Nestlé has been criticised for adding sugar and honey to infant milk and cereal products sold in many poorer countries. The Swiss food giant controls20%of the baby-food market, valued at nearly US$70 billion.
Nadine Dreyer asked public health academic Susan Goldstein why extra sugar is particularly bad for babies and how multinationals targeting low-income countries with sweeter products get away with it.
Why has Nestlé been criticised?
Public Eye, a Swiss investigative organisation, sent samples of Nestlé baby-food products sold in Asia, Africa and Latin America to a Belgian laboratory for testing. The laboratory found in many cases that baby formula with no added sugar sold in Switzerland, Germany, France and the UK contained unhealthy levels of sugar when sold in countries such as the Philippines, South Africa and Thailand.
As the Public Eye investigation revealed, one example of this is Nestlé’s biscuit-flavoured cereals for babies aged six months and older: inSenegal and South Africathey contain 6g of added sugar. In Switzerland, where Nestlé is based, the same product has none.
In South Africa, Nestlé promotes its wheat cereal Cerelac as a source of 12 essential vitamins and minerals under the theme“little bodies need big support”. Yet all Cerelac products sold in this country contain high levels of added sugar.
Obesity is increasingly a problem in low- and middle-income countries. In Africa, the number of overweight children under five has increased by nearly23%since 2000.
The World Health Organization has called for aban on added sugarin products for babies and young children under three years of age.
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Why is extra sugar particularly unhealthy for babies?
Children shouldn’t eat any added sugar before they turn two.Studiesshow that adding sugar to any food for babies or small children predisposes them to having a sweet tooth. They start preferring sweet things, which is harmful in their diets throughout their lives.
Unnecessary sugar contributes to obesity, which hasmajor health effectssuch as diabetes, high blood pressure and other cardiovascular diseases, cancer and joint problems among others.
The rate of overweight children in South Africa is13%, twice the global average of6.1%.
These extra sugars, fats and salt are harmful to our health throughout our lifetime, but especially to babies as they are stillbuilding their bodies.
Children eat relatively small amounts of food at this stage. To ensure healthy nutrition, the food they eat must behigh in nutrients.
How do multinationals influence health policies?
Companies commonlyinfluence public healththrough lobbying and party donations. This gives politicians and political parties an incentive to align decisions with commercial agendas.
Low- and middle-income countries often have to address potential trade-offs: potential economic growth from an expanding commercial base andpotential harmsfrom the same commercial forces.
Research into how South African food companies, particularly large transnationals, go about shaping public health policy in their favour foundone hundred and sevenexamples of food industry practices designed to influence public health policy.
In many cases companies promise financial support in areas such as funding research. In 2023 a South African food security research centre attached to a university signed amemorandum of understandingwith Nestlé signalling their intent to “forge a transformative partnership” to shape “the future of food and nutrition research and education” and transform “Africa’s food systems”.
What happens in high-income countries?
Most high-income countries haveclear guidelinesabout baby foods. One example is theEU directiveon processed cereal-based foods and baby foods for infants and young children.
Another is theSwiss Nutrition Policy, which sets out clear guidelines on healthy eating and advertising aimed at children.
The global food system is coming underscrutinynot just for health reasons but for the humane treatment of animals, genetically engineered foods, and social and environmental justice.
What should governments in developing countries be doing?
South Africa already has limits onsalt contentbut we need limits on added sugar and oil.
Taxing baby foods as we dosugary beveragesis another way of discouraging these harmful additions.
We need to make sure that consumers are aware of what’s in their food by having large front-of-package warning labels. Take yogurt: many people assume it is healthy, but there is lots of added sugar in many brands.
Consumers should be calling for front-of-pack labels that theDepartment of Healthhas proposed so that parents can easily identify unhealthy foods.
Susan Goldstein, Associate Professor in the SAMRC Centre for Health Economics and Decision Science – PRICELESS SA (Priority Cost Effective Lessons in Systems Strengthening South Africa),University of the Witwatersrand
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