Homemade baby foods are more nutritious

Baby foods made by firms including Cow&Gate and Heinz have far fewer nutrients than homemade meals, according to a new study.

Many contain high levels of sugar and some are promoted for use from four months old — a time when babies should still be on breast or formula milk.

Babies would need to eat twice as much shop-bought food to get the same energy and protein as meals cooked at home, researchers found.

The study, from the department of human nutrition at the University of Glasgow, said many weaning foods “would not serve the intended purpose” of giving a baby extra nutrients or a range of tastes and textures.

Current guidelines encourage weaning from six months of age, with babies fed only breast or formula milk before this time. But some parents choose to wean early and baby foods are often marked as “suitable from four months”.

Experts analysed all the baby foods produced by Cow& Gate, Heinz, Boots, Hipp Organic, Organix, and Ella’s Kitchen.

Products included ready-made soft foods and dry foods such as cereal that could be made with milk or water, biscuits, rusks, bars, snacks, and cakes.

Nutritional information for each product — such as calories, fat, and iron — were collected from manufacturers’ websites, the products themselves and from email enquiries.

Of the 479 items, 364 (79%) were ready-made spoonable foods and 201 (44%) were aimed at infants from four months. Some 65% of the products were sweet foods.

The researchers said the typical calorie content of the spoonable foods was 282 kJ per 100g, almost identical to breast milk at 283 kJ per 100g of formula.

But purees and spoonable foods made at home were “more nutrient-dense” than the shop-bought foods. Examples of homemade foods included chicken stew, beef with mash, and stewed apple with custard.

And while commercial finger foods contained more calories, they had a “very high” sugar content.

The iron content of most of the foods was also lower than that found in formula.

The researchers report appeared in the Archives of Disease in Childhood.

A statement from Heinz said: “Generations of parents have trusted Heinz baby foods as safe and nourishing.”

A statement from Organix said it did not add vitamins and minerals to foods.