Some formula milk has twice as much sugar per serving as a glass of soda, according to one new research. But perhaps most surprising is the fact that there are very few regulations to control sugar content and ensure that consumers are well informed.
Baby formula, formula milk or infant formula is an artificial substitute for breast milk. It is usually produced from cow's milk.
Breast milk and sugar
Breast milk is the recommended source of nutrition for babies, especially during the first six months of life. Although it's sweet, sugar is mainly lactose and the content is specific to the baby's needs.
On the contrary, infant formula milk contains added sugars, such as corn syrup, which are added during production and are not found in breast milk.
This is harmful to babies because high consumption of added sugars can contribute to tooth decay, poor diet and encourage obesity.
In the aforementioned study, the sugar content of 212 infant formula dairy products available on the market aimed at babies under three years of age. The products were sold in supermarkets in 11 countries.
The findings revealed that more than half of the products contained more than 5g of sugar per 100ml. In many cases, the sugar content was more than 7.5 g per 100 ml, which exceeds the levels recommended by the European Parliament for infants.
One more reason to opt for breastmilk, that offers important benefits to the baby when you get sick and helps you recover sooner. Without counting that helps stop climate change and represents a saving of more than 100 kg of CO2 per baby.
–
The news
Some infant formulas contain more sugar than soft drinks
was originally published in
Xataka Science
by
Sergio Parra
.