r/ScienceBasedParenting • u/Apprehensive-Air-734 • 21d ago
Science journalism Ultraprocessed Babies: Are toddler snacks one of the greatest food scandals of our time?
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/mar/15/ultra-processed-babies-are-toddler-snacks-one-of-the-great-food-scandals-of-our-timeInteresting article in the Guardian here: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/mar/15/ultra-processed-babies-are-toddler-snacks-one-of-the-great-food-scandals-of-our-time
It links to some research to make its argument, including:
- a 2022 paper that looks at ultraprocessed food prevalence in diets of children in varying cultures and of varying ages, including toddlers: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/obr.13387
- this paper that looks at changes in the UK baby food market: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32675379/
- this paper that looks at the sugar content of UK baby food: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7729710/
- this paper that interviewed parents across income levels to assess reasons for choosing ultraprocessed foods: https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-022-14637-0
- this report (not published) that analyzes data from a 2021 published study and finds a third of commercially available infant and toddler food is ultraprocessed: https://www.firststepsnutrition.org/upfs-marketed-for-infants-and-young-children
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u/questionsaboutrel521 21d ago
I don’t love the “ultra processed” label because it can be misleading when you’re talking about food science and made a little bit of a bogeyman, but I get the point of the article.
As a parent, you definitely have to read labels like a hawk if you do want to purchase processed products from the grocery store - the difference between a product that has 6-10 grams of added sugar and one that has none is pretty hard to discern in the baby aisle. For example, I found “baby yogurt” in pouches was almost always worse than buying plain unflavored Greek yogurt or even the flavored kinds with zero sugar in the adult aisle.
Pouches aren’t all bad and some brands are vegetable forward - but others have misleading marketing with veggies and green stuff on the cover when the main ingredient will be pear or apple. Some brands have absolutely no fiber or protein.
You have to read pretty carefully and mix in snacks like this with whole foods. It’s also true that “toddler milk”/“toddler formula” is becoming a somewhat disturbing trend. Most children do not need formula past 12 months and too much milk can actually drive more pickiness in food.
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u/Please_send_baguette 21d ago
So I’m familiar with Bee Wilson’s body of work (the author of the article), and she uses the term Ultra Processed Foods as strictly defined by the Nova classification. She acknowledges herself in her books that it’s an imperfect categorization (for example, bread is an UPF by that definition) but it’s the one that exists and that researchers use.
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u/SaltZookeepergame691 20d ago
She acknowledges herself in her books that it’s an imperfect categorization (for example, bread is an UPF by that definition) but it’s the one that exists and that researchers use.
That's exactly the issue and why most nutritional scientists are sceptical of Nova and its use in public health!
We spent decades convincing people and politicians that high [saturated] fat, sugar, and salt (HFSS) foods are bad for us. That evidence is compelling and broadly agreed on.
~60-65% of UPFs are HFSS, so they are already being 'watched', and in many countries (eg, the UK, with complex nutrient profile modelling), regulated. There is no good evidence to suggest that we should similarly demonise non-HFSS UPFs (in the UK 25% of non-HFSS UPFs is white bread, and >20% is brown bread, preprepared roast potatoes, and fortified high-fibre cereals). There are some ingredients or additives with specific health concerns and they can be dealt with individually.
In short: Either we already know that UPFs are HFSS, and are bad, or they are not HFSS, and the onus on proving they are bad is on the researchers (spoiler: they don't delineate on this grouping).
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20d ago
I don't think all bread is UPF by definition but the garbage bread available in most American stores sure is. I can't really eat most American store bought bread, it's just not right.
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u/sichuan_peppercorns 19d ago
It's a spectrum. The bread I buy is all freshly baked from the bakery section. No preservatives, sometimes still hot from the oven. But it's still highly processed. I don't mind feeding it to my toddler!
I know what you mean about the limp American slices. They do exist in Europe too, just not nearly as popular, as most people buy fresh bread.
