A SURVEY of the diet of more than 250 Irish babies and 700 Irish mothers has concluded that there was a widespread over-reliance on cow's milk here in toddlers' food, leading to an unbalanced diet.
The Irish babies and mothers formed part of an international study of 23,000 mothers across 28 countries which has been going on for more than two years.
Aileen Regan, dietitian and head of nutrition, Cow & Gate, which carried out the survey, said there was overwhelming evidence that diets were most likely to go wrong in the second year of life.
She told a conference in Dublin that toddler diets tended to be "beige" diets, high in cow's milk, pasta, white bread, potatoes and "golden" fried foods. "A widespread over-reliance on cow's milk, filling toddlers up and resulting in an unbalanced diet, which is lacking in iron and too high in protein and saturated fat."
She said a practical tip was to limit dairy intake to three servings per day including cheese and yogurt. Offer water but avoid too much juice which was high in sugar.
The survey also found that only one in eight Irish toddlers met the daily recommended fruit and vegetable intake. She recommended that fruit or chopped carrots and cucumber be offered as snacks throughout the day, and alway try to add some thinly sliced tomatoes or peppers to sandwiches.
She also warned of the danger to toddlers from eating processed meat and fish which was often referred to as "home-made", in sausages, fish fingers, chicken nuggets and ham.
"Processed options contain more than half a toddler's daily recommended intake of salt in a single serving and are also high in saturated fats," she warned, advising that they should be limited to one serving a week.
Professor of food and health at UCD, Mike Gibney, said there was compelling evidence that how we fed our infants and toddlers today would influence the health of the Irish population in 40-50 years time.
"Nutrition in the first three years of life has a lasting influence on how the brain and body are 'hardwired', setting the metabolic clock, influencing the risk of heart disease or obesity, and having a powerful impact on later food choices and preferences," he said.