WHO guidelines against adding honey or sugar in food for infants violated only in Asian, African and Latin American countries, finds investigation
Startling findings have emerged regarding the sugar content in Cerelac, a milk cereal-based complementary food for babies produced by the multinational food company Nestlé. Despite the World Health Organization’s (WHO) stringent guidelines banning added sugars in baby food products, Cerelac has been found to contain an average of nearly 3 grammes of sugar per serving in India.
The Public Eye, along with the International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN), based in Switzerland, approached a laboratory in Belgium for testing cereal products. Laboratories in Switzerland, where Nestle is headquartered, declined their request.
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Out of the 15 Indian Cerelac products tested, laboratory analyses revealed that each serving of cereal contained more than 2.7 gm of added sugar. While Nestle’s labelling highlights the nutrients, added sugar is not as transparently displayed.
The researchers exposed an unusual double standard, where the company was not following the WHO guidelines in poor countries, but was seemingly favouring higher-income countries. “Cerelac wheat-based cereals for six-month-old babies sold by Nestle in Germany and the United Kingdom have no added sugar, while the same product contains over 5 gm per serving in Ethiopia and 6 gm in Thailand,” the study said.
Similarly, in Switzerland, Nestle promotes its biscuit-flavoured cereals for babies aged from six months with the claim “no added sugar”, while in Senegal and South Africa, Cerelac cereals with the same flavour contain 6 gm of added sugar per serving, the researchers found.
There were 70 million adults living with obesity in India in 2022, with almost twice the number of women than men, at 44 million and 26 million, respectively, a recent WHO study found. Over 11 per cent of Indians are diabetic and 35.5 per cent suffer from hypertension.
While the prevalence of generalised obesity is 28.6 per cent, abdominal obesity is at 39·5 per cent, the findings of a study published on June 8, 2023 in journal The Lancet revealed.
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Further, WHO warns that obesity has reached “epidemic proportions” in low- and middle-income countries and is accelerating the rise of cardiovascular disease, cancer and diabetes. Increasing consumption of ultra-processed foods high in sugar, is said to be one of the main causes behind rising obesity.
Ceralac reported sales crossing $1 billion in 2022 worldwide, according to Euromonitor, a market analysis firm. In India alone, sales exceeded $250 million in the same year.
Overall, the investigation examined 115 Nestle products across markets in Asia, Africa and Latin America, revealing that 108 of them contained added sugar.
“On average, our analysis found almost 4 gm per serving, or about one sugar cube. The highest amount — 7.3 gm per serving — was detected in a product sold in the Philippines and targeted at six-month-old babies,” the researchers said.
Similar findings were reported in South Africa, the most prominent market in the African continent, where Cerelac baby cereals contain four or more gm of added sugar per serving. Ironically, Nestle promotes Cerelac as a vital source of 12 essential nutrients in the country.
In Brazil, the second-largest market, the investigation revealed that 75 per cent of Cerelac baby cereals had an average of 3 gm per serving of added sugar.
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Rodrigo Vianna, a professor at the department of nutrition of the Federal University of Paraíba in Brazil, warned in the paper:
Children get used to the sweet taste and start looking for more sugary foods, starting a negative cycle that increases the risk of nutrition-based disorders in adult life. These include obesity and other chronic non-communicable diseases, such as diabetes or high blood pressure.
The trend was also proven true for Nido, a Nestle milk product targeting children in the age group of one to three, with an average of two gm of added sugar found per serving. In 2022, global sales had exceeded $1 billion, according to Euromonitor, the study said.
The maximum amount of 5.3 gm was detected in the fortified milk powder in Panama. Further, in several Central American countries, the milk substitute contains over a sugar cube per serving of sugar additives.
Nestle has explained in the public domain that in Nido products, sucrose as an additive was avoided, but added sugar in the form of honey is used instead. However, the WHO prohibits both honey and sucrose as sugars to be added to baby food.
In its response to the investigation, Nestle said that over the last ten years, the company “has reduced by 11 per centthe total amount of added sugars in [its] infant cereal portfolio worldwide”. Adding that it will, “further reduce the level of added sugars without compromising on quality, safety and taste”.
The researchers also identified hypocritical advertising, misleading consumers that the multinational is health conscious.
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In Brazil, a warning on the website concerning Nido reads: “It’s ideal to avoid consuming these ingredients in childhood, as the sweet flavour can influence a child’s preference for this type of food in the future.”
Aggressive marketing techniques deployed by the company also rein consumers in with false information. Baby and Me, Nestle’s educational platform, available in over 60 countries, promotes healthy eating for babies, eventually leading parents towards Nestle products.
The reason that countries can surpass WHO guidelines is because national legislations are often based on Codex Alimentarius, a set of international standards governed by an intergovernmental commission in Rome.
According to the standards, added sugar in baby foods is allowed up to a specific limit, depending on the product. For infant cereals, up to 20 per cent is permitted.
WHO does not agree with Codex standards for baby foods and has called for it to be updated, particularly by banning the addition of sugars.
“Current Codex standards are insufficient to determine whether a food is appropriate for promotion for infants and young children, according to the UN agency,” the researchers lamented.
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They added that lobbying by the industry is a major barrier to changing the rule. “At a recent review of the standard for follow-up formula, industry lobbyists accounted for over 40 per cent of participants,” the researchers added.
Nestle has previously faced criticism for funding health research in poor countries such as South Africa, with experts noting that financial ties between corporations and academic institutions are well known to lead to conflicts of interest.
WHO has previously urged the establishment and enforcement of regulations to ban nutrition and health claims made by baby food companies during product promotion. The formula milk industry has more than doubled it sale in the past two decades, with potentially misleading campaigns aimed at pregnant women and new parents being a significant contributing factor.
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