How ultra-addictive fruit pouches are causing untold damage to millions of children

Children who rely on convenient fruit pouches could suffer from long-term tooth decay and difficulty chewing, health experts warn.

Food pouches for toddlers and young children have increased by 900 percent in the past decade as they replace jarred baby food.

But it’s not just babies.

An increasing number of elementary school students who once ate solid foods as snacks are now sucking down pureed fruits, 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 veggies.

But health experts warned that some of these bags can contain as much sugar as a Krispy Kreme donut or small candy bar, and their soft, creamy texture makes them easy to overeat.

The warning comes nearly a year after WanaBana applesauce pouches were found to contain cinnamon with “extremely high” levels of lead, sickening more than 400 children in 44 states and leaving them vulnerable to behavioral and developmental problems.

And children who avoid solid foods may have difficulty learning to chew their food or may develop tooth decay due to too much acidity.

Dr. Mark Cortkins, a pediatric gastroenterologist at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, shared Los Angeles Times: ‘We will pay for it in the long run.’

The ingredients of the bags vary widely. While some contain just fruit, others contain a mix of vegetables, grains and yoghurt – some even contain meat such as turkey. Several also contain added sugar and salt.

A Study from 2019 found that baby 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 comparable foods in jars and three times as much as foods in ‘other packaging’ such as containers and bags.

Another one Study from 2019 published in Nutrients magazine looked at 703 pureed baby and toddler products and found that pouches contained more than twice as much sugar as products in other packages.

Fruit pouches have also been the subject of controversy, as more than 400 children have fallen ill due to the ‘extremely high’ lead content in WanaBana’s pouches

The researchers said this could be due to the fact that the pouches come in larger portions, possibly to appeal to older children.

While products in other packages contain about five grams of sugar, the bags contain 11 grams, more than that of a Krispy Kreme donut and almost as much as half of Hershey’s chocolate bar.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children consume no more than 25 grams of sugar per day, so two sachets per day would put them close to the limit.

And several children reached that threshold. Heidi Martinez, a mother of three in California, said her oldest son eats two to three pouches a day. And Caitlin Scuttio, also from California, noted that her son would eat “six a day” if she let him.

The agency also notes that children under the age of two should not be given added sugars, as this could cause them to prefer sugar more later in life.

In addition to obesity, hyperactivity and diabetes, too much sugar can increase the risk of tooth decay, which can lead to lifelong complications such as gum disease, tooth loss and tooth shifting.

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 the teeth better than eating a real apple. This means that food stays on the teeth longer, increasing acidity in the mouth, which erodes teeth and causes cavities.

Dr. Bridget Young, an associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Rochester School of Medicine, told the Los Angeles Times that the pouches may not contain as many healthy nutrients as advertised.

For example, a pouch advertised as a turkey dinner puree could be “apple sauce with a hint of turkey,” Dr. Young said.

“And there’s nothing wrong with applesauce. But there’s something wrong if you think you’re feeding your child turkey.”

And for vegetables that are included in the diet, experts said their taste can be masked by fruit, which increases the sweetness and keeps children away from real vegetables.

Dr. Corkins said he sometimes sees children who are so dependent on smooth, sweet sacs that they develop an aversion to regular fruits and vegetables and may have difficulty chewing because they are not exposed to enough solid foods.

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 the “lumpy textures” found in solid foods as early as possible to help the body learn chewing and swallowing.

She told the Los Angeles Times, “Pouches are easy, and we live in a world that’s very busy these days.

“I think we can all agree it’s not a bad thing. It just can’t replace the other things.”