‘Just a sweet drink’: Call for crackdown on sugary toddler milks and formulas

Health groups are concerned by a social media-driven explosion in the popularity of mostly unnecessary milk formulas for toddlers, and Australia’s peak medical body wants tougher rules for manufacturers.

Australian Medical Association (AMA) president Professor Steve Robson said while infant formulas were currently covered by a voluntary industry agreement, the code was ineffective and excluded formulas and milks targeted at children aged between 12 months and three years. Those products, he said, had little benefit for most toddlers.

Toddler formulas can be marketed to parents as important nutritional supports, but doctors say they often contain sugar and are unnecessary.Credit: Getty Images

“We’re seeing a lot of aggressive marketing of breastmilk substitutes, particularly these new things that are aimed at children out of the infant period,” Robson said.

“These so-called toddler milks, which often have a lot of sugar in them, they’re essentially just a sort of sweet drink, and the evidence tells us [they have] a very limited role.”

The AMA has urged the consumer watchdog to scrap the current voluntary code altogether, and replace it with a legislated, mandatory code that covers children up to three years of age, with tough penalties for manufacturers that breach marketing and advertising rules.

“The code of practice at the moment is an industry code that’s voluntary … if you sin against the code, you get hit with a wet lettuce,” Robson said.

Professor Steve Robson, the president of the Australian Medical Association.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

The Marketing in Australia of Infant Formulas code is self-regulated for manufacturers and importers of baby formula products. It prohibits promoting and advertising baby formulas, and bans using samples and gifts that promote breast milk substitutes.

There are no financial penalties for breaching the code, which only covers formulas for infants younger than 12 months.

This year, the Infant Nutrition Council – the peak body for the major manufacturers and ingredient suppliers of infant formula and toddler milk – applied to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to have the current agreement continued without conditions for another five years.

Nestle, in a submission to the consultation process, said it was a long-standing signatory to the current agreement and had several rigorous processes in place to support its compliance with the code and its own policies.

“Nestle takes its compliance obligations very seriously and we are committed to marketing breast milk substitutes responsibly,” the company said.

“We believe re-authorisation for a five-year term without conditions is appropriate. A shorter authorisation period would impose additional costs and resource burdens for all involved in the authorisation process.”

But the AMA was one of several peak health and medical bodies – others include the Australian College of Midwives, the Public Health Association of Australia, and Dietitians Australia – that said, in separate submissions, the code should not be renewed at all.

They instead called for Australia to adopt a mandatory agreement with financial penalties using the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) code as a template.

The WHO code applies to breast milk substitutes for children up to three years, and covers retailers such as supermarkets and pharmacies as well as manufacturers and importers.

Adopting the WHO guidelines would mean Australian authorities don’t have to reinvent the wheel, Robson said, and could instead use an evidence-based, off-the-shelf option to improve the industry’s regulation.

The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation also urged the consumer watchdog to include toddler formulas in any new regulatory model, and warned that advertising bans had to cover social media.

“Industry is now able to have direct contact with people via social media platforms thereby promoting their brand and product without being in breach of the agreement,” the nursing federation’s submission said.

Robson said parents were vulnerable to marketing on social media for toddler milk products, which were often advertised with a veneer of medical language to make them appear nutritionally necessary.

“It’s very easy to mislead people – they see something and they go, ‘Wow, I should be giving toddler milk to my three-year-old’,” he said.

While children with specific medical needs could benefit from some nutritional assistance based on advice from a medical professional, Robson said toddler milks were unnecessary for the vast majority of children.

“Most children that actually can just eat smaller, chopped up portions of what the rest of the family eats, absolutely, and drink water or normal milk – certainly not sugar-sweetened things,” he said.

Ensuring children get the best nutrition possible in their infancy is vital in preventing long-term and chronic health problems later in life, Robson said.

“If you get used to it, and you eat like this your whole life, you end up with diabetes, and that’s a huge problem: we see millions of Australians with diabetes at the moment,” he said.

“The stakes are really high.”

The consumer watchdog’s draft decision is due by October, and a final determination due in November.

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