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19d ago
Tell me about it, I'm from Europe, live in the US. Unless it's from a bakery, I can't eat most American bread. I'd rather just not eat bread
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u/kokoelizabeth 21d ago
Touching more on that last bit regarding milk in general. I simply could not make it make sense to even prioritize plain old cows milks in my child’s diet the way my pediatrician suggested. I just could not see the benefit of serving milk at every snack and meal when I could serve a diverse range of foods that provide the exact same (maybe even better) nutritional profile. I really don’t understand the push for milk at all in a toddler’s diet let alone expensive “toddler formulas”.
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u/questionsaboutrel521 20d ago
Yes. I think that the under 12 months/over 12 months guidelines confuses people - it can feel like on a whim, kids need to change from a milk-based diet (BM/infant formula) to one that’s suddenly not. I think people could use more precise language so that they don’t get into this milk trap.
The AAP explains their thoughts about dairy (which doesn’t have to come in the form of milk) as being about a convenient and inexpensive way to get fat for toddlers, which I understand. I do serve whole milk to my toddler in the amounts recommended. But some parents do serve way too much, and the “toddler milk” trend is getting worrisome.
I think one way where “toddler milk” is predatory is that because it is actually not regulated like infant formula, so it’s been noted to have a fair amount of unnecessary added sugar. It also attempts to provide assurance for parents of picky toddlers that they are getting their vitamins, minerals, etc - when pediatrician organizations say that most toddlers are actually fine in terms of what solid food they are consuming.
Like, if your picky child is eating yogurt, berries, and oatmeal - they are likely getting what they need. You don’t need a pediatric formula for a child over 12 months unless it’s explicitly been recommended or prescribed by a doctor. Yes, many toddlers can be choosy about what meat or vegetables they eat, but “toddler milk” can actually make it worse by creating a cycle where they eat less solids because they fill up on milk. Just keep offering them different foods in a nonchalant manner and encourage them to try.
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u/jonesday5 20d ago
I think for a lot of parents that give their kids formula it’s just going to the next stage. So they’re probably reducing overall formula but changing the type.
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u/AdaTennyson 20d ago
Yes, and called it "the next stage" makes it sound all official. It's unnecessary. Babies can just continue to drink the "0-6" month milk because that is required to be similar to breastmilk, and the other "stages" are not. Breastmilk doesn't increase in sugar with time, so you shouldn't switch to a higher sugar formula milk as your baby gets older. Yet companies do this as a marketing thing. It's a scam!
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u/mikeyaurelius 19d ago
Milk products like cottage cheese for example are also good. Calcium is quite important for children, as they need a lot more then a grownup relatively. Replacing it with vegetables is not easy.
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u/Right_Television_266 18d ago
Drop a recommendation on a few brands eh?
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u/questionsaboutrel521 18d ago
It’s expensive but Cerebelly and Serenity are probably the pouches I would use the most. They both do have some with fruit but vegetables or beans are always the first ingredient for Cerebelly and Serenity does the best in terms of getting kids used to the taste of meat, in my opinion. Most of their pouches have multiple grams of both fiber and protein. They both have versions that are savory flavors only that have no apple or pear, which is typically the sweetener used in other pouches, or any fruit at all.
There are some good ones I’ve found for less expensive brands, but it’s more variable. For example, HappyBaby has one that is squash, chickpeas, and spinach, but stuff like that is a lot harder to find. You really have to read the label and check if there’s any good fiber or protein.
For yogurt, I recommend the adult versions of Chobani, either plain Greek yogurt or their zero sugar flavors, which are typically flavored with monk fruit so it’s somewhat natural.
I also never just fed my kid a pouch - I always tried to have some finger food at every meal, whether it was blueberries or homemade kale chips or something that he could hold and put in his mouth. I know that there’s an argument about how they affect oral development and I tried to do this so that he was always chewing and hand feeding in some way.
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u/thestarsarefar 20d ago
Those little yogurt melts are the only way I can bribe my baby to sit in the car seat without protest crying sooo I’m just gonna stick with the snacks, lol.
