Sharon A. Carstairs

Seafood inclusion in commercial main meal early years' food products

Seafood consumption is recommended as part of a healthy, balanced diet. Under-exposure to seafood during early years feeding, when taste and food acceptance is developed, may impact on the future development of a varied diet. This study aimed to investigate the availability and nutritional content of seafood in commercial infant meals compared to the other food types. A survey was conducted of all commercial infant main meal products available for purchase in supermarkets, high street retailers and online stores within the United Kingdom. The primary food type (seafood, poultry, meat and vegetables) within each product, nutritional composition per 100 g, and ingredient contribution were assessed. Of the original 341 main meal products seafood (n = 13; 3.8%) was underrepresented compared to poultry (103; 30.2%), meat (121; 35.5%) and vegetables (104; 30.5%). The number of the seafood meals increased three years later (n = 20; 6.3%) vegetable meals remained the largest contributor to the market (115; 36.4%) with meat (99; 31.3%) and poultry (82; 26.0%) both contributing slightly less than previously. Seafood-based meals provided significantly higher energy (83.0 kcal), protein (4.6 g), and total fat (3.2 g) than vegetable (68 kcal, 2.7 g, 1.9 g), meat (66 kcal, 3.0 g, 2.1 g) and poultry-based meals (66 kcal, 3.0 g, 2.1 g) and higher saturated fat (1.3 g) than poultry (0.4 g) and vegetable-based (0.6 g) meals (all per 100 g) which may be attributed to additional dairy ingredients. Parents who predominantly use commercial products to wean their infant may face challenges in sourcing a range of seafood products to enable the introduction of this food into the diet of their infant.

A comparison of preprepared commercial infant feeding meals with home-cooked recipes

Objectives To compare the cost, nutritional and food variety contents of commercial meals and published infant and young child feeding (IYCF) home-cooked recipes, and to compare nutritional contents to age-specific recommendations. Design Cross-sectional study. Setting Full range of preprepared main meals available within the UK market. Main-meal recipes identified from a survey of Amazons top 20 best-sellers and IYCF cookbooks available from local libraries. Samples 278 commercial IYCF savoury meals from UK market and 408 home-cooked recipes from best-selling IYCF published cookbooks. Main outcome measures Cost and nutritional content per 100 g and food variety per meal for both commercial meals and home-cooked recipes. Results Commercial products provided more ‘vegetable’ variety per meal (median=3.0; r=−0.33) than home-cooked recipes (2.0). Home-cooked recipes provided 26% more energy and 44% more protein and total fat than commercial products (r=−0.40, −0.31, −0.40, respectively) while costing less (£0.33/100 g and £0.68/100 g, respectively). The majority of commercial products (65%) met energy density recommendations but 50% of home-cooked recipes exceeded the maximum range. Conclusions The majority of commercial meals provided an energy-dense meal with greater vegetable variety per meal to their home-cooked counterparts. Home-cooked recipes provided a cheaper meal option, however the majority exceeded recommendations for energy and fats.