Arrg Garber isn't healthy at all for children.
Sugar
The No. 1 ingredient in Gerber Rice Cereal is white rice flour, which means you are basically feeding your child a whole bunch of starch. Not only is this ingredient processed, but it’s also high in calories and devoid of real nutrients.
Giving your child Gerber baby food “is basically like giving your child a spoonful of sugar,” says Dr. Alan Greene, a pediatrician from Stanford University.
According to him, feeding a baby bleached white rice can also predispose a child to obesity. If you think about it, feeding your child Gerber Rice Cereal creates a negative taste imprint that can cause bad food choices later in life.
2. Not By A Long Chalk
These days, calcium is added to all kinds of foods, from O.J. to Spaghetti-Os. When a food manufacturer wants to ensure a baked good will rise, they might add calcium carbonate because it acts as both a leavening agent and a (substandard) calcium source.
Incidentally, calcium carbonate is also used as a building material because it’s basically limestone. How yummy!
The primary justification for ingesting calcium carbonate is to “support bones.” Lancet and the British Medical Journal, however, published the results of two extensive clinical trials that concluded calcium plus vitamin D do nothing to prevent bone loss.
Meanwhile, it takes our bodies 12 steps to convert calcium carbonate into calcium bicarbonate, which is the form of calcium we can absorb. So why do they use it? It’s chalk; it’s relatively cheap to produce.
Want to give your baby calcium? Why not give her real food in the form of liver, collard greens, spinach, broccoli, okra, or prunes. Leave the chalk for the classroom and construction.
3. Soy Lecithin
Why has soy lecithin also found its way into so many processed foods? According to its label, Gerber adds less than two percent. But why? For starters, it emulsifies, reduces stickiness, and extends shelf life. But how does that benefit your baby?
The answer is it doesn’t. Soybeans are considered a “major food allergen” by the Food and Drug Administration. What parent wants to feed that to their child, regardless of the amount? Furthermore, 96 percent of soybeans in this country are now genetically engineered, which means your child is eating frankenfood even before they have teeth.
4. Faux Iron
Garber Baby food No. 1 foosource for Iron” (for those starting on solid foods); “available in an easy to use package”. This is Gerber’s claim, but I would say it’s a flat-out lie.
“Electrotrolytic” iron is listed as the sixth ingredient on the label. So there isn’t much of it.
Meanwhile, a baby can only absorb a mere four percent of this fortified powdered stuff compared to 50 percent of iron in breast milk. To add insult to injury, this form of iron is artificial and is the least absorbable type. But it makes its way into “an easy to use package” of cereal because it’s cheaper and extends shelf life.
