Santos Mariana, Matias Filipa, Loureiro Isabel, Rito Ana Isabel, Castanheira Isabel, Bento Alexandra, Assunção Ricardo
Food and Nutrition Department, National Health Institute Dr Ricardo Jorge, Av. Padre Cruz, 1649-016 Lisbon, Portugal.
NOVA National School of Public Health, NOVA University of Lisbon, Avenida Padre Cruz, 1600-560 Lisbon, Portugal.
Foods. 2022 May 13;11(10):1424. doi: 10.3390/foods11101424.
Proper nutrition in infancy and early childhood is crucial to ensuring optimal child development, growth, and better health outcomes later in life. The nutrient profile model proposed by WHO/Europe aims to assess the nutritional quality and promotional/marketing aspects of commercial baby foods aimed at children up to 36 months. We used commercial data from 191 baby foods collected between March 2021 and July 2021, from eight supermarket chains in the Lisbon Metropolitan area. According to the model specifications and the NOVA classification system, we assessed the nutritional quality and promotion aspects and the degree of processing, respectively. The presence of at least one sugar-contributing ingredient was found in 34.0% of the products; 13.9% of products listed sugars and 15.0% listed fruit juices or concentrates as an ingredient. The claim “No added sugar” was present in 69.6% of products. Only 35.1% of products comply with all the nutritional requirements of the model. Concerning processing classification, 61.8% of products were ultra-processed, and about 57.0% were indicated for children < 12 months. These findings reinforce the importance of implementing measures to ensure that commercial foods for infants are marketed appropriately and to promote foods with a lower degree of processing.
婴幼儿期的合理营养对于确保儿童最佳发育、成长以及日后更好的健康状况至关重要。世卫组织欧洲区域办事处提出的营养素概况模型旨在评估针对36个月以下儿童的商业婴儿食品的营养质量以及促销/营销方面。我们使用了2021年3月至2021年7月期间从里斯本大都市区的八家连锁超市收集的191种婴儿食品的商业数据。根据模型规范和NOVA分类系统，我们分别评估了营养质量、促销方面以及加工程度。34.0%的产品中发现至少含有一种添加糖成分；13.9%的产品列出了糖，15.0%的产品将果汁或浓缩果汁列为一种成分。69.6%的产品标注了“未添加糖”声明。只有35.1%的产品符合该模型的所有营养要求。在加工分类方面，61.8%的产品为超加工食品，约57.0%的产品针对12个月以下儿童。这些发现强化了采取措施确保婴幼儿商业食品合理营销以及推广加工程度较低食品的重要性。
