The sugar contained in baby cereal porridge: we analyze the main brands

Sugar is undoubtedly one of the main villains in our diet and that of our children, affecting both their current and future health with their excess. Therefore, WHO recommends limiting the intake of sugar at no more than 10% of daily calories and if possible, the ideal would be not to exceed 5%.

Although we believe that taking sugar from our table we achieve a lot, the reality is that the problem is sugar added to food, so we show you all the sugar contained in baby cereal porridge, analyzing its main brands.

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Not all sugars are the same

The first thing we should know is that Not all sugars are bad for your health, but WHO recommends reducing the intake of free sugars that are absorbed quickly, this would be:

… Monosaccharides and disaccharides added to food by manufacturers, cooks or consumers, as well as sugars naturally present in honey, syrups, fruit juices and fruit juice concentrates.

That is, saying the sugar our son eats when he eats a banana is not harmful to the body, but this is a natural sugar accompanied by fiber and other nutrients good for the body, while honey, syrups or table sugar itself is just sugar without more, with empty calories because they offer energy without vitamins, minerals or other nutrients that the body needs.

Thus, the sugar in breast milk or a fruit will never be the same as the sugar present in an industrial concentrated juice, a soda or a commercial baby porridge.

The risks of excess sugar

An excessive consumption of sugar that in the diet of a baby would be equivalent to more than 5 teaspoons daily, can result in different health risks such as weight gain that leads to obesity and problems associated with it, such as more likely to suffer metabolic disorders at an early age such as diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia among others.

Also, an excess of free sugars can encourage the development of dental cavities we know, they are gestated even from the first days of life in which the child is fed.

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On the other hand, excessive sugar consumption can alter the threshold of sweetness of children, that is to say, to accustom your palate to excessively sweet foods and therefore, when we offer fruit that is also sweet, it will seem bland, they will not like it as if other foods or preparations with free sugar will.

If from such a young age we offer an excess of free sugar to the children's diet we will be conditioning your tastes and future food preferences as well as its health not only in the short but also in the long term. Therefore, it is better to avoid the risks of excess sugar and try to minimize its presence in the diet of our babies.

This is the sugar (every 100 grams) that the baby cereal porridge contains

Although we might think that cereals for our babies between 6 and 24 months old are the healthiest available in the market, the reality indicates the opposite, because already in 2011 Canadian researchers concluded that the vast majority of these products concentrate approximately 20% sugar in its composition, a very high amount if we look for nutritional quality in the diet of our kids.

So that we have more information about the cereal porridge at our disposal we show you below the sugar possessed by baby cereal porridge per 100 grams analyzing for this the options of 8 cereals, multigrain or 5 cereals:

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PapSugars (g)
Nestle 5 cereals18
Nestle Multigrain Pajama18
Sanutri Multigrain22,5
Hero Baby 8 Cereals 0%1
Hero Baby 8 Cereals with honey 0%6
Hero Baby 8 Cereals with fruit 0%3
Hero Baby Gluten Free Cereals 0%0,5
Nutriben 5 cereals21,6
Nutribén Growth24
Multi-cereal biological hipp1
Blevit Plus 5 cereals14
Advance Multigrain Almirón28,4
Holle Eco BIO 3 cereals0,8

As we can see a good part of baby cereal porridge exceeds 15% sugar in its composition, a high amount if we consider that per serving of 25 grams we will have almost 4 grams of sugar. This amount is equivalent in the diet of a baby with an average 800 Kcal daily from 6 to 12 months (between 750 and one thousand calories are recommended), at 20% of the energy contribution, that is, twice the recommendation of WHO for the whole day.

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Many of these products add sugar as such to its composition and we can see it in its list of ingredients as can be seen in the Sanutri porridge:

Hydrolyzed flour of 8 cereals (83%) (wheat, corn, rice, oats, barley, rye, sorghum, millet), sugar, soluble fiber (fructooligosaccharides), mineral salts (calcium carbonate, elemental iron), maltodextrin, aroma (vanillin), vitamins (C, E, PP, A, B5, D, B6, B1, B2, B12, B9, H)

And these are precisely the least recommended porridge because In addition to offering equally free or easily assimilated natural sugars that we should reduce, they incorporate sugar As such, added to your ingredient list.

What if it says "no added sugar" but it has a large amount?

Many porridge like Nestle's declared as 0% added sugars and this often encourages us to purchase, but when we go to see their nutritional information we find with 18% sugar. This is because, as we said before, they do not add sugars but they do have natural and equally free sugars that we should reduce in the children's diet.

In the case of these porridge we will see in its list of ingredients that include one or more hydrolyzed flours as is the case with the product of the Nestlé multigrain pajama porridge:

Flours (95.1%) hydrolyzed wheat, whole wheat (whole grain) (23%), whole oats (whole grain) (10.4%), spelled, rye, barley, vegetable oils (high oleic sunflower, sunflower and nabine), oligofructose, inulin, lime extract (0.4%), mineral salts (calcium carbonate, ferrous fumarate, zinc sulfate and potassium iodide), vitamins (c, e, niacin, b1, a, b6, folic acid, d), aroma (vanillin) and bifidobacteria (bifidobacterium lactis). It contains gluten. May contain milk.

The starch hydrolysis or dextrinization of cereals that include porridge facilitates their dissolution in milk or water without lumping, and is a process that mimics what happens in our body through which complex hydrates (starch) become more simple. That is to say, with hydrolysis cereals are transformed into free sugars, mainly glucose.

Companies producing cereal baby porridge argue that hydrolysis (or dextrinization) is necessary for children to digest the product well, but in reality Babies at 6 months of age can digest starch very well as a study published in The Journal of Pediatrics points out, which is why cereal hydrolysis would not be necessary at all.

So, although they do not have added sugars they are cereals porridge rich in sugars that WHO recommends limiting in the diet of adults and children.

The best, porridge with whole grains and homemade

In the analyzed list you can see several options that do not exceed 1% sugar: HIPP porridge, Holle's porridge, both with whole grains and no added sugars and almost all Hero baby porridge (except the one that includes honey), which are no added or produced sugars, that is, they do not incorporate the starch hydrolysis process that gives rise to simple hydrates.

These commercial options would be the most advisable in case we need to go to the purchase of porridge, because cereals are whole grain and retain minerals, vitamins and fiber, do not hydrolyze and also do not carry sugar of any kind added to its composition.

But beyond this, always it is best to choose homemade porridge, with our own hands without adding sugar of any kind in its elaboration, as recommended by the AEPAP in its complementary feeding guide.

We can then dissolve in milk, water or homemade broths extrafine oatmeal, wheat semolina, rice or cornmeal. Although we can also make porridge crushing rice with several or even vegetables, pasta if our doctor has already authorized it, because it has gluten.

Clearly the baby cereal porridge They must be carefully chosen for our children in their beginnings with the intake of solids, in order to protect their health by limiting the sources of sugar in their diet.

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