Current and emerging trends in cereal snack bars: implications for new product development.

The change in consumers' lifestyle promoted "snackification" favouring the commercialisation of on-the-go products such as cereal bars (CBs). Manufacturers are encountering challenges to develop healthy, natural, tasty, and affordable CBs. This article focuses on production methods, the current and emerging market trends, and practical implications for developing new CBs. The future of the CBs industry is associated with finding the right balance between nutritional value, sensory attributes, naturalness, and sustainability. Manufactures have a toolbox with a large portfolio of ingredients and processing techniques to develop CBs that can be a meal substitute, a supplement, or a snack.

Baby, children, and adult biscuits. Differences in nutritional quality and naturalness.

This study examined and compared the nutritional quality and degree of naturalness between baby biscuits (<3 years), children biscuits (>3 years), and adult biscuits. Mintel's Global New Products Database was searched for "Baby Biscuits & Rusks" and "Sweet Biscuits/Cookies" (re)launched between July 2019 and July 2022 in four European countries (Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, and the United Kingdom), which resulted in 1280 products to be analyzed. Nutritional quality was measured by means of nutrient values per 100 g, and baby biscuits were assessed for compliance with the World Health Organization's latest Nutrient and Promotion Profile Model (NPPM). Degree of naturalness was measured using the food naturalness index (FNI). Baby biscuits had the best nutritional quality and were the most natural as compared to children and adult biscuits, but their energy density and sugar content require further attention. Nutritional quality was comparably poor in children and adult biscuits, and children biscuits were the least natural of the three groups. The NPPM requirements of not adding any free sugar at all to baby biscuits may drive parents to purchase alternative sweeter biscuits originally formulated and meant for children and adults. Reasonable regulations are needed to support product (re)formulations and to improve the current market food offer for babies and children.

Less Sugar and More Whole Grains in Infant Cereals: A Sensory Acceptability Experiment With Infants and Their Parents.

There is an urgent need to reduce sugar intake in early childhood. Commercial infant cereals are among the first solid foods introduced to infants at the beginning of the complementary feeding period in most countries. The aim of this study was to examine infants' overall acceptability of low-sugar complementary cereals. To do so, a between-subjects experimental study with 165 parents and their infants aged 6-24 months was conducted where one group tested a high-sugar refined cereal (21 g/100 g), and the other a low-sugar cereal (<1 g/100 g) with 50% of whole grain, which represented a 95.2% decrease in sugar content. We found no significant differences between the two groups in terms of infants' overall acceptability (infant's reaction, estimated intake and relative intake). Importantly, infants' reactions to high- and low-sugar cereals were not influenced by the time that infants had been consuming sweet cereals (15-25% sugar) before the experiment took place. In addition, parent's overall liking and sensory evaluation (sweetness, color, taste, texture, and aroma) was positive and very similar in both groups. Overall, our findings show that it is feasible to reduce sugar content in infant cereals without sacrificing its sensory acceptability by infants and their parents. This represents a good opportunity for the infant food industry to adhere to current healthy and sustainable demands of lowering the sugar intake leading to important benefits in infants' health, without compromising competitiveness in the market.

Are Homemade and Commercial Infant Foods Different? A Nutritional Profile and Food Variety Analysis in Spain.

Complementary feeding (CF) is an important determinant of early and later life nutrition with great implications for the health status and the development of an adequate growth. Parents can choose between homemade foods (HMFs) and/or commercial infant foods (CIFs). There is no consistent evidence as to whether HMFs provide a better nutritional profile and variety over CIFs. The aim of this study was to compare the nutritional profiles and food variety of HMFs versus CIFs in the Spanish market targeted for infants (6-11 months) and young children (12-18 months). Thirty mothers with their children aged 6 to 18 months were included in this cross-sectional study, following a 3-day weighed food diary of which HMFs were collected and chemically analyzed. HMFs meals for infant provided significantly lower energy, higher protein and higher fiber, for young children provided significantly higher protein and fiber than CIFs meals. HMFs fruit purees for infant shown significantly higher fiber and for young children provided higher energy than CIFs. HMFs meals contained a significantly greater number of different vegetables than CIFs meals (3.7 vs. 3.3), with carrot as the most frequently used in both. However, in CIFs fruit purees shown higher different fruits than HMFs, in both the banana was the fruit most frequently used. There was a predominance of meat and lack of oily fish and legumes in both HMFs and CIFs meals. HMFs and CIFs were equally characterized by a soft texture and yellow-orange colours. Importantly, our findings emphasize the need for clear guidelines for the preparation of HMFs as well as the promotion of food variety (taste and textures) in both HMFs and CIFs to suit infants' and young children's nutritional and developmental needs.

