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https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/article/2024/jul/24/how-infant-food-labelling-risks-leaving-australian-babies-undernourished-ntwnfb>
"Andrea Hipsher felt saddled with guilt when she found out the packaged infant
food she was feeding her toddler may have contributed to his nutritional
deficiencies, despite the products claiming to be “natural” and full of health
benefits.
Hipsher fed her baby boy the food pouches every lunch and dinner because it
provided a quick and easy solution to her feelings of being “stressed and
overwhelmed” with the demands of parenting.
But when her son was 13 months old, she took him to a nutritionist as she was
concerned he was not growing as quickly as his peers. The nutritionist told her
evidence suggests that over-reliance on commercial food products can stunt
growth, she said.
Unknowingly, Hipsher had fallen for the “health halo effect”, a term that
describes how food companies seduce parents with carefully worded marketing
making meaningless nutritional claims.
“Learning that the pouches weren’t sufficient made me feel extra guilty that
for several months of my son’s life he probably wasn’t getting the nutrients
that he needed. I didn’t know what I was doing was so wrong and he was missing
out,” the Melbourne mother, now aged 35, said.
Australian and New Zealand infant and toddler food guidelines recommend
children eat a wide variety of nutritious food every day from across the food
groups.
In December, a report tabled by the government’s Food Regulation Standing
Committee found minimal regulation around nutritional quality of commercial
foods for infants and young children – despite public perceptions those foods
are tightly regulated.
The report found commercial foods designed for infants and young children are
“often high” in sugar and highlighted concerns over ingredients and information
on packaging.
“Labelling does not support carers to make informed choices for infants and
young children due to product naming not always accurately reflecting
ingredients,” it noted.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has urged governments to quickly tackle
misleading labelling and advertising of infant and toddler food."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
