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Baby food pouches are an increasingly popular go-to for parents –but they’ve drawn concern from nutritionists around the world.
Now, a world-first study that tracked hundreds of Kiwi children suggests some of those key health worries may not be fully justified.
It found just one in four children used the pouches – and little indication the products were making babies bigger.
They’re a quick and easy solution for busy parents – yet we’re also told baby food pouches could be setting up our kids for poor health.
Now, a groundbreaking study suggests some of nutritionists’ biggest concerns around these increasingly popular products might not be fully justified.
Pouches now account for more than half of all commercial infant foods in many countries, and for clear reasons: they’re ready to use, result in minimal mess and may be a convenient way to help start infants on solid foods.
But some experts worry regularly sucking sweet, semi-liquid purees from pouches may negatively affect oral motor skills and dental health – or raise the risk of obesity.
Recently, Otago University researchers found pouches contributed little to infants’ iron intake from solid foods, while an August study of products sold in the US found most packed unhealthy levels of sugar and salt.
Surprisingly, though, there’s been little research on how pouches are actually used by children – or whether they really do affect energy intake or body weight.
Earlier studies have only looked at one type of pouch, or what infants were eating on one day.
Otago University nutritionist professor Anne-Louise Heath said she and her team wanted to properly test the concerns, along with those about infants’ potential iron deficiency.
After recruiting more than 900 older infants, toddlers and preschoolers and their whānau in Dunedin and Auckland, the researchers began investigating how the pouches were being used, what the children were eating and how they were growing.
They also monitored their dental health and used blood samples to check on their iron levels.
Their findings showed just one in four children were having the pouches regularly, or five or more times a week.
Otago University nutritionist Professor Anne-Louise Heath.
Despite fears of kids becoming reliant on sucking pureed food straight from the nozzle, the study found just 5% of infants aged 7 to 10 months regularly used pouches this way.
Most infants were spoon-fed, and when they did consume food from pouches, they were often seated in high chairs, supervised by an adult.
While nozzle-sucking became more common in toddlers and preschoolers, frequent usage of pouches remained low in this age group.
“We also found that using baby food pouches didn’t seem to make the babies or young children bigger,” Heath said.
Surprisingly, they found in preschoolers, overall energy intake was actually slightly lower in pouch users, although there was no effect on BMI.
“The babies who were using pouches frequently weren’t more likely to be iron deficient either,” said Heath, adding that dental data and oral motor skills were still to be assessed.
Being the first study of its kind in the world, Heath expected the new research to be an important addition to the global evidence base.
“Previous studies have only looked at fruit-based baby food pouches, or just at behaviour on one day,” she said.
“Nutritionists and other health experts need evidence from well-designed studies to be able to advise parents on how to feed their infants and young children – so these findings should carry considerable weight as they are the first such data available.”
At the same time, the findings came with some caveats: the study drew on parent reports and involved young children who hadn’t been using the pouches for long.
“It’s important to remember that further studies will need to look at whether there are impacts of longer-term consumption of food from baby food pouches – particularly past the first few months of eating solids, when it is recommended that pureed foods can be part of the diet.”
The study, published in the scientific journal Nutrients, was supported by a Health Research Council grant and the Ministry for Primary Industries, and received no industry funding.
Jamie Morton is a specialist in science and environmental reporting. He joined the Herald in 2011 and writes about everything from conservation and climate change to natural hazards and new technology.
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