SACRAMENTO, United States, Aug. 21 (Xinhua) -- A new study raised significant concerns about the nutritional quality of infant and toddler foods currently sold in the United States with misleading marketing claims.
A staggering 60 percent of these products failed to meet international nutrition requirements and all of them failed to meet promotional guidelines, according to the study published Wednesday in the journal Nutrients.
Researchers from Australia, the United States and Brazil scrutinized 651 infant and toddler food products sold in 10 major U.S. grocery store chains, including Walmart, Kroger, and Costco.
These products were evaluated against the World Health Organization (WHO)'s Nutrient and Promotion Profile Model, a rigorous benchmark introduced in 2022 for foods intended for children aged 6 to 36 months.
The findings revealed that only 43.1 percent of products met all relevant nutritional criteria, with over 70 percent failing to meet protein requirements and 44 percent exceeding total sugar recommendations.
The researchers also found that none of the snack-size products met protein requirements, 87.1 percent failed to comply with total sugar standards, and 71 percent contained added sugars or sweeteners.
"The frequent use of free sugars and the high levels of sugar in infant and toddler food products in the United States is concerning, given that excess sugar consumption is a primary cause of obesity and related diseases, including diabetes, heart disease, and some cancers," said the researchers in the report.
The study also exposed the widespread use of misleading marketing claims on product packaging.
Almost 100 percent of the examined products featured at least one claim prohibited under WHO guidelines, with some products displaying up to 11 prohibited claims.
Safety and environmental claims were often paired with misleading health or nutrition messages, creating a "health halo" effect that potentially misleads parents about the actual nutritional value of these products, said the researchers.
"No commercially produced infant and toddler food products available for purchase from the top 10 grocery store retailers in the United States met international standards for nutrition and product promotion," the report concluded.
"These findings should serve as a wake-up call for policymakers," said the researchers. ■