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u/vataveg 20d ago
I was prepared to get defensive about this because I too use little puffs sometimes to get my toddler to sit still and stop yelling while I’m doing something that needs to get done. But reading the article, it’s not talking about kids who have an occasional processed snack. It’s describing a dramatic increase in kids who flat-out refuse real food or eat an extremely limited diet. My toddler eats the same breakfast, lunch, and dinner as us most days and has no problem with all different colors, textures, and flavors of real food, so I wouldn’t worry.
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u/thestarsarefar 20d ago
Thanks for summarizing it for me! Anecdotally, I do see an increase in “picky eaters” without an attached diagnosis in my clinical work.
I do feel kind of bad about bribing with snacks but the little guy does eat pretty much anything we eat. These articles do help to keep me mindful though.
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u/Please_send_baguette 21d ago
The author, Bee Wilson, has been a food journalist / food science communicator for decades, and her work is excellent and adequately nuanced. I highly recommend her books.
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u/Kuhnhudi 21d ago
I was shopping at Target today and it is disheartening to see so many low quality baby/toddler products.
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u/jasminea12 20d ago
Clearly ultra processed foods are not the healthiest option for babies. However, we cannot vilify parents for choosing affordable, convenient choices. The cost of living- of rent, groceries, childcare, material goods, healthcare- has increased exponentially in the past few decades, while salaries have not. People are working so hard to put food on the table and keep a roof over their heads- it's not surprising that parents of young children prioritize convenience and affordability.
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u/mikeyaurelius 19d ago
That baby junk food is a lot more expensive then regular groceries, though. There are many ways to provide healthy food, without spending a lot of money or time.
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u/daniipants 19d ago
An interesting perspective to this that I haven’t seen raised: sometimes parents are gifted baby food and when you’re strapped for cash/time/sanity.. it feels insane to give away free food that’s already sitting in your pantry. I’m not saying this happens often, I wouldn’t know. But I have twin 1 yr olds and we’re so lucky to have all the family help that we do. When Nana shows up with a few grocery bags of snacks for the girls, I’m going to take it and thank her. We do talk with our families about our food preferences for the babes, and they try to follow our lead. But like I said, just another perspective 🙃
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u/mikeyaurelius 19d ago
I communicated to my family in a friendly way, what’s ok or not. Even free unhealthy food will be costly long term.
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u/daniipants 19d ago
I completely agree with you about the long term cost. I certainly don’t go through the snacks quickly, and like I said, we’re always having on going conversations. It’s more like, when I’m sick and can’t call someone in to take care of two babies for me.. or when I didn’t plan to but suddenly have to run out the door to do something and haven’t prepared on the go snacks for the day/week yet. In those instances, yes. I use the store bought stuff that was given to me for free. And I don’t beat myself up for it 🤷🏻♀️
Again, I agree with you! And I’m not saying my circumstance happens often. But I do think there are well meaning in-laws who want to help out and don’t quite understand the “new baby food rules” and happily spend the money on snacks. (Good lord, having twins and a large and helpful community means I’ve personally been given bags and bags of food. Some gets donated. Some goes to my pantry for tough days.)
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u/mikeyaurelius 19d ago
I get it. My first born had some pouches, too. And I was fine with as long it was restricted and in moderation. But then I saw how he reacted, yearned and cried, really, for those pouches in the supermarket. He wouldn’t react like that for real fruit, so why for those pouches? We decided to cut out those products completely and it makes life easier in my opinion. We just take cut fruit or vegetables or whole grain bread as a snack and that works just as well.
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u/SheChelsSeaShells 19d ago
For me I fell into the trap of using it when my baby was young because 1) he would actually eat it, preventing hunger meltdowns and 2) we had a very busy lifestyle in which I worked walking dogs and nannying, so we were always on the go/in the car/at other peoples houses and I didn’t have time to cook and clean while running him around to these places. We’re in a much better spot now and I don’t have to take on as much work, and as such our diets are vastly improved with home cooking.
