Out of more than 70 ready-made food products for toddlers, more than 75 per cent fail to meet the proposed guidelines for sugar set out by the World Health Organization (WHO), soon-to-be-published research for the Obesity Policy Coalition has found.
Take Kiddylicious' Raspberry Crispy Tiddlers – researchers found 70 per cent of its total energy comes from sugar. Meanwhile, raspberries in their natural state are less than 10 per cent sugar.
"It's really devastating to see that the foods for our youngest Australians are so high in these processed sugars from fruit," said Jane Martin, the Executive Manager of the Obesity Policy Coalition.
"We need to see limits when we have such high proportions of obesity in these young age groups."
Other foods at the top of the list include:
- Kiddylicious' Smoothie Melts Strawberry and Banana (67 per cent total energy from sugar)
- Rafferty's Garden 12 Months+ Strawberry Yoghurt Buttons (59 per cent of total energy from sugar)
- Heinz Little Kids Yoghurt Muesli Fingers Fruit Salad Flavour (45 per cent of total energy from sugar)
- Aldi's Mamia Fruit Oat Bars Strawberry 12+ Months (41 per cent of total energy from sugar)
Many of the companies did not respond to 7.30 when asked why the foods were aimed at toddlers, why they had such a high sugar content, and whether there was a fruit that has such high sugar content naturally.
Aldi, the makers of the Mamia Fruit Oat Bars, told 7.30 in a statement "the main characterising ingredient for these bars is a fruit paste, comprising 62 per cent of the bar and made with fruit purée concentrate."
"This paste contains apple, sultanas and raisins consistent across all flavours however this product contains no added sugar outside of what is naturally occurring in the fruit paste.
"This product makes no claims to be nutritionally complete ... nor is it intended as a complete meal. ALDI do not make any nutritional claims on this product."
Federal Health Minister Mark Butler said he found the research "shocking".
"As a health minister, for all of us as parents, to have those products in supermarkets, often labelled in a pretty opaque way, is I think one of the really serious challenges we have," he said.
"To allow parents and children to make healthy choices is really difficult."
But the Food and Grocery Council's deputy CEO Dr Geoffrey Annison said the industry is "not overly concerned" by the findings.
"These products are just part of the children's diet. That's not what they eat completely, and they're meant to provide a certain need," he told 7.30.
"People have ultimate control over what they eat."
What role does sugar play in Australia's obesity epidemic?
Obesity is a complex problem that's been talked about in Australia for decades – and official figures show levels of obesity are worsening.
Some 18 million Australians are predicted to be overweight or obese by 2030.
The focus has shifted from foods with high fat content to those with high sugar content, with many public health experts believing that is where the problem lies.
But Dr Annison, who's been a food scientist for 40 years, rejects the premise that one nutrient like sugar is to blame for the obesity crisis.
"We haven't seen any strong evidence that foods which are either particularly high in fat, or particularly high in protein, or particularly high in sugar, or other carbohydrates, are addictive," he said.
The Beverages Council, which represents soft drink makers, agrees.
"Personally, I don't think sugar is addictive," said Beverages Council CEO, Geoff Parker.
"We are, you know, evolutionarily predisposed to be to be wanting sweet-tasting food and drinks."
Mr Parker said council members have agreed to lower the sugar levels in their overall portfolio of drinks by 25 per cent by 2025 because of consumer demands, not other concerns.
But scientists researching alcohol and nicotine addiction have found sugar has the same effect on animal brains.
Professor Selena Bartlett is a group leader in neuroscience at Queensland's University of Technology. She's researching the connection between excess sugar consumption in humans and obesity, and says the solution isn't as simple as telling people to eat less and exercise more.
"So the same pathway that nicotine binds to was activated by too much sugar consumption. And that is quite shocking if you sit back and think about it," Professor Bartlett said.
"And that explains why it's so hard to give up."
The dial hasn't been moved on obesity
Obesity is linked to conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure, and cardiovascular disease, and it ranks only second to tobacco usage for preventable health problems.
Yet Australia's waistline is expanding — and to date, no side of politics, nor policy, educational campaign or industry reform, has been able to change the nation's trajectory.
"This is, I think, perhaps the most substantial health challenge we have as a country," Mr Butler told 7.30.
"Five decades ago, only 10 per cent of adults were obese.
"Now it's about 30 per cent. And if you go up to retirement age in the 60s and 70s, that's 40 per cent of older Australians [who] are obese."
A national obesity strategy was launched by the previous Morrison government earlier this year, but its only target was a reduction in childhood obesity by 5 per cent by 2030.
Proposed solutions like a tax on sugary drinks — which has been introduced in several other countries, including the UK — have been rejected by the minister.
"We need to work with industry about getting salt and sugar contents down in their products, as well as the serving sizes," Mr Butler told 7.30.
Mr Butler says he also wants to look at packaging information, as well as better support for people with obesity in medical settings.
The Food and Grocery Council believes it already provides a range of healthy choices for people to choose from.
"Every part of the community has a role to play here," Dr Annison said.
"So the food industry does promote its products, particularly those ones that are low in energy (sugar), for people who have concerns about their weight gain and wishing to control their weight."
But the Obesity Policy Coalition, which represents health groups across the nation, told 7.30 the time for industry regulation has come.
"It's time now [for the government] to step in; we've basically tried everything else," Jane Martin said.
"We haven't moved the dial. If we want to reduce childhood obesity, we have to do those things that industry have been lobbying against."
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