Sodium content and food additives in major brands of Brazilian children's foods.

Antônio Zenon Antunes Teixeira

doi:10.1590/1413-812320182312.21812016

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to evaluate the sodium content and additive usage in packaged food products targeted at Brazilian children. Commercial database and manufactures' websites were used to identify major brands of child-oriented foods. Samples were categorized as "children's foods" (n = 214) and "infant's foods" (n = 86). Nutrition Facts labels were used to calculate the median Na content (mg/serving, mg/kcal, and mg/100g); the ingredient lists to note the use of food additives. The sodium content found in samples varied widely among brands. The amount of sodium was high (> 210 mg/serving) in 20% of the products. Sodium density exceeded 1 mg/kcal in 40% of the products with the savory foods had the highest densities. More than 30% of the foods categories (corn snacks, filled biscuits, sliced loaf bread, and cereals) did not fulfill the 2014 sodium reduction targets. Food additives present in all children's foods varied from two to nine additives numbers. However, some products had incredible numbers of additives, such as instant noodles and mini cakes. Although some infants' foods categories were additives free, most products contained up to three numbers of additives. Continuing surveillance is crucial to evaluate the progress of salt reduction and to revise the maximum permissible limit of additives.

Highlights

MethodsAccording to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) survey in 2009, one in three Brazilian children (5- to 9-years-old) was overweight[1]
A similar circumstance was published by Kraemer et al.[15] in their study on processed foods for snacks marketed for children and adolescents in Brazil
The authors described that 14% of all the processed foods assessed did not comply the current serving size rule that makes the customers have difficulty to compare the Na content of similar foods

Summary

Methods

The Federal University of São Paulo - Department of Pediatrics disclosed that 65% of children aged 9-36 months attending day care centers consumed instant noodles in their first year of lives[3] The practice of this eating behavior has led a concern to the possible health risks due to the excess of sodium and additives present in processed foods. IOM dietary reference intake defined that sodium >210 mg/serving as a high level for children aged 1-3 years[13]. Children’s foods were compared to the 2014 government salt reduction targets, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) “healthy” label claim and the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) “low sodium” attribute To facilitate these comparisons, sodium content was converted to the 100g standard serving size. The products were analyzed for which the most important additives present in processed foods and discuss the potentially toxic and diseases caused by consumption of these foods

Results and discussions

E Number – Name of Additives

Conclusion