When nutritionists warn about the drawbacks of high sugar consumption and urge the population to reduce it, they are not referring to the one that we incorporate into coffee, but to the one that many processed products hide. Now, the Organization of Consumers and Users (OCU) has observed in a study that half of the multigrain porridge for babies analyzed have too much hidden sugar.
The agency has examined 10 brands of porridge for babies 6 months and older, and 5 include a remarkable amount of sugar. These are Blevit 8 cereals (with 32% sugar), Nutriben 8 cereals (20.4%), Damira Multicereals (18.9%), Nestlé 8 cereals (18.9%) and Gerber Grain.
"For the most part, this excess sugar is a consequence of the hydrolysis of cereals, a technological process whose objective is to divide the starch into simple sugars so that they are more digestible," the OCU said in a statement. "But it is unnecessary once the baby is six months old, since at that time he is able to assimilate the starch without problems."
The organization has also noted that not all baby foods are supplemented with iron, something "which would be desirable in 6-month-old babies." It is not included in the products Almirón Multicerales, Nutribén 8 cereales, Carrefour Baby Bio Multicereales and Hipp Biológico Mulricereales.
Regarding the presence of toxic substances (pesticides, heavy metals, nitrates, mycotoxins, acrylamide, tropane alkaloids, pathogenic bacteria...), the conclusions have been good. "But it is not uncommon to find cadmium and arsenic in intake amounts tolerated by the regulations," they admit. What they have found are non-pathogenic enterobacteria in a porridge, that of Almirón, an indicator of lack of hygiene.
The prices of the analyzed products, another aspect valued by the OCU study, are very different, ranging from 8 to 22 euros per kilo. The organization recalls that a high price does not indicate that the food is of higher quality, and that it may be interesting to compare the cost of the same brand at different points of sale, because it can vary by up to 60%.
To conclude, the experts recommend that before purchasing a multigrain porridge, consult the nutritional contribution on the product label or using valid tools for this, such as OCU Market.
