New report exposes sugar content in Nestlé's Cerelac baby food sold in India
- In Reports
- 03:38 PM, Apr 18, 2024
- Myind Staff
A recent report has uncovered that Nestlé, the world's largest consumer goods company and a major manufacturer of baby formula, is incorporating sugar into infant milk and cereal products sold across India, as well as in other Asian and African nations.
The Guardian reported that Public Eye, a Swiss investigative organization, dispatched samples of Swiss multinational Nestlé's baby-food products, sold across Asia, Africa, and Latin America, to a Belgian laboratory for analysis. Results revealed the presence of added sugar, in the form of sucrose or honey, in samples of Nido, a follow-up milk formula intended for infants aged one and above. Similar findings were reported in Cerelac, a cereal targeted at children aged between six months and two years.
In a surprising revelation, Nestlé's main European markets, including the UK, feature formulas for young children without added sugar. However, products aimed at older toddlers do contain added sugar. Notably, there is no sugar present in products targeting babies between six months and one year.
Obesity remains a significant public health issue worldwide, particularly in low- and middle-income nations. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the prevalence of overweight children under five in Africa has surged by nearly 23 percent since 2000. In India, a recent Lancet report indicates that 12.5 million children aged between five and 19, comprising 7.3 million boys and 5.2 million girls, were severely overweight in 2022, marking a stark increase from 0.4 million in 1990. Globally, the number of people living with obesity exceeds 1 billion.
Consumers face challenges in discerning healthy products solely based on the nutritional information provided on packaging. Often, food labels combine naturally occurring sugars in milk and fruit with added sugars under a single category.
In India, pediatricians strongly advise against introducing sugar to infants until they reach the age of two. Additionally, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) recommends limiting free sugar/added sugars to not more than 5% to 7% of total energy intake for children above two years old.
In the UK, children under the age of four are advised to avoid foods containing added sugars due to associated risks such as weight gain and tooth decay. Similarly, US government guidelines recommend avoiding foods and beverages with added sugars for children under two years old.
According to data from Euromonitor International, a market research company, global retail sales of Cerelac exceed $1 billion (£800 million). The majority of these sales occur in low- and middle-income countries, with Brazil and India accounting for 40% of the total sales.
Researchers discovered significant discrepancies in sugar content among baby cereals across different regions. Biscuit-flavoured cereals for infants aged six months and above contained 6g of added sugar per serving in Senegal and South Africa, whereas the same product in Switzerland had no sugar.
Cerelac products in India averaged over 2.7g of added sugar per serving. Dr Nigel Rollins of the WHO condemned these findings, stating that they represented an unjustifiable double standard.
Image source: Financial Express
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