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u/CShillz52 19d ago
Is there a good resource for this? Starting solids soon!
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u/mikeyaurelius 19d ago
We had a lot of success with baby lead weaning. We also more or less just fed our babies what we ate, just mashed and without salt.
I am German, so I basically followed my pediatricians recommendations. Only resources I know are in German unfortunately.
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u/PoorDimitri 20d ago
Plus parents are presented with very little information on child nutrition other than either pretty dry technical stuff from the pediatrician (which is accurate, TBF) OR information we're given subliminally by food packaging (pictures of gorgeous greens and beets and carrots on a yogurt melt container), OR information on Instagram that comes with a product to buy from flashy and charismatic influencers that are unregulated and trying to make a buck.
It's rough out here! My toddlers are great eaters, but husband and I: make enough money to buy some of our time back (house cleaners) and eat out at diverse restaurants (the kids love ramen places, filipino food, barbecue, and Italian), have enough time (I work 20 hrs, he works ~32hrs a week), are educated enough on science to read and understand articles about the topic (I'm a PT he's a physician), have a good family history of cooking, and are very adventurous eaters ourselves. They have literally every piece of the puzzle going for them.
So yeah, don't judge others for their choices they make in service of their sanity with the information skills and resources available to them, and remember to tally up your own blessings/hurdles when comparing yourself to others.
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u/Emu_Fast 20d ago
Well... My toddler craves tinned fish like a Norwegian in a famine. So... Let the sardines flow, that stuff is pretty minimally processed...
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u/Husky_in_TX 20d ago
My toddler too! And it’s not a regular food for us. One day he was like I need fish and it was crazy, he ate the whole thing. 🤷🏻♀️
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u/HazyAttorney 20d ago
that stuff is pretty minimally processed...
The issue really isn't processed versus not. Like it's probably better that we fortify our foods so that's an example where more processing is better. Enriching flour with Vitamin Bs eradicated tons of malnutrition related diseases in the US.
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u/SnooLobsters8265 20d ago
Yep. I just replied on the UPF sub about this as well. I can attest that the melty sticks in particular are evil- we went to stay with my parents a few months ago and they gave them to my son (now nearly 1.) I just thought ‘ah well, grandparents spoil their grandkids and the occasional treat is fine.’ It literally took WEEKS to undo the damage- I had to take him to messy play at a children’s centre all the time because he suddenly refused to touch food that wasn’t dry/crunchy and he’d cry every mealtime wanting the melty sticks. Awful.
As a primary teacher and SENCO I can also confirm that speech and language among young kids is in a sorry state atm. Possibly due to this.
Also really enjoyed the balanced view on formula- I had to combi-feed my son and have internalised a lot of guilt about it. Was nice to get an article that doesn’t hammer people who don’t EBF.
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u/eyes-open 20d ago
I think you make a good point about grandparents' roles — there's a pervasive unspoken rule that grandparents (and aunts and uncles, and basically anyone who isn't the parent) have a "job" in feeding kids unhealthy foods, and say they will do so behind my back. Heck, I used to say it about my nephews and nieces.
As much as I love my family, they generally have bad relationships with food. I've been making my own baby food and as the baby started eating more textures, adding more baby-led weaning to the meals — and I've been made to feel like a weird super crunchy granola mom for it. I started the baby on curries, broccoli, beans and the like, and my family has been boggled and even gone as far to ask if THAT was healthy.
And so, we have been given oodles of little packets of baby crisps and poofs, which I thought were a reasonable compromise because "organic" and "real fruit." Our baby doesn't like them a ton, so after reading this piece, I think I might hide them away.
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u/SnooLobsters8265 20d ago
Yes, both my parents and my in laws are extremely puzzled by BLW and inclined to cut things up into smaller pieces if we present big food to our son. It’s taken a lot of reiterating that they are LESS likely to choke on the big stuff.
