Urgent warning to parents over ‘obscene levels’ of unhealthy ingredient in baby food

FRUIT pouch snacks for babies contain more sugar than Coke, dentists warn.

Tots’ first teeth are being wrecked by sugary snacks that parents believe are healthy because they’re made of fruit.

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The British Dental Association found one in four puree pouches have more sugar per millilitre than Coca Cola.

The BDA described the sugar levels as "obscene".

Two thirds are so sweet that they are over the sugar content limit in the fizzy drinks tax.

Children as young as four months are guzzling the snacks before they even have any teeth.

Eddie Crouch, chair of the British Dental Association, said: “Tooth decay is the number one reason for hospital admissions among young children and sugar is driving this epidemic. 

“These products sadly risk hooking the next generation before they can even walk.

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“Marketeers are giving parents the impression they are making a healthy choice with these pouches but nothing could be further from the truth.   

“Claims of ‘no added sugar’ are meaningless when mums and dads end up delivering the lion’s share of a can of Coke to their infants.”

The BDA said products hide behind claims that sugars are natural or there is “no added sugar”.

The way children suck the juice out of the pouches means it spends extra time on the teeth and raises decay risk.

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And feeding babies lots of sugar makes them more likely to get hooked on sweet foods and to have bad teeth, obesity or diabetes when they grow up.

NHS guidelines say four to six-year-olds should eat no more than 19g of sugar a day, and under-fours should avoid it as much as possible.

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Mr Crouch added: “Ministers need to break the UK’s addiction, especially when it comes to our youngest patients.”

A Department of Health spokesperson said: “We have challenged businesses to improve the nutritional content of baby food and drink.

"Our review in 2019 found inconsistencies between national recommendations and the ingredients and nutritional content of these products.”