Researchers walked into 21 grocery stores in Austin, Texas, photographed the entire baby and toddler aisle, and then ran the nutrition panels against an international standard. Of 2,783 products marketed for children aged 6 to 36 months, 81 percent were classified as ultra-processed. Nearly half failed at least one nutrient benchmark the World Health Organization set specifically for foods sold to that age group.
The failures were not evenly distributed. Twenty-five percent of products failed the sodium standard, 17 percent failed on sugar, 12 percent on energy density, and 11 percent on fat. Ultra-processed products were significantly more likely to be high in sugar than less-processed ones.
