Introduction of soft drinks and processed juice in the diet of infants attending public day care centers

OBJECTIVE Identifying at what age infants enrolled in public day care centers are introduced to soft drinks and industrialized juice, as well as comparing the nutritional composition of these goods with natural fruit juice. METHODS A cross-sectional study with the mothers of 636 children (aged 0 to 36 months) from nurseries of day care centers, who were asked questions about the age of feeding introduction. This study evaluated the proximate composition of soft drinks and artificial juice, comparing them with those of natural fruit juice regarding energy, sugar, fiber, vitamin C, and sodium values. The chemical composition of fruit juice was obtained by consulting the Table of Food Composition and, for industrialized drinks, the average nutritional information on the labels of the five most consumed product brands. RESULTS The artificial drinks were consumed before the first year of life by more than half of the children studied, however, approximately 10% consumed them before the age of 6 months. With regard to the comparison among the drinks, artificial fruit juice beverages and soft drinks proved to contain from nine to 13 times higher amounts of sodium, and 15 times less vitamin C than natural juices. CONCLUSIONS The introduction of soft drinks and industrialized juice in the diet of infants was inopportune and premature. When compared to natural fruit juice, these have inferior nutritional composition, which suggests the urgent need for measures based on strategies for food and nutrition education in order to promote awareness and the maintenance of healthy eating habits.