818
Nestlé adds sugar to infant milk sold in poorer countries, report finds
(www.theguardian.com)
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
this post was submitted on 17 Apr 2024
818 points (99.0% liked)
World News
39144 readers
1565 users here now
A community for discussing events around the World
Rules:
-
Rule 1: posts have the following requirements:
- Post news articles only
- Video links are NOT articles and will be removed.
- Title must match the article headline
- Not United States Internal News
- Recent (Past 30 Days)
- Screenshots/links to other social media sites (Twitter/X/Facebook/Youtube/reddit, etc.) are explicitly forbidden, as are link shorteners.
-
Rule 2: Do not copy the entire article into your post. The key points in 1-2 paragraphs is allowed (even encouraged!), but large segments of articles posted in the body will result in the post being removed. If you have to stop and think "Is this fair use?", it probably isn't. Archive links, especially the ones created on link submission, are absolutely allowed but those that avoid paywalls are not.
-
Rule 3: Opinions articles, or Articles based on misinformation/propaganda may be removed. Sources that have a Low or Very Low factual reporting rating or MBFC Credibility Rating may be removed.
-
Rule 4: Posts or comments that are homophobic, transphobic, racist, sexist, anti-religious, or ableist will be removed. “Ironic” prejudice is just prejudiced.
-
Posts and comments must abide by the lemmy.world terms of service UPDATED AS OF 10/19
-
Rule 5: Keep it civil. It's OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It's NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.
-
Rule 6: Memes, spam, other low effort posting, reposts, misinformation, advocating violence, off-topic, trolling, offensive, regarding the moderators or meta in content may be removed at any time.
-
Rule 7: We didn't USED to need a rule about how many posts one could make in a day, then someone posted NINETEEN articles in a single day. Not comments, FULL ARTICLES. If you're posting more than say, 10 or so, consider going outside and touching grass. We reserve the right to limit over-posting so a single user does not dominate the front page.
We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.
All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.
Lemmy World Partners
News !news@lemmy.world
Politics !politics@lemmy.world
World Politics !globalpolitics@lemmy.world
Recommendations
For Firefox users, there is media bias / propaganda / fact check plugin.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/media-bias-fact-check/
- Consider including the article’s mediabiasfactcheck.com/ link
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
Maybe I missed it in the article, but isn't it more expensive for Nestlé to add the sugar than to not use it? I don't understand their motivation here. I mean, I assume it's evil considering what company this is, I just don't understand it.
Sugar is psychologically addictive
And super cheap.
I agree, but kids will be addicted to sugar pretty quickly regardless. Maybe that's the reason, but it seems like an awfully big expense when all they have to do is sell chocolate and the kids come running.
Yeah, but this is milk. For small babies that don't eat solid food. This is basically training them to crave sugar as early as possible.
It's in a follow-up milk for kids over 1 and in a cereal.
Kids don't get addicted to sugar much if there isn't much sugar intake occasion. I'm sure they checked the market and found that they could sell more sugar-based product later with this initial push.
In poorer countries, they might not buy non-essentials like sweets and chocolate as much as in the West. This ensures the sugar addiction starts early!
It's a return on investment. Sugar is addictive, and they get a competitive edge vs. less sweet formulas that are following the WHO recommendations.
Coke is cheaper than bottled water for similar reasons. Especially in developing countries.
I can't ever think about Coke marketing anymore without being reminded of the most evil thing I've ever seen committed to film.
https://screenmusings.org/movie/blu-ray/Slumdog-Millionaire/images/Slumdog-Millionaire-0272.jpg
Remind me how that guy/scene relates to coke? I haven't seen that movie since it came out
(Not arguing! I just need a refresher to get the reference)
He meets the kids and hands them each a Coke as a way of presenting himself as friendly and generous--and it looks like a marketing money shot; I wish I could find a gif of it. Those Cokes look like ambrosia from heaven.
And then a few scenes later he's putting out kids' eyes to make them more effective beggars.
Aha! I remember now. I figured he was the kid-mutilator but completely forgot the Coke part.
Thanks for the reminder!
I'm pretty sure sugar is cheaper than the rest of the formula by weight. They are essencial ly cutting formula with a cheaper more readily available product.
Yep. That is the answer.
Their motivation might be to get the kids hooked on the stuff early on. Sugar works like a drug in some ways by releasing dopamine in the brain and if you train your brain early on it will affect it longterm. Plus it will influence their future taste preferences. Everything else, besides Nestle's oversugared snacks will taste bland in comparison. Leading to kids crying at supermarket checkouts to get their favourite snacks :D
Some brain and a bunch of gut biome I suspect.
Once the sugar eating biome get established they rule the roost.
Also social factors come to play, like influencing purchasing behavior, cooking, food at restaurants etc
Babies like sugary thing, adding it in formula make sure babies refuse healthier alternative other than product made by Nestle for at least 3 years.
I assume they then dilute it back down so it's the same calories per 100 ml. Sugar is cheap.
1kg formula/sugar-mix is cheaper than 1kg pure formula
It adds calories in an inexpensive way.