My Heart Breaks a Little...

...each time I see a loving parent or grandparent add sugar to an older baby's formula milk, give it sweetened fruit juice or Cindor (a chocolate flavoured & sweetened milk drink with no less than 200mg of sodium per portion) marketed by La Serenissima as a good source of nutrients.

I blame this misguided Argentine phenomenon on the professionals who fail to educate themselves and the public at large. Unfortunately for all of us, the country still lives in an era which people believe sugar is good because it gives energy. Glycemic Index and how it affects our health, our moods and learning ability in the young still hold little meaning to the common folks here; and very few of them associate what they put in their children's mouths with the detrimental effects on their children's long term health.

I came across a short but excellent post by Kathryn Elliot of Lime & Lypcopene - Kathryn is a qualified clinical nutritionist and naturopath in Sydney. The post disputes the claim that fruit juice is good for babies. Actually, I would argue that fruit juice is of no particular benefit to anyone; the best way to obtain all the micro-nutrients and fibre in a piece of fruit is to eat it.