World News for Students of English

07-11-2024 07:00

People in Southeast Asia have more money. More parents buy easy-to-make baby foods.

These foods are called healthy but often have added sugar. The same foods in other countries do not have added sugar. UNICEF studies 1,600 baby foods in Southeast Asia and finds that almost half have added sugars. In the Philippines, where many people have problems like obesity and diabetes, this is worrying. Health experts worry. If babies eat sweet foods early, they may like sugary foods more when they grow up. A popular baby food called Cerelac has about 17.5 grams of sugar in each serving. Nestlé makes Cerelac. Nestlé says that it adds sugar to make the food taste better. Things like iron help babies grow. But they do not taste well.

Nestlé plans to stop adding sugar to its baby foods in a few years. Experts want the change to happen sooner. Parents want the best for their babies, but many baby foods still have extra sugar.

Difficult words: added (when you put something extra in food), serving (food which one person eats), extra (more than the normal number or amount).

You can watch the original video in the Level 3 section.