Ella’s Kitchen pouches in the Times today

[sjxoxo]

my mum sent me an article today in the times about Ella’s kitchen pouches, saying some of them contain more sugar than a can of coke!!! I’ve had a look and it seems to be the fruity ones. Apparently worse if you let the child suck on the pouch.. but horrified as baby boy (6m) loves these and eats a ton of them.
Food for thought!!

“They also said that pouches were worse for teeth than food from jars that is fed with a spoon. The contents are designed to be sucked directly from the pouch, meaning the food spends more time in contact with a baby’s teeth just as they are erupting. This puts them at risk of tooth erosion and decay.”

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/9ecdeb28-fe15-11ec-ab20-2fd534744dd7?shareToken=dd6b2090cb8f72df1d47a2ce5eb7adb8
(not sure the share token will work)

@fyn Can you link to the studies you mention please?

I noticed Ella’s now have a little note on the corner saying ‘’more veg’ so they are likely aware of consumer thoughts on the subject.

If you read the article you would see that the company commented on this. The article also falsely stAtes that the contents are designed to be sucked from the pouch when they clearly state, squeeze onto a spoon. I don’t think it’s informative at all, it’s quite misleading really. Fruit contains sugar and this company’s pouches only contain fruit (and/or veg). It’s a bit of an article/fuss about nothing. Most tooth decay occurs because people have sugar and don’t brush well enough.

Pureed fruit is the issue not fruit cut up or bitten into. Pureeing/smoothies is like washing your teeth with acid. I bet no dentists give their kids punches or smoothies but they will give them normal fruit.

**the same as diet drinks aren't recommended because of the acid even though they are sugar free.

Our brains run on glucose, found in natural sugars. It's not the same as processed refined cane sugar but people will insist it is and say 'not too much fruit' but then think may as well give the kid a can of fizzy pop.

Cancer and chronic illness are very profitable and the conflict of interests with pharmaceutical profit and our government and media mean the above is never corrected en masse.

I know the difference and my child will benefit from that but unfortunately the population are on our own to discover the truth and many don't care to.

You could mix some of the fruity ones with some plain yoghurt to make it less pure sugar? Or into porridge for breakfasts etc

I always found all the pouches incredibly sweet, even the savoury ones as well as being far too smooth for over 6 months.
I think they have a place for convenience but shouldn't be a regular part of a child's diet.

@ivykaty44

Yes, research shows that introducing children to textureless, sweet food has long term impacts on picky eating, fresh fruit and vegetable consumption and obesity Study One, Study Two Study Three .

Those weaned on purees exhibit more eating difficulties are they grow up because they haven’t been exposed resistive foods that allow pathways to be formed in the brain to teach them chewing. Chewing is actually quite difficult and needs lots of practice Study Four Study Five.

There are also concerns about the safety of baby food, with of baby rice cereals being found to exceed the safe level of arsenic with health impacts of increased cancer risk and irreversible harm to neurological development Study Six . Baby rice snacks are just as bad.

I should think this is only really a problem if not used as intended surely ?

Sporadic use amongst a balanced diet of fresh homemade food and proper teeth and gum cleaning and what's the problem.

The guilt really should not be put onto parents who's main focus is likely to just provide a good amount of fruit and the vitamins amanminerals fruit provides to their growing baby whilst they are learning to navigate being working parebts or a healthy nore portable diet to fit into their busy working and school run and errand filled lives.

The guilt should lie with the awful standards that allow a baby food to be called " chicken and veg casserole " but contain very little actual chicken and veg and sweetened with apple and other cheap filler fruits.

