Excessive sugar, salt in baby food threaten SE Asia, including Vietnam: UNICEF study

A new study has revealed high sugar and salt contents in commercially produced packaged foods marketed for children under three years old across seven Southeast Asian countries, including Vietnam, UNICEF said in a press release on Monday. “In Vietnam, many commercially produced complementary foods (CPCFs) on the market are not up to standards in terms of nutritional value, and their labeling practices could potentially mislead parents,” said Lesley Miller, deputy representative of UNICEF Vietnam. Across Southeast Asia, sales of CPCFs have risen 45 percent in the past five years. The study found that about three-quarters of the mothers surveyed in Vietnam fed their children with CPCFs at least once daily. Several countries were found to have no legal measures to regulate the sugar or salt content of commercially produced complementary foods.