How ultra-addictive fruit pouches are causing untold damage to millions of children
Children who rely on convenient fruit pouches may suffer long-term issues like dental decay and trouble chewing, health experts warn.
Food pouches for toddlers and young children are up 900 percent over the last decade as they replace jarred baby foods.
But it’s not just infants.
An increasing number of elementary schoolers who once ate solid foods at snack time now suck pureed fruit, vegetables, grains, and other foods from a pouch.
Marketed to busy parents on the go, the snacks are praised for their convenience, as well as helping picky kids get more servings of fruits and vegetables.
But health experts warned that some of these pouches can contain as much sugar as a Krispy Kreme donut or a small candy bar and their soft creamy texture makes them easy to overeat.
The warning comes nearly a year after applesauce pouches from WanaBana were found to contain cinnamon with ‘extremely high’ levels of lead, which has sickened more than 400 children in 44 states and left them vulnerable to behavioral and developmental issues.
Doctors warned that children who rely on fruit pouches may suffer long-term issues like dental decay and trouble chewing (stock image)
And kids who shun solid foods may have trouble learning to chew their food or suffer tooth decay from excess acidity.
Dr Mark Cortkins, a pediatric gastroenterologist at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, told the Los Angeles Times: ‘In the long run we’re going to pay for it.’
Pouch ingredients vary widely. While some just have fruit, others contain a mix of vegetables, grains, and yogurts – several even contain meats like turkey. Several also contain added sugar and salt.
A 2019 study found that infant and toddler pouches contained an average of 8.4 grams of sugar, about the same amount as two Krispy Kreme donuts.
This was about 30 percent more sugar than similar foods in jars and three times that of foods in ‘other packages’ like trays and packets.
Another 2019 study published in the journal Nutrients looked at 703 pureed baby and toddler products and found that pouches had more than twice the sugar of products in other packages.
Fruit pouches have also been the subject of controversy, as more than 400 children have been sickened due to ‘extremely high’ levels of lead in WanaBana’s pouches
The researchers said that this could be due to pouches being in larger serving sizes, possibly to attract older children.
While products in other packaging had about five grams of sugar, pouches had 11 grams, more than that of a Krispy Kreme donut and nearly as much as half of Hershey’s chocolate bar.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends children consume no more than 25 grams of sugar per day, so two pouches a day would put them near the limit.
And several kids hit that threshold. Heidi Martinez, a mother-of-three in California, said that her oldest son eats two to three pouches a day. And Caitlin Scuttio, also of California, noted that her son would eat ‘six a day’ if she let him.
The agency also notes children under two should not have any added sugar because it could make them prefer sugar more in later years.
In addition to obesity, hyperactivity, and diabetes, too much sugar may raise the risk of tooth decay, leading to lifelong complications like gum disease, tooth loss, and teeth shifting in position.
Dr Francisco Ramos-Gomez, director of the UCLA Center for Children’s Oral Health, told the Los Angeles Times that purees like applesauce stick to teeth more than eating an actual apple. This means the food sits on teeth longer, increasing acidity in the mouth that causes teeth to erode and cavities to form.
Dr Bridget Young, an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Rochester School of Medicine, told the Los Angeles Times that the pouches might not actually contain as many healthy nutrients as advertised.
A pouch advertised as a turkey dinner puree, for example, ‘might be apple sauce with a whisper of turkey,’ Dr Young said.
‘And there’s nothing wrong with apple sauce. But there is something wrong when you think you’re feeding your child turkey.’
And for vegetables that are included, experts said that their flavor may be masked by fruit, reinforcing sweetness and turning children away from actual vegetables.
Dr Corkins said that he sometimes sees children who are so dependent on smooth, sweet pouches that texture aversions to regular fruits and vegetables and could have trouble chewing due to not being exposed to enough solid food.
Susan Greenberg, a speech pathologist at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, said that instead of relying so heavily on pouches, children should be introduced to ‘lumpy textures’ found in solid foods as early as possible to help the body learn to chew and swallow.
She told the Los Angeles Times: ‘Pouches are easy, and we live in a world that’s really busy these days.
‘I think we can all agree that it’s not a bad thing. It just can’t replace the other things.’
