What’s Your Toddler Eating?
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Wiktory/iStock/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) – While parents strive to feed their toddlers healthy and nutritious meals, many popular pre-packed foods and snacks contain high levels of salt and sugar.
A new study published in the Journal of Pediatrics gathered data on all major commercial toddler meals and snacks, over a 1,000 formulations and brands, and found that parents may be hurting their own kids.
A staggering 72 percent of toddler dinners were found to be high in sodium, while 32 percent contained at least one added sugar, such as high-fructose corn syrup or sucrose.
A majority of toddler cereal bars and snacks were also found to have had at least one added sugar.
Pre-packed infant dinners fared better in the study, with only two being high sodium, and the majority having no added sugars.
However, over half of pre-packed infant mixed grains and fruits had at least one added sugar.
Doctors say that added sugars contribute to the growing level of obesity among toddlers, while excess salt puts kids at risk for high blood pressure; high levels of both can affect taste preferences, leading to a predilection for unhealthy foods later in life.
Researchers remind parents not to forget to look at nutrition labels.
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