I do think some of the purées can be ok- when you get to the savoury meal ones they’re not generally vegetables suspended in super sweet fruity mush. I do use them sometimes when out and about (from a spoon though.)
I’m generally quite suspicious of any articles that criticise things which make parents’ lives easier, but this one is definitely right about the poofs, the sticks and the early weaning purées.
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u/eyes-open 20d ago
At 4 months — on the recommendation of our pediatrician! — we started our baby on small amounts of homemade purées and iron-fortified baby cereal. We tried chunks and pieces the baby could hold, but the baby didn't go for them at that point.
We do now cut the food up into smaller pieces (as Solid Starts recommends for 9-12 months). The food is generally part of a meal that is homemade or made with recognizable ingredients, with the occasional restaurant veggie dishes. Occasionally, the baby gets some naughty Cheerios.
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u/Deep-Log-1775 20d ago
I commented on this article in another thread. Copied below! My comment is geared towards the UK market as is the original article.
I just read that article and find a lot if it fear mongering and cherry picked information. The author doesn't differentiate or specify the type of pouch she's referring to when she's talking about added sugars or oils. She talks about the high sugar content in fruit pouches but they're literally pureed fruit with no added sugar. It would just the the same sugar content if you pureed your own fruit at home.
The Ella's Kitchen savoury food she's talking about, I just went on the tesco website and had a look at the ingredient list to double check and found that the chicken curry did have 4% mangoes (fair enough, curry is sweet and mango is a common flavour in curry) but the tomato pasta had no added fruit, just pasta and a whole host of organic vegetables.
I might be biased because I use a lot of this type of food for my toddler, but it's because I wouldn't be able to give him half that variety of vegetables and nutrition with way more effort and time I just don't have. I think we live in a great time for baby food compared to the sugar and salt laden heinz jars previous generations were stuck with! Baby led weaning is great but don't feel like it's all or nothing and don't be afraid to use the resources available to you.
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u/mikeyaurelius 19d ago
You don’t have to declare sugar, if you use fruit sugar from any of the vegetables or fruits used in that product. Tomatoes can reach a sugarlike sweetness when concentrated.
The pouches also don’t need chewing to ingest calories, fibre is also massively reduced. And the semiliquidity means that the smoothies reach the smallest crevices of the teeth which will lead to rot, even with good dental hygiene. Most complex vitamins are also destroyed.
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u/Deep-Log-1775 19d ago
Is this in the UK/EU about the added sugar from fruit? I didn't know that at all. Can you point me in the direction of where I could find out more? This isn't my area of expertise!
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u/mikeyaurelius 19d ago
Here is a German source.
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u/Deep-Log-1775 19d ago
So in the example of the Ella's Kitchen prune pouches where 100% of the ingredient list is prunes... can they add fruit sugars without listing it or can I be relatively sure it's pureed prunes?
https://www.ellaskitchen.co.uk/shop/prunes-baby-pouch-case
When I compare the sugars in the nutrition list to the nutritional composition of whole prunes and it actually seems as though there's marginally less sugar in the pouch. I know the sugars she absorbed by the body differently when they're pureed but for weaning babies, they're more likely to have pureed fruit (whether homemade or in a pouch) than a whole prunes if you know what I mean.
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u/mikeyaurelius 19d ago
According to this database 100g of fresh plum have 45 kcal, while your pouch has 71 kcal. Quite a difference.
Additionally the pouches have other disadvantages:
- chewing isn’t trained
- bad for teeth even with good dental hygiene
- a lot less vitamins etc.
- less fibre
- more trash
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u/Deep-Log-1775 19d ago
I think its probably better to compare like for like. Plums have around twice the water content as prunes. It's hard to find prunes in a database but I found these two separate studies looking at their composition. The second one has a really good discussion of the different processes used to make prune products. Prune juice for example has less sugar than whole prunes because of the methods of extraction.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10408398.2011.563880?scroll=top&needAccess=true#d1e227
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10.1080/20014091091814?needAccess=true
In the Ella's Kitchen prune pouches, fibre was 2.2g per 100g, while whole prunes have a fibre content of between 6 and 7g per 100g. However, sugar content was less than half that of whole prunes. The total calories per 100g was also much lower.
