Nutrient content of selected baby foods

Nutrient content often varies somewhat among brands of baby foods today. Dinners, such as vegetables and meat, are higher today in moisture content than when Agriculture Handbook 8 was published in 1963. Modern processing techniques may account for this difference. To combat nutritional anemia, dry cereals, often the baby's first food other than milk or formula, are excellent sources of good-quality protein and iron, as well as of copper. Asorbic acid is often added to fruits and fruit juices to improve and standardize the product. In recent years, sodium in baby foods has been reduced, due to limited use of salt and monosodium glutamate. Trends indicate less sugar will be added to fruits and juices in the future. Variation in content of selected nutrients can be attributed to the proportion of ingredients in the mixture or the variety of vegetable or fruit selected by the baby food processor.