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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   32893 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of October 10, 2022

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I was skeptical myself. This survey looked at three different locations in Australia, Singapore and Vietnam and asked parents to report whether different high calorie beverages (HCBs) had been introduced to their child:

HCBs, such as cordial, flavoured milk, 100% fruit juice, fruit drink, and non-caffeinated soft drinks ... were introduced at an early age in all localities, but more frequently in Vietnam. 36.9% of respondents in HCMC [Ho Chih Minh City, Vietnam] reported giving HCBs to children at six months or less, compared with 13.0% in Campbelltown [Australia] and 12.1% in Singapore. At one year, 72.6% of participants in HCMC had introduced HCBs, compared to 32.4% in Campbelltown and 36.3% in Singapore.

The most common high calorie beverage seems to be fruit juice. In Campbelltown and Singapore, soft drinks appear to be fairly uncommon before age 1 -- maybe around 5 percent in Singapore and well under that in Campbelltown.

I can't be sure what the numbers would be like in the USA, and they would probably vary by region.

Also, note that the numbers before 6 months are even smaller, and that 1 year olds are often not bottle fed any more, for what it's worth.

Edit: Actually, reading further, it appears that none of the parents in Singapore or Campbelltown gave their children soft drinks of any kind by 6 months:

Non-caffeinated soft-drinks (Fig. 8) were introduced by 2.4% of participants in HCMC by six months, but none were introduced in Campbelltown and Singapore. At one year, the rate rose to 11.9% of participants in HCMC, compared to 1.9% in Campbelltown and 5.5% in Singapore.

...

Caffeinated soft-drinks (Fig. 9) were introduced by six months by 3.6% of participants in HCMC, but by none in Campbelltown and Singapore. By one year, 9.5% of participants in HCMC had introduced caffeinated soft drinks, compared to 0.9% in Campbelltown, and 1.1% in Singapore.

This reinforces my skepticism about soft drink bottle feeding, I have to say.

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