Don’t count on the baby food aisle at your local supermarket to provide healthy nutritious foods for your child. That’s the takeaway of a new study.
“Research shows 50% of the sugar consumed from infant foods comes from pouches, and we found those were some of the worst offenders.” Dr. Elizabeth Dunford, sr. study author & adjunct asst. professor, University of North Carolina.
Dr. Mark Corkins, who wasn’t involved in the study, made this point for parents to note:
“Children have to learn to chew, so they should be eating regular fruits, not pureed, sweetened things in a pouch. Often, these blends are not natural and much sweeter than a real fruit, so the child’s being taught to only like super sweet things.”
He goes on to say:
“We tell parents to gradually increase the texture of the foods during the introduction to real foods between 6 months and a year. If you don’t expose kids to a variety of textures with more chewing during that critical window, they can develop a texture aversion and will refuse anything but smooth, pureed types of foods.”
CNN, 8/21/24
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