This shouldn't be a surprise surely? Fruit is sugary, and often quite acidic, and if you puree or liquidise it and let it coat your teeth it's obviously not great for dental health.
Yes, fruit is a good source of vitamins etc but you can have too much of a good thing and it's better to eat it in its natural state than processed in any way. I don't think this anything new to most people really, and am surprised the Times thinks it is newsworthy!
However, I also think that sometimes people go a bit over the top in their condemnation of commercial baby food. It's not full of preservatives as is often claimed. The long shelf life comes from ultra heat treatment generally, not chemical preservatives. Now I don't suppose many of us prefer supermarket long life fruit juice to freshly squeezed organic oranges, or would opt for UHT cows' milk over fresh on a regular basis, but I bet most of us eat UHT products at least occasionally and don't stress about it. Same goes for baby food in my opinion. No, it's not a great idea to feed a baby completely on commercially produced food, especially very smooth purees, but as part of a generally healthy mixed diet it's not the crime of the century to give a pouch of fruit from time to time. And it is parental choice how it's actually served. It's not like sucking direct from the pouch is mandatory, though it is very convenient once in a while. I often take a couple of fruit pouches in my back pocket on long bike rides. They are a refreshing snack and you can put the lid back on so you don't get a sticky mess in your jersey pocket! Same basic principle applies to pouches and tubes of yoghurt - they are not ideal as your normal way of eating but undeniably handy on occasion. Just needs a bit of common sense doesn't it?

@fyn thanks - appreciated

My child eats loads of these, sucked straight from the pouch. She has huge food issues, mostly sensory after a significant number of hospital admissions and tubes in her mouth etc. I know they're not great, and of course I've tried and continue to try 'just giving her a piece of fruit'..... it clearly isn't that easy for everyone. This post has made me feel really shit about myself so thanks for that.

Don't feel bad about it, you're dealing with exceptional circumstances. Maybe try squeezing them into a bowl and letting her use her hands or a spoon so she still gets some of the sensory/motor skills benefits, and it mitigates the damage to her teeth?

I used these pouches. I don’t have a problem with them. They keep in the fridge for a few days so DD would have 1/3 pouch fruit purée with her weetabix and yoghurt. I also gave fresh fruit with other meals, but found the pouches useful for certain circumstances.

Now DD is 2.5 she has more variety of fresh fruit - the kind of fruit I didn’t feel comfortable giving in chunks when she was weaning, so purée pouches were useful.

i wondered why my local Asda has massively slashed the prices on them all and even the snacks.

They’re useful backup, but my DD never ate the meal ones. They smell so bad!

I was one of those obsessive need to eat home cooked people. Ella’s pouches are not good.

the fruit ones for mixing with natural yoghurt are good, or indeed prunes to get things moving.

I’m less concerned about these and more concerned about the amount of sugar - added sugar - in kids’ yoghurts. These pouches say they aren’t meant to be sucked directly, but many yoghurts are. A Frube has 4g of sugar and a Munch Bunch squashums has almost 6g. A Petits Filous yoghurt drink has just shy of 10g!

I always thought I’d do BLW, but DS didn’t want to know. He wouldn’t engage with a banana or any other type of fruit

@SomePosters Would you mind sharing which jars you found to have over a toddler RDA of salt?

I had a quick look at the nutritional information on Heinz jars (via tesco website) out of curiosity after reading your post, but the only ones I see have 0.09g salt per 100gm. There's no salt in the ingredients but obviously meats etc have naturally occurring sodium, this will be in our home cooked foods also.

it was every single jar on the shelves in a large boots store and ten years ago so they may have had to change it since.

we were warned about it by a dietician doing a session at surestart

If you’re in France then it’s definitely a good job you’re not using the pouches! The standard Pom’ Potes contain added sugar, as if the stuff naturally occurring wasn’t enough and you have to seek out the sugar free versions. British Ella’s isn’t anywhere near as bad by comparison.

Always check the labels- for ingredients and sugar / fat / salt content. It's an eye opener!
Those things you thought were healthy... think again...

Not surprising. I had never used these pouches, there is simply no need?! And they are expensive

Ah I see, yes they must have changed it since then because it definitely isn't the case now.

The ingredients are literally just fruit. I know as I checked pretty religiously - never really expected to use pouches, but I did and do.