Parents are wasting their food dollars on many of the most popular baby foods, which are overpriced and often diluted with water, starch, and sugar. According to Michael Jacobson, director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), "We are not saying those foods are dangerous" but rather that they are "adulterated," with more nutritious ingredients replaced by fillers.
CSPI said babies would get more nutrition if parents mashed fresh bananas, bought regular applesauce, and used only "first stage" commercial foods for infants, because those marketed for older babies contain more fillers and less real food.
While first stage baby foods consist of a single fruit or vegetable and water, the group said, second and third stage food for older babies often contain as much or more sugar and starchy filler as fruit or vegetable. Gerber bananas for infants, for instance, is almost all banana, while its bananas with tapioca for older babies is only 44 percent banana. The group also said that baby food typically costs twice as much as equivalent adult products.
"We really do form our children's lifelong eating habits at an early age," Jacobson said. "Millions of parents take that responsibility seriously. They need healthy, economical products from companies like Gerber, not slogans."
The typical American infant consumes 600 jars of baby food in his/her first 12 months. As noted in the CSPI report, entitled "Cheating Babies," "Manufacturers want parents to think that commercial baby foods have special properties that make them essential for infants." But the water and thickeners in many Gerber and Heinz products mean that they are "nutritionally inferior to foods made with more fruits and vegetables."
What's an adult to do?
- Make your own. Assuming you have the time, and the blender or food processor.
- Read the labels. If they've got added sugar and thickeners like flour or starch, leave them on the shelf. Gerber and Heinz are the worst offenders, but even they have many dishes with no thickeners. Beech-Nut, Earth's Best, and Growing Healthy (a new, frozen brand) are generally the purest.
- Buy regular (not baby food) fruit juices, unsweetened applesauce, etc. You will save $$.
For a copy of the 27-page report send $5.00 (includes shipping) to: CSPI -- Cheating Babies, Suite 300, 1875 Connecticut Ave. N.W., Washington, D.C. 20009
Information for this article comes to us courtesy of: Minnesota Licensed Family Child Care Association.
From the July, 1995, issue of The Teddy Bear.
