Just about everyone knows that we have to watch our sodium intake. Recent studies report that most North Americans consume twice as much salt as they need and that leads to a host of health problems, such as kidney disease, stroke, heart disease and dementia. But what about baby? Most parents trust baby food like they trust their pediatrician, however, when it comes to Gerber products, baby beware.
According to the Canadian Stroke Network, a Gerber pasta meal—marketed for toddlers—contains the same amount of salt as two orders of McDonald’s fries. So the Stroke Network bestowed upon Gerber the “Salt Lick Award“, which is handed out annually to food items with extremely high levels of sodium. The Lil’ Entrees Chicken & Pasta Wheel Pick Ups meal contains 550 mg of salt—that’s more than half of the 1,000 mg of sodium a toddler needs to consume in one day.
In 2007 Gerber was sold to the Nestle Company for $5.5 billion. It makes more than 190 baby foods, sold in 80 countries. On its website, Gerber says it “doesn’t strain to make money. But it Read the rest of this entry »