Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2019 Mar 6;6(1):2.
doi: 10.1186/s40348-019-0089-6.

Complementary foods in baby food pouches: position statement from the Nutrition Commission of the German Society for Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine (DGKJ, e.V.)

Berthold Koletzko  1 , Christoph Bührer  2 , Regina Ensenauer  3 , Frank Jochum  4 , Hermann Kalhoff  5 , Burkhard Lawrenz  6 , Antje Körner  7 , Walter Mihatsch  8 , Silvia Rudloff  9 , Klaus-Peter Zimmer  9
Affiliations

Complementary foods in baby food pouches: position statement from the Nutrition Commission of the German Society for Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine (DGKJ, e.V.)

Berthold Koletzko et al. Mol Cell Pediatr. .

Abstract

Pureed complementary feeding products packed in squeezable plastic pouches, usually with a spout and a screw cap, have been increasingly marketed. The Committee on Nutrition recommends that infants and young children should not suck pureed or liquid complementary foods from baby food pouches. Complementary foods should be offered with a spoon or should be fed as finger foods. Infants and young children should be given the opportunity to get to know a variety of foods and food textures including pieces of foods, supported by responsive feeding between the child and their parents or caregivers. Complementary foods marketed in baby food pouches often have a high energy density and are predominantly extremely high in sugar content, with up to almost 90% of the total energy content. Regular consumption bears the risks of imbalanced nutrient provision and increased risks for dental caries and overweight. Complementary foods for infants and young children should have a balanced composition following the recommendations of the German Society of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine (DGKJ) and should contain only limited amounts of sugar. We discourage the feeding of pureed complementary foods from baby food pouches.

Keywords: Complementary feeding; Eating behavior; Energy density; Infant feeding; Nutrient requirements; Parent-child interaction; Sugars.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

Not applicable

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Competing interests

The Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München and its employee BK were supported by financial support from the Commission of the European Communities (FP5-QLRT-2001-00389 CHOPIN, FP5-QLAM-2001-00582 PIANO, FP6-007036QLRT-2001-00389 EARNEST, FP7-289346-EarlyNutrition), the European Research Council (Grant ERC-2012 AdG-no.322605 META-GROWTH), the European Joint Programming Initiative NutriProgram ERA-HDHL, the European Erasmus + programs Early Nutrition eAcademy Southeast Asia-573651-EPP-1-2016-1-EN-EPPKA2-CBHE-JP and Capacity Building to Improve Early Nutrition and Health in South Africa-598488-EPP-1-2018-1-EN-EPPKA2-CBHE-JP, and the European Interreg- Program Focus in CD-CE111. Additional funding was provided by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (no. 01 GI 0825 and INST 409/224-1 FUGG), the German Research Foundation (KO912/10-1), the McHealth innovation initiative of the LMU and the LMU Center for Advanced Studies. LMU and its employee BK have collaborated with pharmaceutical and food companies on scientific and educational projects, mostly as part of publicly funded research projects. None of these interactions have affected the content of this manuscript.

CB’s employer received fee equivalent payments from the Nestlé Nutrition Institute for lectures. RE received grants for talks by Ferring and Milupa.

FJ has received funding for lecture and training activities from Fresenius, Baxter, Human, HIPP, Nestlé. The FJ employer is involved in research/clinical trials of Fonterra and Humana.

HK has received financial contributions from Abbvie for lectures.

BL has received financial contributions from Abbvie, BVKJ-Service GmbH, Engelhard, GSK, Hansisches Verlagskontor, KVWL Consult, Life Sciences, Medice, MSD, Novartis, Pfizer, Product + Market, RG, Sanofi Pasteur, and SPMSD.

AK has received financial grants from Ipsen Pharma.

WM has received grants from Nestlé, Nutricia, and Nutrinia.

SR does not indicate any potential conflicts of interest.

The employer of PZ receives grants from the BMBF for the BMBF study CED.

All authors do not declare a conflict of interest under the guidelines of the US Institute of Medicine.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

References

    1. Prell C, Koletzko B. Breastfeeding and complementary feeding-recommendations on infant nutrition. Dtsch Arztebl Int. 2016;113(25):435–344. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ernährungskommission_der_Deutschen_Gesellschaft_für_Kinderheilkunde_und_Jugendmedizin-(DGKJ-e.V.) Bührer C, Genzel-Boroviczény O, Jochum F, Kauth T, Kersting M, et al. Ernährung gesunder Säuglinge. Empfehlungen der Ernährungskommission der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Kinder- und Jugendmedizin. Monatsschr Kinderheilkd. 2014;162:527–538. doi: 10.1007/s00112-014-3129-2. - DOI
    1. Koletzko B, Bauer CP, Cierpka M, Cremer M, Flothkötter M, Graf C, et al. Ernährung und Bewegung von Säuglingen und stillenden Frauen. Aktualisierte Handlungsempfehlungen von “Gesund ins Leben–Netzwerk Junge Familie”, eine Initiative von IN FORM. Monatsschr Kinderheilkd. 2016;164(9):771–798. doi: 10.1007/s00112-016-0147-2. - DOI
    1. Verbraucherzentrale-Niedersachsen. 2014 [Available from: https://www.verbraucherzentrale-niedersachsen.de/themen/ernaehrung-leben.... Accessed 2 Mar 2019.
    1. Koletzko B, Hirsch NL, Jewell JM, Caroli M, Breda J, Weber M (2018) Pureed fruit pouches for babies—child health under squeeze. J Pediatr Gastroenterol Nutr. 10.1097/MPG.0000000000002061 - PubMed