Complementary Feeding Practices and Parental Pressure to Eat among Spanish Infants and Toddlers: A Cross-Sectional Study.

The introduction of complementary foods is a crucial stage in the development and determination of infants' health status in both the short and longer-term. This study describes complementary feeding practices among infants and toddlers in Spain. Also, relationships among sample characteristics (both parents and their child), feeding practices (timing, type of complementary food), and parental pressure to eat were explored. Cognitive interviewing with 18 parents was used to refine the survey questions. Responses from a national random sample of 630 parents, who were responsible for feeding their infants and toddlers aged 3-18 months, were obtained. Solids, often cereals and/or fruits first, were introduced at a median age of five months. Fish and eggs were introduced around the age of nine and ten months. Almost all children were fed with home-prepared foods at least once per week (93%), and in 36% of the cases, salt was added. Interestingly, higher levels of parental pressure to eat were found in female infants, younger parents, parents with a full-time job, the southern regions of Spain, and in infants who were not fed with home-prepared foods. Our insights underline the importance of clear feeding recommendations that can support health care professionals in promoting effective strategies to improve parental feeding practices.

Are Sugar-Reduced and Whole Grain Infant Cereals Sensorially Accepted at Weaning? A Randomized Controlled Cross-Over Trial.

The way infants are fed during the complementary period can have a significant impact on infants' health and development. Infant cereals play an important role in complementary feeding in many countries. In spite of well documented benefits of a low sugar and high whole grain diet, commercial infant cereals are often refined and contain a high amount of sugars. The aim of the present study was to compare the sensory acceptability, gastrointestinal tolerance and bowel habits of two commercially available infant cereals in Spain with varying sugar and whole grain contents in infants at weaning. Forty-six healthy infants (mean age = 5.2 ± 0.4 months) received one of the two infant cereals containing either 0% whole grain flour and a high sugar content produced by starch hydrolysis (24 g/100 g) (Cereal A) or 50% whole grain flour and a medium-sugar content produced by hydrolysis (12 g/100 g) (Cereal B) in a randomized, triple blind, cross-over controlled trial. Both types of infant cereals were consumed for seven weeks. The cross-over was carried out after seven weeks. Sensory acceptability, anthropometry, gastrointestinal tolerance and adverse events were measured, and results evaluated using a linear regression model. No significant differences were observed between groups in any of the main variables analyzed. Importantly, the long-term health implications of our findings represent a wake-up call for the food industry to reduce or even eliminate simple sugars in infant cereals and for regulatory bodies and professional organizations to recommend whole grain infant cereals.

Infant Cereals: Current Status, Challenges, and Future Opportunities for Whole Grains.

Infant cereals play an important role in the complementary feeding period. The aim of this study was to review existing research about the quantity, type, and degree of infant cereal processing, with a special focus on whole grain infant cereals. Accumulating evidence shows many benefits of whole grain consumption for human health. Likewise, consumers are frequently linking the term whole grains to healthiness and naturality, and sustainable food production becomes a more important aspect when choosing an infant cereal brand. Whole grain cereals should be consumed as early as possible, i.e., during infancy. However, there are several challenges that food manufacturers are facing that need to be addressed. Recommendations are needed for the intake of whole grain cereals for infants and young children, including product-labeling guidelines for whole grain foods targeting these age stages. Another challenge is minimizing the higher contaminant content in whole grains, as well as those formed during processing. Yet, the greatest challenge may be to drive consumers' acceptance, including taste. The complementary feeding period is absolutely key in shaping the infant's food preferences and habits; therefore, it is the appropriate stage in life at which to introduce whole grain cereals for the acceptance of whole grains across the entire lifespan.