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u/mikeyaurelius 19d ago
Am I lost in translation? Prunes are dehydrated plums, no? So for me it makes sense to compare the pouches to plums. And the loss of water in dried fruits is in itself an argument against them in my opinion.
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u/rsemauck 20d ago
While I agree with most of what the articles say. One caveat about formula past 1 years old, recommendations do depend on countries. For example, the French health recommendation is to use second stage formula instead of cow milk (https://sante.gouv.fr/IMG/pdf/nais_3ans.pdf)
We switched back to formula when our son was 1 year and 3 months on the recommendation of the pediatrician because he had an iron deficiency (despite taking low dose iron supplements). I know that in the US a lot of aliments are fortified in iron but in countries where that's not the case, it can make sense to still use formula (after double checking sugar contents etc... ). The pediatrician did recommend we use the 6-12 months formula as it's better formulated and had less sugar (we used kendamill)
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u/DieIsaac 19d ago
We have to gave ours iron supplements while still feeding PRE milk. doctor and midwifes also said you never need to "upgrade" to any other formular. so yes every formular advertised for children 1year plus is just a money grab.
our doctor said iron deficiency will get better when we start to feed meat. right now babies are not interested in anything else than milk :-(
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u/HazyAttorney 20d ago
Ultraprocessed Babies: Are toddler snacks one of the greatest food scandals of our time?
Meanwhile, 15 years ago, Jamie Oliver discoverred that first graders in west virginia can't use utensils and can't name basic foods. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGYs4KS_djg#
Then, thanks to American litigiousness, the show got sued into oblivion.
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u/KAMM4444 19d ago
My 3 year old is in his first year of preschool in the US and I was shocked at the sweets that he's been given in Valentines treat bags and at parties. I don't mean to sound ungrateful, but who gives a 3 or 4 year old these plastic-looking candies?? I'm not American so many of them l've never tried but I was shocked that was normal for toddlers here. (And I'm by no means an almond mom, my son loves chocolate for example)
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u/HazyAttorney 19d ago
I am an American but I've also been surprised by how my 20 month old has a daycare that gives them as many sweets as they do. Every holiday results in some candies being sent home. Luckily, she hasn't acquired the taste of candy and can only stand things as sweet as fruit.
The only plague though is they introduced juice to her. It's like crack cocaine for toddlers. I can't stand how wired she gets when she's on juice so we don't give her much at home. But sometimes she just begs for it and it's hard to not give your kid want they want, but I don't want her drinking juice.
Edit: To bring it full circle, I am shocked by how sugary milk can get.
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u/True_Discussion8055 19d ago
Absolutely, and it's so easy to cook healthy simple clean baby food and ice block it. So cheap comparatively too. We stew batches of 12-18 meals every now and then, barely half an hour of active cooking (2-4 hours of boiling away depending what).
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u/mikeyaurelius 19d ago
Great comment. Just wanted to add that long cooking destroys many of the vitamins. Ever tried steaming?
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u/True_Discussion8055 19d ago
Gotta be practical sometimes. We don't only serve thawed ice cubes, they're just very easy dishes to have available.
Out of curiosity though - would steaming 2 pounds of apples or peaches until they're basically liquid really preserve more vitamins than if I threw them in a pot with some water & boiled them (and freezing after in either scenario)?
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u/mikeyaurelius 19d ago
Well, boiling removes more vitamins and photochemicals then steaming: Study.
So for apples I personally like to just bake them in the oven and then mix them. Definitely not healthier but pretty tasty.
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u/Future_Class3022 21d ago
Ultraprocessed baby food is one of the things that bothers me most in life. Why are we starting babies off on junk food, and then surprised when they end up craving junk food for the rest of their lives.