Toddlers in Britain get almost half their calories from ultra-processed foods, rising to 59% by the age of seven, according to the largest study of its kind.
The first comprehensive look at dietary intake at such a young age comes amid rapidly rising global consumption of UPF, such as breakfast cereals, protein bars, carbonated drinks, convenience foods and fast food. The findings were published in the European Journal of Nutrition.
Researchers from UCL in London used data from the Gemini twin cohort study and the Nova classification to assess the foods consumed. UPFs were typically produced industrially and contained ingredients not or very rarely used in home cooking, such as emulsifiers, colorings and sweeteners, they said.
Toddlers in Britain get 47% of their calories from UPFs, and this grew to 59% by the age of seven, the researchers said. The study looked at data from 2,591 children born in Britain in 2007 and 2008, whose parents kept track of what their children ate and drank for three days.
The most common UPFs consumed by toddlers – who were 21 months old when their parents monitored their diet – were flavored yogurt and whole-grain cereal, items generally considered healthy. At age seven, the most common UPFs were sweet cereals and puddings.
There were several limitations of the study, including that people of white ethnicity and higher socio-economic status were over-represented in their sample compared to the UK population. The study was also based on data from some children born 17 years ago.
However, the study’s senior author, Prof. Clare Llewellyn from UCL, said there were no other contemporary data sets that had measured nutritional intake at this young age in detail in a large, representative sample, with repeated measurements in the same children.
“It is extremely unlikely that children are consuming fewer UPFs now than in 2008/9 or 2014, or that children’s dietary patterns have changed significantly,” she said. “So these are probably conservative estimates of UPF consumption.”
She added: “Eating patterns in the early years are important as they help establish habits that can last into childhood and into adulthood.
“This was reflected in our findings: children aged 21 months who ate more ultra-processed foods were also likely to be greater consumers of ultra-processed foods at age seven.”
The UCL team called for policies to “restore the balance in children’s diets towards a lower proportion of UPF, such as adding warning labels to products, an inclusive school food policy and subsidies on fresh and minimally processed food”.
Lead author Dr Rana Conway, also from UCL, said: “Feeding children healthily is not easy in our current food environment. Highly processed foods are often cheaper than the foods parents would like to feed their children, such as fresh fruits and vegetables.
“Despite labels suggesting they are a healthy choice, ultra-processed foods marketed to children often contain too much sugar and salt. This makes it more difficult for parents to make healthy choices.”