.
18:38In a statement to Business Insider,
18:40Gerber said that these animal crackers
18:42are an occasional snack option
18:44when incorporated within a varied balanced diet.
18:47So let's look at some toddler milk.
18:49Here I have Nestle Neato.
18:53This is for age three and up.
18:56It contains vitamin A and D, iron and zinc, immunity.
19:02There's a big badge here that says
19:04it has iron to help with brain development.
19:06Again, a classic claim made with baby food.
19:10Wow, huge ingredient list.
19:11So some things that stand out
19:13before we get to the nutritional facts
19:15is that there is so much sweetener in here.
19:17Corn syrup and sugar.
19:19You also have milk fat and nonfat milk.
19:23These are things that have been processed and broken apart.
19:27And then the real giveaway for that
19:28is that you have this whole collection of other chemicals,
19:33including sodium ascorbate, ferrous sulfate, niacinamide.
19:38So this has a bunch of stuff added back in,
19:40mainly because all of that stuff
19:41was stripped out in the process.
19:43This is why doctors agree that toddler milk
19:46is kind of unnecessary,
19:47because when you get to the age of three,
19:50you can consume milk.
19:51Like, you don't need this necessarily.
19:54It's a sector that has been created
19:58because people will buy it.
19:59We asked Nestle for a comment about Neato.
20:02They said this product helps parents
20:04to meet certain nutritional needs of young children
20:07above one year of age.
20:09We'll also look at pouches specifically for toddlers.
20:12So there is beech nut, iron, and zinc.
20:16This smoothie made by Sprout Organics,
20:19which honestly sounds like a kind of smoothie
20:21I would want to make myself.
20:22So the distinction between these pouches
20:25and pouches you see for younger ages
20:27is that pouches for toddlers tend to have more ingredients
20:31or ingredients that would be harder
20:33for a younger baby to digest.
20:36So let's look at this one.
20:37You can already see on the front of the label
20:40that it has flaxseed,
20:42which is a really healthy kind of seed,
20:45really good for your digestion,
20:47but it's slightly more arduous to digest.
20:49So this is something that would more be appropriate
20:51for an older child to consume.
20:53Looking at the label is really helpful, actually,
20:56because here I've got a lot of natural ingredients
21:00that I recognize.
21:01Here, there are a couple that stand out
21:03that have sulfate, monohydrate, pyrophosphate.
21:07It doesn't necessarily mean that it's unhealthy,
21:10but it's a little red flag
21:12that there may be ultra-processing at play,
21:15things stripped out, or things added in.
21:18So it's something to research for yourself.
21:20BeechNut said in a statement
21:22that they believe in choosing purposeful ingredients
21:25to help introduce babies and toddlers
21:27to a wide variety of flavors and textures.
21:30So the thing with ultra-processed baby and toddler food
21:33that has like little droplets of processing
21:37and sweetener and preservatives and artificial colors,
21:41it's really introducing babies and toddlers
21:44to this kind of texture and flavor of foods,
21:47opening the door to this whole world of kid foods.
21:52Once you get over the age of six,
21:54that's when this whole industry explodes
21:58into all these sugars and preservatives and added colors.
22:01You see things like cereals, which look really exciting.
22:06They've got all these colors,
22:07and they have the same kinds of claims,
22:09like excellent source of vitamin D.
22:12But if you look at the label,
22:14this contains a whole world of things.
22:17It contains artificial colors
22:19that doctors really warn against,
22:22including red 40,
22:24which has been linked to different issues with heart.
22:26And also there are some research that links it to ADHD.
22:30Yellow six, blue one, and other color added.
22:34There's all these kind of vague terms on this label
22:37that really don't specify what you're consuming,
22:40but the front of it really platforms
22:42that this is gonna be a good source of nutrients.
22:45Ultra-processed foods are associated with short-term
22:48and long-term health impacts for everyone.
22:52And babies have their whole life ahead of them.
22:55Short-term, there might be skin issues,
22:57there might be digestive issues,
22:59but long-term, it increases your risk of things
23:01like heart disease, obesity, diabetes,
23:05chronic metabolic issues.
23:08So that's the big picture concern
23:11of babies having ultra-processed food
23:13as a high proportion of their diet.
23:16So to wrap up, if you are in the supermarket
23:19and you're between all these different labels,
23:21really focus on things that have very few ingredients,
23:24ideally three or less.
23:26No added sugar, no artificial sweetener,
23:30no added colorants,
23:32and natural sources of nutrients.
23:35And red flags, you know, avoid corn syrup,
23:38any ingredients you don't recognize,
23:40preservatives, colorants.
23:41The most important thing for parents to hold onto
23:46when they're trying to navigate
23:48this incredibly complex industry
23:51is that the responsibility is not all on you,
23:54the parent, to work this out.
23:56The responsibility is really on manufacturers
23:59and regulators to make this easier for parents.
24:02In the US and around the world,
24:05parents really, really don't have time
24:08to be making all of the right decisions.
24:11There is so much pressure on parents.
24:13If you have to use a pouch, use a pouch.
24:16And where possible, give your child a piece of broccoli
24:20so that they get the experience of recognizing that food,
24:23playing with that food, touching that food,
24:25smelling that food.
24:27But if you're in a bind
24:29and you're picking out one of these ingredients,
24:30that's absolutely fine.
24:32The point here is doing the best that you can
24:35when you can and not holding all of the anxiety yourself.
24:41Who designs these animals?
24:43There's also a cow and a duck.
24:48These are really cute.
24:50And a bear and a cat.