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Gluten-Free Labeled Products for Children: Some Unhealthy Food for Thought (and Consumption) :

July 26, 2018

Gluten free (GF) foods are ever-more prevalent when we go shopping to the point that gluten-free foods specific for children are now appearing on the shelves. So just how healthy are these foods for children compared to foods also labeled for children but not gluten free?

Gluten-free (GF) foods are ever-more prevalent when we go shopping to the point that gluten-free foods specific for children are now appearing on the shelves. So just how healthy are these foods for children compared to foods also labeled for children but not gluten free?  Elliott (10.1542/peds.2018-0525) decided to explore this question by identifying 374 child-targeted food products in two supermarket chains in Calgary, Alberta.  She then evaluated the nutritional quality of the foods that were labeled as gluten free (n=66) and compared them to similar children’s foods not labeled gluten free.  While the child-targeted GF foods were lower in sodium, total and saturated fats, they were also lower in protein and higher in calories coming from sugar when compared to those child-labeled foods that were not GF.   In fact, most of the child-labeled foods both GF and non-GF were considered of poor national quality by the standards used by the author, making GF foods not nutritionally superior to non-GF foods due to the higher sugar content and the relative poor nutritional value. If you want to learn more specifics about the various products you will find on the shelves and their unhealthy national contents, then shop around this article, since you will find your cart of nutritional knowledge quickly overflowing with the information.  Check it out and you’ll see what we mean.

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