nosh nook #37 - tuesday, may 5, 2009

exposed: baby snacks that may be worse than junk food (link)
05.05.09 - belfast telegraph - by lesley-anne henry

these days, in our fast paced world of sport drinks & power bars, even babies need to eat healthy.  you can't just feed them tin cans & galoshes like you would with a scruffy bill goat (often with hilarious results, i might add).  just like with other types of humans, babies need vitamins & nutrients & all those essential things that everyone else needs to live.  as a result, in northern ireland, folks are taking steps to ensure that their babies remember to eat right.

as lesley-anne henry describes in the article, belfast's parents' advice center is telling parents to take note when buying food for their baby, as some baby foods have turned out to be less nutritious than initially assumed.  two of the more notable unhealthy baby food dispensers--heinz and cow & gate.  one heinz product--toddler's own mini cheese biscuits--"contain more saturated fat that a mcdonalds quarter pounder with cheese."  although it's a scientific fact that babies love mcdonalds, they're too young to be eating quarter pounders.

i, for one, was shocked to hear that our beloved american heinz corp. was responsible for feeding babies unhealthy food, as their most famous product, ketchup, only contains two types of corn syrup, only one of which is high fructose.  as for cow & gate, i'm not familiar with them, but am sad to hear that they're "withdrawing (their) bear, berry bear & animal friends biscuits" due to high levels of hydrogenated fat.  from what i hear, berry bear's a swell guy & i can only imagine how tough it's going to be for him to find work in this harsh economic climate.