Experts say there can be long-term health consequences for babies and infants who consume too much sugar at a young age.

Experts say there can be long-term health consequences for babies and infants who consume too much sugar at a young age.

In Switzerland, the label of Nestlé’s Cerelac baby cereal says it contains “no added sugar.” But in Senegal and South Africa, the same product has 6 grams of added sugar per serving, according to a recent Public Eye investigation. And in the Philippines, one serving of a version of the Cerelac cereal for babies 1 to 6 months old contains a whopping 7.3 grams of added sugar, the equivalent of almost two teaspoons.

This “double standard” for how Nestlé creates and markets its popular baby food brands around the world was alleged in a report from Public Eye, an independent nonpartisan Swiss-based investigative organization, and International Baby Food Action Network.

The groups allege that Nestlé adds sugars and honey to some of its baby cereal and formula in lower-income countries, while products sold in Europe and other countries are advertised with “no added sugars.” The disparities uncovered in the report, which was published in the BMJ in April, has raised alarms among global health experts.

  • AutoTL;DRBEnglish
    5•7 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:

    And in the Philippines, one serving of a version of the Cerelac cereal for babies 1 to 6 months old contains a whopping 7.3 grams of added sugar, the equivalent of almost two teaspoons.

    In the European Region, the World Health Organization guidelines state that no added sugar should be used in foods for infants under the age of 3.

    And the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control in Nigeria released a statement in response to the report that said the Nestlé products in the country do adhere to their standards.

    A spokesperson for Nestlé told NBC News that the company is working on reducing added sugars worldwide and offers sugar-free products in several countries.

    All our early life foods and milks are nutritionally balanced as defined in the commonly accepted scientific guidelines and dietary recommendations, including CODEX.”

    Siddiqui said that monetary stressors might also be influencing parents to continue buying  added sugar formulas and baby cereals that their children appear to like.

    The original article contains 1,039 words, the summary contains 166 words. Saved 84%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

    • IAmLamp
      6•7 months ago

      I would love it if the auto TL;DR bot would summarize every article about nestle with simply, “Fuck nestle” and save its compute cycles for other news.